A Comunicação nos Arquivos Municipais da área metropolitana de Lisboa

Abstract

In today's information-based society, which is driven by technological advancements, archives have been developing new methods of communication in order to satisfy users’ needs. The latest study is underpinned by the principal question: How do municipal archives in the Greater Lisbon area manage to orchestrate their communications strategy in an organisational manner to gain an advantage in the information industry? Its main objective is to study the current situation of the 18 municipal archives of the Greater Lisbon area, namely Alcochete, Almada, Amadora, Barreiro, Cascais, Lisboa, Loures, Mafra, Moita, Montijo, Odivelas, Oeiras, Palmela, Seixal, Sesimbra, Setúbal, Sintra and Vila Franca de Xira, and it appears to be a good example of the kind of study being made in terms of the amount of money being invested in the communication of stored information, possibly helping to increase knowledge in this field nationwide. The aim, specifically, is to understand how municipal archives can be adapted (or otherwise) to the challenges of an information-based society in light of how the Internet is proving to be such a crucial communications tool, whilst at the same time facilitating greater access of information for the increased number of people born in the digital age. For this purpose, a search of the municipal archives has been carried out on the Internet and, in the event of those not being directly accessible, the actual websites of the municipalities concerned. The work also involved a data collection survey by questionnaire as well as a visit to the Facebook pages of the municipal archives or their respective municipalities. Carrying out this study brought us to the conclusion that the communication of information in the Greater Lisbon municipal archives is heterogeneous, because the challenges posed by the information society resulted in different situations.