INLS 525: Managing Electronic Records

Week 7 (2/26)

• Potential benefits in general?
• Contextual factors?

Promoting Discovery through Intellectual Control

• Description
• Naming conventions
• Mappings across inconsistent terminologies

• "Now I have it, but what am I looking at?"
• Creating, capturing, or extracting information for making sense of things being used

Reflecting purposes – understanding and attending to intentions of creators and "primary users"

• Who might I hand these things off to in the future?
• How would that work?
• What are the likely motivations and needs of the recipient?

Resources are limited, and meaning is expensive.

All transfer of meaning across contexts has costs.

ROI v. Risk of Inaction

Case Elements:

• Scope
• Assumptions
• Financial Measures
• Situation Description(s)
• Objectives (SMART)
• Data & Collection Methodology
• Costs
• Results (financial & otherwise)
• Risk Analysis

Cresswell, Anthony M. and G. Brian Burke. "The Washington State Digital Archives." Public ROI - Advancing Return on Investment, Analysis for Government IT Case Study Series. September 12, 2006.

• Thresholds of data purity and evidential rigour
• Economies of scale
• Calculating ROI is "a challenging new role for records professionals"
• ROI isn't always the best approach to selling RM.

Identify the values to advance, then address the modalities that pose the greatest threat or opportunity.

• Legal Requirements
• Exposure to Civil and government litigation
• Accidental loss or destruction

Mat-Isa, Azman. "Risk Management and Managing Records." In Record Keeping in a Hybrid Environment: Managing the Creation, Use, Preservation and Disposal of Unique Information Objects in Context, edited by Alistair G. Tough and Michael Moss, 69-83. Oxford: Chandos, 2006.

... identifies an organization's exposure to internal and external threats and synthesizes hard and soft assets to provide effective prevention and recovery for the organization, while maintaining competitive advantage and value system integrity.

— Elliot, D.; Swartz, E.; Herbane, B. (1999) Just waiting for the next big bang: business continuity planning in the UK finance sector. Journal of Applied Management Studies, Vol. 8, No, pp. 43–60. Here: p. 48.

• Enacted in 1966, then amended 5 times
• Default assumption is disclosure
• 9 categories of exemptions
• Time limits on notice, but providing actual records has to happen "promptly"
• Fee structure based on type of requestor (commercial; educational/scientific or news; other)
• Current practice (GAO report, 2005):
  • Increase in requests
  • Backlog is growing
  • Dramatic differences between agencies

... the people may obtain copies of their public records and public information free or at minimal cost unless otherwise specifically provided by law.

... no public agency shall ... acquire any electronic data‑processing system for the storage, manipulation, or retrieval of public records unless it first determines that the system will not impair or impede the agency's ability to permit the public inspection and examination, and to provide electronic copies of such records.

... it is the public policy of North Carolina that the hearings, deliberations, and actions of [public] bodies be conducted openly.

• Search and delivering records can be expensive, particularly when there is limited intellectual control.
• Delete doesn’t mean delete.
• The Sedona Principles: Best Practices, Recommendations and Principles for Addressing Electronic Document Production (2005)
• Risk Profiler Self-Assessment for E-Discovery – ARMA and NetDiligence (2006)
• Several companies provide specialized training and certification.

New Rules as of Dec 1, 2006 for ESI

• ESI (electronically stored information) is type of discoverable information
• Requires parties to permit requestors "to inspect, and copy, test, or sample any designated documents or electronically stored information"
• Requires, identifies topics for and sets timeframe for early discussion (& reporting to judge of discussion) — includes "preserving discoverable information," "form or forms in which it should be produced," "claims of privilege or protection"
• Limits obligations on producing ESI that isn’t "reasonably accessible," unless good cause is demonstrated
• Provisions for producing party to notify opposing party, court and retrieve privileged information that was inadvertently produced
• Format: kept in usual course of business as ordinarily maintained and are reasonably usable

When receiving notice or having reasonable anticipation of litigation, must cease normal disposition actions that would destroy related data, e.g.

• Implementing deletion based on retention schedules
• Recycling of backup tapes
• Perhaps even defragmenting hard drive