Future Proof – Protecting our digital future

To celebrate Information Awareness Month 2016 we are publishing a series of Q&As with colleagues who have an interest in good records and information management. This post features a Q&A with Elizabeth Tydd about access to government information.

Ms Tydd is the NSW Information Commissioner. In this role Ms Tydd promotes public awareness and understanding of the right to access government information in NSW, and provides information, support, advice, assistance and training to agencies and the general public. The Information Commissioner has the power to review decisions made by other NSW government agencies and deal with complaints about information access, and also monitors agencies’ functions and reports to the Attorney General about proposals for legislative or administrative change.

In this post, Ms Tydd answers questions about the benefits of open government and incorporating access to government information into information governance frameworks.

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To celebrate Information Awareness Month 2016 we are publishing a series of Q&As with colleagues who have an interest in good records and information management. First up we have a Q&A with Dr Elizabeth Coombs about privacy and information governance.

Dr Coombs is the NSW Privacy Commissioner. In this role she promotes privacy, prepares reports recommending legislative, administrative or other action in the interests of privacy, and conducts inquiries and investigations into privacy related matters. The Privacy Commissioner administers the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIP Act) and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (HRIP Act).

In this post, Dr Coombs answers questions about privacy-related legislation, privacy considerations when establishing information governance frameworks, and the benefits of having a privacy framework in NSW.

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May is Information Awareness Month (IAM). The purpose of IAM is to increase public awareness of information and its place in all aspects of daily life.

This year’s theme – Investing in Information Governance – highlights the importance of managing information assets across an entire organisation to support its business outcomes.

To celebrate IAM, we will be publishing a series of Q&As with colleagues who have an interest in good records and information management. So keep an eye on the blog during May!

In the meantime, here are some posts we published during previous IAMs:

• How to avoid information loss in the digital age
• Information management and governance issues to consider when moving your corporate email to the cloud
• Making decisions about how long to keep digital information – #IAM_2014
• Ants and archives and leveraging expertise for strategic information management #IAM_2014
• The complexity of digital transitions – happy #IAM_2014
• Cloud email – what’s happening with the information? #IAM_2014
• How does information retention and disposal work in social media environments? #IAM_2014

Image credit: Mark Deckers – “Information” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The podcasts from last month’s Records Managers Forum are now available on Future Proof.

The Records Managers Forum highlights achievements and projects in NSW Government agencies. It promotes communication between NSW public sector records managers and provides an opportunity to exchange news and discuss issues of current concern.

Last months’s forum was hosted by State Records NSW’s Director, Geoff Hinchcliffe, and had three presentations from the sector:

• Dr Ian Oppermann, Chief Data Scientist (Interim), NSW Data Analytics Centre talked about the new Data Analytics Centre and the Data Sharing Act 2015.
• Ms Elizabeth Tydd, NSW Information Commissioner talked about the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009, Open Government and the value of information sharing.
• Dr Elizabeth Coombs, NSW Privacy Commissioner talked about the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Amendment (Exemptions Consolidation) Act 2015, privacy and issues with data sharing.

You can find the recordings here.

Image credit: Mark Grapengater – “Headphones” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Recently we chatted with ACECQA about its efforts to implement regular disposal of records as a business as usual practice. ACECQA has very generously agreed to share its experiences, which may be useful for other NSW public offices.

This case study describes the approach ACECQA has taken to implementing records disposal, including the tools used, as well as the lessons learned from the process and ACECQA’s plans for the future.

We would like to thank the records and information team at ACECQA for taking the time to share their experiences with us.

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Since 2010, State Records has drafted and published retention and disposal authorities in XML. For State Records, an XML format has several advantages including single source publishing, greater accessibility of approved retention and disposal authorities, and an improved capacity for controlling and managing authorities over time.

Using XML also unlocks the valuable information contained within retention and disposal authorities, and enables it to be reused and shared.

In the spirit of the NSW Government Open Data Policy, State Records recently shared retention and disposal data with our Victorian counterpart, the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV).

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It is with sadness that State Records says goodbye to our colleague Peter Bisley. After 2 1/2 years at State Records, Peter has moved on to new adventures in his native New Zealand.

During his time at State Records, Peter provided lots of excellent advice to NSW Government agencies as they implemented new systems and processes for recordkeeping in the digital environment. Peter has been an important contributor to the digital transformation of NSW Government.

Peter played a key role in the development of the Standard on Records Management, as well as our advice on the records and information management considerations associated with decommissioning systems. He was also actively involved in the development of “by design” strategies for information management across the NSW public sector.

We wish Peter all the best for his post-State Records life!

Photo credit: Grace Hui

We have recently received a number of enquiries from organisations about the retention of credit card data. Specifically, these organisations want to know how to keep this data in a way that meets the requirements of the Payment Card Industry – Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), which was developed to encourage and enhance cardholder data security and applies to all organisations that store, process or transmit cardholder data.

This seems to be a common concern for organisations at the moment, not just in NSW – our colleagues at Queensland State Archives (QSA) just published some advice on this very issue for Queensland Government organisations, and there was a recent discussion on the topic on the RIMPA listserv.

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Last week, the Digital Implementers Group met for one of their regular six-weekly meetings. As always, the group shared some fascinating insights into their current projects.

The focus of the discussion was on the support required for managing information and records through organisational change. Members discussed the important factors and challenges, and how they had addressed these in their organisations.

Gaining necessary budget for transition projects

A number of people mentioned that organisations often underestimate the work that will be required to transition records and information through a wider organisational change. Headline costs often provided for the underlying technology costs, but not for costs such as business analysis and process mapping for records management. Because these projects are often driven by expected efficiencies, members suggested that having hard metrics available relating to the records / information management function was crucial to getting budget allocated. Read the rest of this entry »

The Federal Department of Communications and the Arts has released an exposure draft of  the Copyright  Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures)  Bill  2016 for comment.

The proposed changes to the Copyright Act 1968 will have an impact on how public archives and libraries and key cultural institutions, including State Records NSW, handle copyright material.

Further information about the changes affecting the archives and library sectors is available on our website.

You  can provide feedback on the draft changes to the Copyright Act to the Department of Communications and the Arts until 12 February 2016.

Image credit: Alex Novoa – “Noria con Copyrights” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)