Managing Government Records Across the Digital Continuum

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Managing Government Records Across the Digital
Continuum

• Adrian Cunningham
• National Archives of Australia

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National Archives of Australias Strategic
Framework for Making Keeping Using Digital
Records

• It is all about ensuring the creation, secure
  maintenance and use of the essential evidence of
  digital government

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This talk will cover

• The NAAs response to the challenge of digital
  records using e-permanence to influence the
  behaviour of records creators, 1999/2000-
• NAA Archiving Web Resources Guidelines
• Early implementations and audits
• NAA Digital preservation strategy, 2001-

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e-permanence, 1999/2000

• NAA repositioning itself as a proactive enabler
  of good recordkeeping in agencies, providing
  standards/guidelines to improve the behaviour of
  records creators
• Response to deteriorating recordkeeping practices
  and the digital challenge
• Conceptual framework based on AS 4390 (1996)
• Functional approach to recordkeeping
• DIRKS methodology
• New approach to appraisal

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Main components of e-permanence in 2000

• DIRKS Manual (exposure draft)
• Recordkeeping Metadata Standard (version 1.0)
• Appraisal Guidelines (based on DIRKS steps A-C)
• AGLS Metadata Standard and AGIFT
• Keyword AAA Thesaurus/Administrative Functions
  Disposal Authority
• Guidelines for Developing a Functions Thesaurus
• Policy for Archiving Web-Based Resources

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Fine-tuning the suite of products

• The products needed to be road tested and
  continuously improved using feedback loops
• DIRKS Manual revised and renamed A Strategic
  Approach to Managing Business Information (2001)
• Incorporated the appraisal guidelines
• Various revisions to AGLS leading to AS 5044
  (2002)
• Release of AGLS Cwealth Implementation Manuals
• Cwealth modified version of Keyword AAA (2001)
• New edition of functions thesaurus guidelines
  (2003)

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Filling the gaps in e-permanence

• Various training courses developed and rolled out
• Guidelines for archiving web-based resources
  (2001)
• Storage standard, 2001 Implementation
  guidelines, 2002
• Training material Keep the knowledge Make a
  record! (2003)
• General Disposal Authority for source records
  that have been copied, converted or migrated
  (2003)
• AS 4390 replaced by AS/ISO 15489 (2002)

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Recordkeeping issues for Web resources

• Is a web site a publication or record?
• How do we capture and maintain records of
  web-based activity?
• Can an agency be held accountable for something
  it had on its web site a year ago?
• No single rule exists to cover all types of
  scenarios

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Diversity of Web resources

• Static websites/resources
• Static websites/resources with form-based
  interactivity
• Web sites/resources based on dynamic data access
• Dynamically-generated websites/resources

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NAA Web archiving guidelines

• Responsibilities
• Diversity of web-based resources
• Fundamentals of good web-based recordkeeping
• Risk Assessment
• Strategic and technological options
• Storage and preservation issues
• Determining the best option

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Assessing Risk

• Factors to consider
• Public visibility of the agency
• Purpose of the web site
• Complexity of the web site
• Frequency and regularity of content change

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Object or event driven approaches

• Managing the objects that constitute or are
  made available via a web site
• and/or
• Capturing events or transactions that occur
  between the website and the user

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Early implementations audits

• Its all very well issuing standards and
  guidelines the acid test is in implementing
  them to achieve improved recordkeeping
• ANAO audits and APSC State of the Service
  surveys
• Agencies only beginning to tackle the transition
  from paper to digital recordkeeping systems
• Lack of integration with IT information
  management
• Need for compliance assessment frameworks and
  methodologies new Standards Australia
  compliance standard for ISO 15489

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Our latest batch of products

• Digital Recordkeeping Guidelines for Creating,
  Managing and Preserving Digital Records (Exposure
  draft)
• Digital Recordkeeping Self-Assessment Checklist
• Authentication Guidelines (Recordkeeping and
  Online Security Processes)
• General Disposal Authority for Encrypted Records

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Forthcoming products/current projects, 2004/05

• Generic specifications for records and
  information management systems
• Revised recordkeeping metadata standard
• AGIFT, 2nd edition (with full scope notes) to
  be released in a variety of formats
• Monash Uni Clever Metadata Re-use research project

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Current future strategic issues

• Emphasis on total digital recordkeeping
  supporting mature implementations in agencies
• More engagement with agencies and vendors
• Cross-jurisdictional linkages, e.g. Digital
  Recordkeeping Initiative and Standards Australia
• Its about change management-many paths to nirvana
• Records systems are social systems encourage
  peer and management pressure by making it easy
  for people to do the right thing

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Digital Preservation in Archives

• The vital importance of having a strategy that
  ensures the integrity, durability, security,
  useability, evidential meaning and authenticity
  of digital records
• This is not just an afterthought it requires a
  major commitment and serious resources
• A preservation strategy is a pre-requisite for
  long-term access to digital object

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NAA Digital Preservation Strategy

• Uses open source XML technology to wrap and store
  normalised digital records created in
  proprietary data formats RD project, 2001-
• Standard archival data formats for use with
  digital records that are required for long-term
  retention and access (producing authentic,
  reliable, inviolable and durable digital
  preservation masters)
• Xena version 1.0 tools for normalising digital
  records, launched September 2004
• NAA digital repository/laboratory by December

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illuminating
past
the
guiding the
future