Building record-keeping systems: Archivists are not alone on the wild frontier

Archivaria

Volumn 44, Issue , 1997, Pages 44-71

  Hedstrom, Margaret ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 79959356524     PISSN: 03186954     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (65)

1. For an extended discussion of metaphors for the Internet, see Mark Stefik, ed., Internet Dreams (Cambridge, Mass., 1996).
2. John McDonald, "Managing Records in the Modem Office: Taming the Wild Frontier, " Archivaria 39 (Spring 1995), pp. 70-79.
3. University of Pittsburgh, School of Library and Information Science, "Functional Requirements for Evidence in Electronic Recordkeeping, " James Williams and Richard J. Cox, principal investigators, NHPRC Grant W33-003.
4. U.S. National Historical Publications and Records Commission, Research Issues in Electronic Records, Repon of the Working Meeting (St. Paul, Minn., 1991).
5. Two of the doctoral students supported by the project, Wendy Duff and David Wallace, have completed doctoral work on electronic record-keeping issues. See Wendy Duff, "The Influence of Warrant on the Acceptance and Credibility of the Functional Requirements for Recordkeeping, " (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, School of Information Sciences, 1996).
6. University of Pittsburgh, School of Information and Library Studies, grant proposal for "Variables in the Satisfaction of Recordkeeping Requirements for Electronic Records Management, " (August 1993, rev. July 1994),
7. The idea that policy, standards, systems design, and implementation represented alternative tactics for satisfying record-keeping requirements was first expressed by David Bearman in "iXplomatics, Weberian Bureaucracy, and the Management of Electronic Records in Europe and America, " American Archivist 55 (Winter 1992). pp. 168-80. This article stressed the influence of organizational culture and national traditions on the choice of tactics.
8. The other members of the Planning Committee were Lila Goff, Assistant Director of the Minnesota Historical Society (which sponsored the Working Meeting), chair.
9. Readers who are unfamiliar with the Pittsburgh Project will find detailed reporting on its purpose, hypotheses, methodology, and results on the project web page at . For published summaries about the project, see Kimberly J. Barata, "Functional Requirements for Evidence in Recordkeeping: Further Developments at the University of Pittsburgh, " Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science 23, no. 5 (JuneIJuly 1997), pp. 14-16.
10. This author was one of the participants in the First Experts Meeting held in Pittsburgh in May 1993, which included experts with professional training and experience in the areas of archives, electronic records management, information system design, and auditing. This meeting was the culmination of the first stage of an iterative process through which the functional requirements were further refined over the course of the next two years. This author also participated in the Second Experts Meeting held in February 1996.
11. Use of the term "functional requirements" has caused confusion among archivists who are unfamiliar with this concept and among some systems analysis who use the term in a more specific way. In commentaries on the project at the 1995 SAA meeting in Washington, D.C., P.C. Hariharan, a computer scientist, and Seamus Ross, a specialist in humanities computing, both commented on difficulties with the terminology chosen by the project. Luciana Duranti and Heather MacNeil also contend that the Pittsburgh project's use of functional requirements is not the common usage in computer science (Luciana Duranti and Heather MacNeil, "The Protection of the Integrity of Electronic Records: An Overview of the UBC-MAS Research Project, " Archivaria 42 (Fall 1996), p. 63. While I agree with many of these points, I do not believe that the project's use of the term functional requirements invalidates its findings or contributions. Substituting a term like "principles, " "desirable attributes, " or even "objectives for evidence" in record-keeping would provide a more descriptive designation for what are called functional requirements.
12. Duff, "The Influence of Warrant on the Acceptance and Credibility of the Functional Requirements for Recordkeeping;" and "Increasing the Acceptance of Functional Requirements for Evidence, " Archives and Museum Informatics, 10, no. 4 (1996), pp. 326-51.
13. The fact that the Pittsburgh project was unable to investigate all of its initial hypotheses is not intended as a criticism of the project. All too often, researchers are unable to investigate all aspects of a research problem because of methodological, logistical, and time constraints. The project did produce three very valuable reports on its preliminary forays into organizational culture. See David Wallace, "Satisfying Recordkeeping Functional Requirements: The Organizational Culture Variable, " February 1994.
14. Luciana Duranti and Teny Eastwood, "Protecting Electronic Evidence: A Progress Report on a Research Study and its Methodology, " Archivi & Computer V, no. 3 (1995), pp. 214-15.
15. Duranti and Eastwood, "Protecting Electronic Evidence, " p. 215.
16. During the initial stages of this project, this author participated in the project's site visits to the national archives of Sweden and the Netherlands and to several government agencies in both countries in April and May 1995.
