Editing Document (section)

==Abstract definitions==
The concept of "document" has been defined by [[Suzanne Briet]] as "any concrete or symbolic indication, preserved or recorded, for reconstructing or for proving a phenomenon, whether physical or mental."<ref>{{cite journal|author=Briet, S.|date=1951|title=Qu'est-ce que la documentation?|journal=Éditions Documentaires Industrielles et Techniques.}} Quoted in {{Cite web |last=Buckland |first=Michael |date=1991 |title=Information as Thing |url=https://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~buckland/thing.html |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=people.ischool.berkeley.edu}}</ref>

An often-cited article concludes that "the evolving notion of ''document''" among Jonathan Priest, [[Paul Otlet]], Briet, [[Walter Schürmeyer]], and the other [[documentalist]]s increasingly emphasized whatever functioned as a document rather than traditional physical forms of documents. The shift to digital technology would seem to make this distinction even more important. [[David M. Levy]] has said that an emphasis on the technology of digital documents has impeded our understanding of digital documents as documents.<ref>{{citation |url=http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.119.8813&rep=rep1&type=pdf |title=Fixed or Fluid? Document Stability and New Media. |last=Levy|first=David M. |citeseerx=10.1.1.119.8813 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606180031/http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.119.8813&rep=rep1&type=pdf |archive-date=2013-06-06 |access-date=2023-10-18 }}</ref>
A conventional document, such as a mail message or a [[technical report]], exists physically in digital technology as a string of bits, as does everything else in a digital environment. As an object of study, it has been made into a document. It has become physical evidence by those who study it.

"Document" is defined in [[library and information science]] and [[documentation science]] as a fundamental, abstract idea: the word denotes everything that may be represented or memorialized to serve as [[evidence]]. The classic example provided by Briet is an [[antelope]]: "An antelope running wild on the plains of Africa should not be considered a document[;] she rules. But if it were to be captured, taken to a zoo and made an object of study, it has been made into a document. It has become physical evidence being used by those who study it. Indeed, scholarly articles written about the antelope are secondary documents, since the antelope itself is the primary document."<ref>Buckland, M. "What Is a Digital Document?" 1998. In ''Document Numérique'' Paris. 2(2). [http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~buckland/digdoc.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002042527/http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~buckland/digdoc.html|date=2011-10-02}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Buckland |first=Michael |date=2018 |title=Document theory |url=https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/0943-7444-2018-5-425.pdf |journal=[[Knowledge Organization (journal)|Knowledge Organization]] |volume=45 |issue=5 |pages=425–436 |doi=10.5771/0943-7444-2018-5-425 |access-date=2023-10-18 |archive-date=2022-05-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506030602/https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/0943-7444-2018-5-425.pdf |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> This opinion has been interpreted{{By whom|date=January 2023}} as an early expression of [[actor–network theory]].