The latest issue of Flash, “Empowering Knowledge Societies: Emerging archives and the evolving profession” is now available.
 
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This year, all of ICA’s events have been aimed at developing the thinking around the question raised by the Abu Dhabi Congress “Empowering Knowledge Societies”. Although the Congress has been postponed to 2023, the responses from the community show the dynamism and resonance that this theme has for the community, given the diversity of answers and initiatives that this issue of Flash seeks to grasp. This issue ‘gathers’ articles that reveal how we are incorporating pragmatic innovation and collective responsibility.
Members from the Croatian Archival Society explore how they approach Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their practice and the multifaceted relationships that the archivist has with AI while utilising innovative methods to deploy these technologies (page 3). Brigitte Troyon will tell us about the International Committee of the Red Cross’s (ICRC) approach to managing “chaotic” records in an international context and how collaboration with record creators enabled them to facilitate the organisation’s  COVID-19 response (page 4). Robert Mkuwira from the National Archives of Malawi gives us insights into audio-visual archives, the value they hold for users who have limited access to analogue archival records, and the specific challenges that archives in the Sub-Saharan African region face with regards to preservation and accountability (page 6). At the root of all these initiatives is a good approach to raising awareness among decision-makers. The Digital Preservation Coalition’s (DPC) Executive Guide on Digital Preservation, presented by Sarah Middleton, is a model for raising awareness in our hierarchies and beyond. 
This issue of Flash also reports on the latest ICA highlights: the end of the #ICAEKS2021 conference, the launch of the new online course “Managing Digital Archives”, the appointment of our new Vice President Programmes and the editors of Comma journal, the adoption of the constitutional reform presented in the previous issue, and the announcement of the next physical events organised by ICA. The resources put online this year by the Programme Commission are also presented at the end of the issue, as well as the latest publications of the Comma journal. 
Enjoy your reading!