Future Proof – Protecting our digital future

The podcasts and presentations from last week’s Records Managers Forum are now available. State Archives and Records NSW uses the Forum to engage with public offices and to provide an opportunity for other NSW public sector organisations to share information about key initiatives or government programmes. The Forum included presentations from: Geoff Hinchcliffe, Executive Director, […]

Last October when it emerged that the Prime Minister and Cabinet were using the social messaging tool WhatsApp to communicate with each other[1], the Australian Signals Directorate advised that although the app was not on the approved list for sensitive and classified communications, they had no concerns about the use of it for ‘routine communications’[2].

Information Flow within organisations Information flows within an organisation, either formally or informally. The free flow of facts, ideas, data and opinions is constant and the lifeblood of any organisation. Information flows can also result in records being created with all the inherent issues associated with information integrity, accessibility, security and preservation.

In the same week, the Productivity Commission released a draft report on Data Availability and Use and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet released Australia’s first Open Government National Action Plan for feedback. The release of these drafts is a timely reminder to reflect on our data management practices and how we are […]

Following recent media coverage on text messages and messaging services, we would like to remind NSW public offices that text messages created or received in the course of official business are State records.

The Council of the City of Sydney’s new records management eLearning module shows us that learning about records management can be a rewarding experience. The module uses gamification techniques to guide learners through their records management responsibilities while building a new park in the fictional city of Urbanville.