17. Duranti and Eastwood, "Protecting Electronic Evidence, " p. 214.
18. Duranti and Eastwood, "Protecting Electronic Evidence, " (1995), pp. 213-50.
19. Duranti and MacNeil, "The Protection of the Integrity of Electronic Records, " pp. 58-62.
20. The U.S. Department of Defense (US DoD) Records Management Program Management Office and the University of British Columbia (UBC) Master of Archival Studies Research Team, "Genesis and Preservation of an Agency's Archival Fonds, " .
21. Duranti, MacNeil, and Underwood, "Protecting Electronic Evidence, " pp. 47-52. A current version of the activity and entity models is available on the project web site .
22. Underwood, et al., "Extensions of IDEF Methodology Based on US Department of Defense Experience in Reengineering Records Management, " n.p.
23. Duranti and MacNeil, "The Protection of the Integrity of Electronic Records, " pp. 62-63.
24. Other noteworthy projects that have also tested electronic record-keeping requirements include projects at the World Bank, Astra AB, and several other pharmaceutical companies. See Clive Smith, "Implementation of Imaging Technology for Recordkeeping at the World Bank, " Bulletin of the American Society for Informution Science 23, no. 5 (JuneIJuly 1997), pp. 25-29.
25. This p. r o-j ect, directed by David Weinnerg-, Dep. uty C ommissioner of the Records Department and staffed by Mark Giguere, Electronic Records Manager, was funded in part by three grants from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (95-031,96489, and 97-001). This author was a consultant to the project in 1995 and 1996.
26. Mark D. Giguere, "Automating Electronic Records Management in a Transactional Environment: The Philadelphia Story, " Bulletin of the American Society for Informution Science 23, no. 5 (JunelJuly 1997). p. 19.
27. Giguere, "Automating Electronic Records Management, " p. 18.
28. Philip C. Bantin and Gerald Bernbom, "The Indiana University Electronic Records Project: Analyzing Functions, Identifying Transactions, and Evaluating Recordkeeping Systems. A Report on Methodology, " Archives and Museum Informatics, 10, no. 3 (1996). pp. 246-66.
29. Models for Action is housed at the CTG and funded by a grant from the NHPRC (96423). Principal staff are Kristine Kelly, Research Associate at CTG, and Alan Kowlowitz, SARA.
30. New York Center for Technology in Government, Models for Action, "Draft Functional Requirements to Ensure the Creation, Maintenance, and Preservation of Electronic Records, " Center for Technology in Government, 1997
31. Models for Action: Developing Practical Approaches to Electronic Records Management and Preservation, Report to NHPRC for the time period from 10/1/96 to 3/29/97, Center for Technology in Government, 1997
32. U.S. Department of Defense, Records Management Task Force, "Electronic Records Management Test Requirements: Academic and Industry Review, " 16 May 1995, .
33. U.S. Department of Defense, "Department of Defense Design Criteria Standard for Records Management Application Functional Baseline Requirements, " (DoD STD-5015.2), 8 April 1997.
34. U.S. Department of Defense, "Design Criteria Standard for Records Management Application Functional Baseline Requirements, " p. 14.
35. U.S. Department of Defense, "Design Criteria Standard for Records Management---l i c a t i o n Functional Baseline Requirements, " p. 14.
36. Alan Kowlowitz and Kristine Kelly, "Models for Action: Developing Practical Approaches to Electronic Records Management and Preservation, " Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science 23, no. 5 (JuneIJuly 1997). p. 22.
37. Bantin and Bernbom, "The Indiana University Electronic Records Project, " p. 264.
38. Philadelphia Electronic Records Project, "RFP Text, " portions of the RFP for the HRIS that refer to electronic record-keeping, issued 15 March 1996
39. It is important to note that there are at least four different methods for structuring and managing metadata: 1) embedding the metadata in the record itself.
40. Bantin and Bernbom, "The Indiana University Electronic Records Project, " p. 250.
41. Kowlowitz and Kelly, "Models for Action, " p. 22.
42. One of the major conclusions of the 1996 Conference on Electronic Records Research and Development was that more differentiation is needed in archival research between basic research and development, which is best carried out in universities and research laboratories, and pilot testing, implementation, and evaluation, which are best done in organizations with ongoing responsibilities for records generation, maintenance, and preservation. See Electronic Records Research and Development, Report of an Invitational Conference held at the University of Michigan, 28 and 29 June 1996, sponsored by the Bentley Historical Library and the School of Information, Ann Arbor, 1997.
43. A good example of a missed opportunity is the attention focused on and the investments in the Year 2000 problem. Businesses and government agencies are investing billions of dollars to redesign systems or implement workarounds for legacy systems with truncated dating systems. To my knowledge, archivists have made no attempts to integrate system redesign efforts to enhance the record-keeping capabilities of systems with the considerable investments being made to resolve Y2K problems.
