An alternative life
Enter a fictional archive decision and its possible alternatives.
The choice Elena made
In this fictional case, archive director Elena had €40,000 in 2019 for one project. The council chose a €38,000 digital inventory rather than a €35,000 interview pilot. The inventory was completed in 2020; the interviews did not start. Those are facts in the story. A different past is a thought experiment, not another record.
- Nel 2019 Elena aveva un fondo per un solo progetto.· In 2019 Elena had a fund for only one project.
- Il consiglio scelse l’inventario digitale.· The council chose the digital inventory.
- L’inventario fu completato nel 2020.· The inventory was completed in 2020.
- Le interviste non furono avviate.· The interviews were not started.
An alternative is not a certainty
Elena later regretted not consulting the volunteers sooner. Antonio, one volunteer, died in 2022 without a recorded interview. If the pilot had been chosen, he could have been invited, but his consent and possible answers are unknown. Use the past conditional to name a missed action and a type 3 condition to explore an unreal past.
- Avrei dovuto parlare prima con i volontari.· I should have spoken with the volunteers earlier.
- Se avessimo scelto le interviste, avremmo potuto invitare Antonio.· If we had chosen the interviews, we could have invited Antonio.
- Non sappiamo se avrebbe accettato.· We do not know whether he would have agreed.
- Una possibilità mancata non è un risultato verificato.· A missed possibility is not a verified result.