Future Proof – Protecting our digital future

Executive Summary

This research paper discusses three problems with using the term transfer to describe the processes that precede ingest into the digital archives and recommends instead the adoption of a project-based, system migration approach.

photo credit: Glenn Waters ぐれんin Japan.

I have just finished reading (at lunch time today!) John le Carre’s The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. It was fantastic! My first le Carre experience and I loved it. My appreciation of the story was enhanced even further because a crucial aspect of the case against alleged double agent Mundt hinged on metadata!

In Chapter 12, East, the East German operative Fiedler is interrogating the British spy Leamas. In my edition of the book, they spend five fabulous pages discussing the distribution list metadata (the subscription label they call it) attached to the front of a file and what that metadata means in terms of who may have accessed the file and how this may have impacted on the conspiracy. It was fantastic! This simple set of metadata led to critical deductions that contributed to the final dramatic outcomes of the book. Go metadata! Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Marc_Smith

Last week I spoke at the Social Media in Government Conference organised by Informa in Canberra.

I was there to talk about the role of recordkeeping in the Web 2.0, social media world but really enjoyed the range of other presentations that highlighted the active and innovative use of social media in the Government environment.

In this post I will give a quick overview of some of the key themes that, to me, emerged through the conference (note I was only there for part of day 1 of the conference) and a quick summary of the specific recordkeeping issues I discussed, particularly the risks and proactive decisions that have to be made in order to manage records of business performed in web 2.0/social media environments. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: alvazer

The draft NSW Government ICT Strategic Framework document is currently open for public consultation. But for 1 more day only! 

The draft ICT Strategic Framework document provides a model of the improved outcomes that could be achieved through a redesign of how ICT is used and managed in NSW government. It suggests a new set of ICT enablers and the key service capabilities that will be needed to achieve these outcomes. A government-wide ICT Strategy document based on the Framework is due to be issued in early 2012.

Sorry for the late notice but there is one more day to officially comment on the Strategic Framework document. The Framework document can be downloaded from and comments can be made via the NSW Government consultation website.

If you have views about how information can be better shared, managed and used across Government or views on how technology could be better deployed, please take the time to provide some feedback. Along with staff, information is Government’s key asset and so ideas on how it can more effectively shared and used could greatly improve Government operations, now and into the future. The consultation website indicates that feedback is welcomed at any stage of the process, so don’t worry if you can’t meet tomorrow’s deadline, feel free to provide some feedback when you can.

photo credit: gemma maree

We have been receiving a lot of enquiries about how to configure SharePoint so that it can serve business and recordkeeping purposes.

We hope to issue more comprehensive guidance about this in the new year, but in the interim, we want to provide some initial advice for all of those we know are grappling with SharePoint configuration.

Some quick summary points:

• SharePoint 2010 can be configured to have good recordkeeping capacities
• BUT it will take a significant investment of time, money and strategy to achieve this
• Therefore, while licence costs for SharePoint may be relatively inexpensive, do not overlook the costs of configuration and implementation which could be considerable
• That said, with the appropriate investment and configuration, SharePoint can be an effective recordkeeping tool that operates as an easy to use business system for the user and makes many records managment obligations and operations invisible
• Be aware though that the recordkeeping capacities in SharePoint 2007 are much more limited and the following advice all applies to SharePoint 2010.

This initial advice has been compiled using the various references cited below and through preliminary discussions with a range of Government bodies in NSW.  We do however regard this advice as our initial, draft views on recordkeeping and SharePoint.

In the New Year we hope to sit down with a range of Government agencies who are implementing SharePoint and discuss the specific decisions and choices they’ve made and use this to further develop and refine our advice. But the steady stream of enquiries we are getting shows that NSW government bodies need an initial overview of the recordkeeping issues and considerations associated with a SharePoint 2010 implementation now.

Until we can develop more comprehensive guidance we would love to hear your full and frank responses to this draft advice. What have we got wrong? What have we left out? What are other considerations or lessons you have learned? Thanks for any and all responses! Read the rest of this entry »