44. Mark Stefik, "Letting Loose the Light, " in Internet Dreams, p. 226.
45. This is a high-level abstraction of the rules governing record-keeping systems. In different juridical, temporal, cultural, and business contexts, the criteria for complying with these rules vary widely. Some record-keeping systems are governed by very general principles while others have elaborate rules and strict controls. The critical issue for trusted systems is not that rules must be extensive and elaborate but that they are known and followed at all times.
46. John McDonald, "Taming the Wild Frontier, " pp. 71-72. This issue was also raised by judges in the series of cases against the U.S. government involving use of the PROFS e-mail system by personnel in the Executive Office of the President. In his 6 January 1995 ruling, Judge Richey declared that "The court also finds that the Defendants [sic] record keeping procedures are arbitrary and capricious because there is no oversight of the agency staff by the record keeping personnel. The agency staff make the decision in every instance whether computer material is a federal record that must be saved. " Opinion of Judge Charles Richey in Armstrong v. Executive Office of the President, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 6 January 1993, C.A. No.89-0142 CRR. In a recent ruling on NARA's General Records Schedule 20, Judge Paul L. Friedman also found that the general records schedule for electronic records gave agency personnel too much discretion in determining what is and is not a record. See Opinion of Judge Paul L. Friedman in Public Citizen, et a1 v. Carlin, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 22 October 1997, No. 96-2840 (PLF).
47. For an example of the types of rules recommended for ED1 transactions, see Electronic Messaging Services Task Force, American Bar Association, "The Commercial Use of Electronic Data Interchange: A Report and Model Trading Partner Agreement, " The Business Lawyer 45 (June 1990), pp. 1645-1747.
48. Scott Hamilton, "E-Commerce for the 21st Century, " Computer 30, no. 5 (May 1997). p. 44-46.
49. One survey, conducted in January 1997, estimated that 50 million people over the age of sixteen in the United States and Canada had Internet access, and about 37 million had access to the world wide web. See Ajit Kambil, "Doing Business in the Wired World, " Computer 30, no. 5 (May 1997), p. 56. Another study estimated that half of Internet users in the U.S. purchased goods on-line in 1996, but this translates into a mere 5.4 per cent of the US. population. See Hamilton, "E-Commerce for the 21st Century, " pp. 44-45.
50. Mark Stefik, "Trusted Systems, " Scientrfic American 276 (March 1997). pp. 78-8 I.
51. Stefik, "Letting Loose the Light, " pp. 238-41.
52. A. Michael Froomkin, "The Essential Role of Trusted Third Parites in Electronic Commerce, " Oregon Law Review 49 (1996). non-paginated electronic version available at .
53. A detailed technical description of security issues and measures is beyond the scope of this article. For a comprehensive overview written for a lay audience, see Bruce Schneier, E-Mail Security: How to Keep Your Electronic Message Private (New York, 1995).
54. A recent article in the New York Times reported on a backlash against a security system for electronic commerce called SET (Secure Electronic Transactions), which is being introduced by the credit card industry, because it is too slow, too expensive, and cumbersome for users. See Saul Hansel "New Security System for Internet Purchases Has Its Doubters, " The New York Times National Edition, (24 November 1997), C1, C6.
55. Froomkin, "The Essential Role of Trusted Third Parties in Electronic Commerce, " n.p. Because CAs are a recent development, several methods have been proposed to increase their trustworthiness. Government entities could license CAs and permit firms that meet standards set by the regulating body to issue certificates.
56. Hamilton, "E-Commerce for the 21st Century, " p. 46.
57. Charles R. Menill, Esq., "The Digital NotaryTM Record Authentication System-A Practical Guide for Legal Counsel on Mitigation of Risk From Electronic Records, " 22 June 1995, available from Surety Technologies, Inc., .
58. Froomkin, "The Essential Role of Trusted Third Parties in Electronic Commerce, " n.p.
59. Hal Abelson et al., "The Risks of Key Recovery, Key Escrow and Trusted Third-Party Encryption, " 27 May 1997. The latest version of this document can be found on the world wide web at .
60. Hal Abelson et al., "The Risks of Key Recovery, Key Escrow and Trusted Third-Party Encryption, " 27 May 1997. The latest version of this document can be found on the world wide web at .
61. Duranti and MacNeil, "The Protection of the Integrity of Electronic Records, " p. 63.
62. This assumption was based in part on research conducted at the New York State Archives and Records Administration for the Building Partnerships Project. See New York State Education Department, State Archives and Records Administration, Building Partnerships: Final Report and Working Papers, Albany, NY, available on the world wide web at: .
63. Models for Action: Developing Practical Approaches to Electronic Records Management and Preservation, Report to NHPRC for the time period from 10/1/96 to 3/29/97, p. 1.
64. Bantin and Bernbom, "The Indiana University Electronic Records Project, " pp. 26445.
65. Giguere, "Automating Electronic Records Management, " p. 17.