Future Proof – Protecting our digital future

Last week I attended THATCamp Melbourne, a humanities and technology ‘un-conference’, as well as its lead-up event, the Great PROV Data Challenge.

These events were attended by a diverse group that included humanities scholars, archivists, librarians, e-research support staff, and cultural hackers.

Opening Session of THATCamp Melbourne; people proposing sessions Photo: Craig Bellamy http://www.thatcampmelbourne.org/

A key theme that emerged at THATCamp was the importance of the data underlying the systems we design and use. By creating, managing, and publishing data in open formats we can create opportunities for the creative re-use of that information. Read the rest of this entry »

We think of metadata as a modern concept, a product of the computer age and the online world. But metadata is actually an ancient tool in the world of information management. There is probably some form hieroglyphic metadata in a museum somewhere but, closer to home, an interesting overview of early Australian metadata practices has just been published.

In a chapter of The Arrangement and Description of Archives Amid Administrative and Technological Change, archivist Peter Scott * describes the development of recordkeeping systems in Australian governments, from the 18th century to the present. It is fascinating! One aspect of this development discussed is the evolution of metadata as a recordkeeping tool. Read the rest of this entry »

(With apologies to Star Trek)

Our last post was the exciting announcement that State Records had finally secured the resources to start on a project to develop and implement a digital State archives. But it’s probably hard, at this very early stage, to really understand what that will mean in reality. So we thought it would be useful to tell you a little bit more about our plans and also touch on some of the exciting work that is being done by others in the preservation of digital records as archives. Read the rest of this entry »

In 2011 State Records will commence the implementation of a digital archives solution capable of accepting, preserving and making available born digital records of the NSW government as State archives. Read the rest of this entry »

Storing electronic information in shared (network) drives can be convenient and easy for staff and can enable the sharing and backup of documents.

However, if they are not managed well, shared drives can cause you a number of problems. For example, if you do not set up and maintain rigorous folder structures and titling controls, it is likely that the sharing of documents will be impeded.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve had an exceptionally busy year in the Future Proof team with lots of highlights, and we just spent the morning planning what we will be focusing on in 2011.  We hope to bring you:

• more case studies from digital recordkeeping implementations in a range of settings
• advice on communicating records requirements to systems designers and implementers
• tailored advice for CIOs and other senior officers about digital recordkeeping compliance
• targeted advice on topics like migration, file formats and disposal of digital records, and
• more workshops on managing recordkeeping risk in business systems.

And of course we will be continuing to blog and Tweet about what’s new and what’s happening in the sector in digital recordkeeping and the long term preservation of digital records.

In the meantime we hope you have a happy and safe holiday season and we’ll see you in 2011!

Removable media, including optical disks (DVDs, CDs), memory cards and USB flash drives, are commonly used for offline storage or for moving data so it can be accessed away from the office. While there are obvious benefits in using removable media, there are also a range of risks. Read the rest of this entry »

State Records is working to unlock the information contained within retention and disposal authorities by adopting XML as the preferred format for drafting and publication. Authority Editor is an open source application for drafting and transforming authorities in XML. This application is now freely available for download online. Read the rest of this entry »

No man (or woman) is an island and the Future Proof team is certainly no exception. If we are going to develop tools and guidance that will help NSW government to build better digital recordkeeping systems and strategies, we need to make sure that we understand the needs of the sector. To that end we formed ‘DRAG’ in January 2007. No, there are no stilettos or false eyelashes (well only occasionally). DRAG – or the Digital Records Advisory Group – has a serious purpose.

'DRAG' meeting November 18 2010

The role of DRAG is to:

• advise us on real world examples of digital records issues and challenges;
• provide us with feedback on products developed as part of the digital records and archives strategy; and
• test digital records and archives solutions.

As this busy year draws to a close we’d like to extend a big thank you to our fabulous DRAG members for all their time and expertise this year.

In the photo, L-R: Susan Fletcher, City of Sydney;  Russell Smith, Community Services; Jonathan Summers, Public Works; Amanda Barber, State Records; Cassie Findlay, State Records; Jim Sinclair, State Records; Petra Herrlich, NSW Ambulance Service; Stephen Smith, DSTA; Ken Carroll, Transgrid; Tim Robinson, University of Sydney. Not present: John Burke, State Records (Chair); Peter Konstantin, Corrective Services; Michael Landsbergen, NSW Ambulance Service; Lesley Alexander, DSTA; Greg Jackson, Hunter New England AHS; Catherine Sykes, Ministry of Transport; Margaret Miller, ServiceFirst.

State Records recently received 217 responses to its online survey of NSW State Government ICT professionals. The responses we received were very informative and dispelled many of the common myths about ICT attitudes to recordkeeping. Read the rest of this entry »