This study attempts to understand the standardization of ISAD(G)—International Standard of Archival Description (General) — from a cultural as well as technical perspective. While several studies have been conducted on the implementation of the ISAD(G) in Western countries, the Asian national and local experiences of the standard remain relatively unexplored. Using Korea as a case study, this study aims to explore how the international standard (the ISAD(G)) impacts local practice in the non-Western countries, how the Western archival paradigm embedded in the ISAD(G) standard reinforced Western archival practice within non-Western societies, and how non-Western societies re-appropriate the archival practice in the course of adopting the standard. To explore the adoption of the standard, this researcher employs a combination of historical text analysis, a crosswalk analysis of metadata, and ethnographic research analysis.

Until the late 20th century, the idea of having an archival descriptive tool was rarely of primary concern in Korea. This indifference resulted in leaving the systematic development of archival description behind. In this regard, the introduction of ISAD(G) in historical institutions brought an innovative change in attitudes toward archival management. However, the decision to adopt ISAD(G) and the implementation of its principles often encountered problems, because Korean recordkeeping infrastructures are different from those assumed by the standard. Cultural elements (such as history, values, personal identity, education, and an institution's social roles and culture) are deeply associated with decision making in the process of standard adoption. The study found that standard adoption is not a linear and transparent process that progresses unambiguously from the basic principles of archival description to system design. Rather, the direction of the standardization depends more on identities, educations, institutional cultures, and associated communication patterns.