Saturday, March 26, 2011

Readers' Choice Awards Winners

Readers' Choice Awards Winners: "



You nominated and voted for your favorite blogs, videos, Android apps, and devices, and now it's time to announce the official winners for the 2011 Readers' Choice Awards. These winners were decided by you, the reader, so keep up the good work.



This year's Awards go to:




Best Android Device That Isn't a Phone


Best Google Product Besides Search


Best Free Android App Best Android Game App


Best YouTube Video


Best Free Android App


Best Blog on Google Blogger




About.com's 2011 Readers' Choice Awards showcase the best products, features and services in multiple categories, from technology to hobbies to parenting. There's no prize -- just the bragging rights that come with getting recognized by the readers of one of the biggest networks on the web.

Readers' Choice Awards Winners originally appeared on About.com Google on Tuesday, March 15th, 2011 at 11:17:13.

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Twitter DC exec Adam Sharp advises federal managers on how to be effective tweeters -- Federal Computer Week

Good advice!


Twitter DC exec Adam Sharp advises federal managers on how to be effective tweeters -- Federal Computer Week

Friday, March 25, 2011

Records Management and E-discovery: Making Beautiful Music

Records Management and E-discovery: Making Beautiful Music: "

Last Thursday Jason R. Baron, NARA’s Director of Litigation, gave a presentation entitled, “Three Suggested Improvements At The Nexus of E-Recordkeeping and E-Discovery”, at the E-Discovery, Records & Information Management Conference & Expo. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend this presentation, but over the years I have heard Jason speak on this topic many times. It is a topic that he is very passionate about. He often cites the enormity of the challenge of managing all of the electronically stored information (ESI) that we create. All of his presentations that I have heard, however, seem to be optimistic that we will be able to meet this challenge. He often cites the importance of records management in addressing this challenge.


Last month Jason gave an interview on “Government’s Record-Keeping Challenges.” Here is a telling quote from that interview:


My bottom line: I want to believe the next generation of public servants will do right by the American people by managing and preserving the government’s born-digital records, and providing the means for continuing access to them, so as to ensure that the history of the 21st century is properly preserved.


Jason is not new to the fields of e-records management and e-discovery. He served as the Department of Justice’s lead counsel  in the very first lawsuit over White House e-mail in 1989 (the so-called “PROFS” case, Armstrong v. EOP). Since that time he has conducted research, taught classes, and given presentations around the world on related  topics.


As part of his research, he founded and served as a TREC Legal Track Coordinator for a number of years. The Text REtrieval Conference (TREC) workshop series has the following goals:



  • to encourage research in information retrieval based on large test collections;

  • to increase communication among industry, academia, and government by creating an open forum for the exchange of research ideas;

  • to speed the transfer of technology from research labs into commercial products by demonstrating substantial improvements in retrieval methodologies on real-world problems; and

  • to increase the availability of appropriate evaluation techniques for use by industry and academia, including development of new evaluation techniques more applicable to current systems.


The goal of the TREC Legal Track is to develop search technology that meets the needs of lawyers to engage in effective discovery in digital document collections. For more information on the TREC Legal Track and some of its findings take a look at a paper that Jason co-authored, “Some Lessons Learned To Date from the TREC Legal Track (2006-2009)”.  You can find it here. See also a recent guest blog Jason did describing his search for the Holy Grail of the perfect search technology here.


Why would NARA be interested in this type of research? In addition to responding to the discovery orders that NARA periodically receives, having tools that allow you to find relevant documents in large collections of electronic texts could be very useful for responding to Freedom of Information requests or helping a NARA researcher find documents relevant to their research.


BTW, Jason also “moonlights” as a creator of music videos. Be sure to check out e-Discovery: Did You Know?


"

Behind The Scenes: A Glimpse to the Archives of the Future | LiveScience

Behind The Scenes: A Glimpse to the Archives of the Future | LiveScience

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Records Express » Transformation: What it Means For Our Customers

Very good post!!!!

Records Express » Transformation: What it Means For Our Customers

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Eight unique Features for Federal Records Management

• NARA is the Agency which oversees the management of Federal Records

• DOD 5015 is the Standard for requirement features in Federal Records
management applications

• Records scheduling provides the authority for records destroying

• Every Federal employee has a responsibility to manage Federal Records

• E-mails may be fading in importance but in a Federal context they are still the giant elephant

• The Federal Records Act is still binding

• Social networks have introduced new challenges

• Open Government cannot be fully achieved without effective records management processes



Monday, March 21, 2011

Scanning: What’s Driving Organizations to Digitize Their Paper?

Scanning: What’s Driving Organizations to Digitize Their Paper?: "

The benefits of capturing paper documents and converting them into digital format are well known.  The benefits include:




Better organization of data
Improve access to information
Improve searchability of data / significantly faster
Increase information security
Digital documents saves space / reduce storage costs
Information is easier to disseminate / distribute
Provides a strategy for disaster recovery


A recent report by Record Nations [...]"

New Web Content for Federal Agency Users of ERA

Very significant NARA development!!!

New Web Content for Federal Agency Users of ERA: "

An update from Michael Carlson, ERA Adoption Coordinator


NARA has posted a new home page with content on what federal agency users need to do to get started using NARA’s Electronic Records Archives (ERA).


The 30 Departments and Agencies that constitute the Chief Information Officers’ Council will start using ERA during their assigned months starting in March 2011 and ending in November 2011.  You may view the schedule here.  The rest of the government signed up for start months that ranged from July 2011 until September 2012.  If you are a records officer and have not yet signed up for a start month, just contact michael.carlson@nara.gov.


From the new home page you can Log On to ERA or transfer electronic records if you are trained, have user accounts, and are ready to go!


Otherwise, the page contains a link to ERA Training.  Getting Started With ERA gives you a four-step sign up process for your staff.  A “quick link” to the User Account Request form gets your staff quickly signed up for ERA.


Check out the ERA FAQs.  A user guide for scheduling records is available to help you get started created records schedules.


The links above should give you essential information about getting started with ERA.  We will be adding content regularly over the coming weeks.  We have also been working quite intensively with our help desk staff.  Between the help desk and your appraisal and accessioning archivists and me, of course, you should be well supported.


While you’re exploring, check out the newly redesigned page for the ERA project, including links to the Online Public Access search interface and information about the system itself.


Thanks so much for your support and commitment to ERA!


"

Saturday, March 19, 2011

www.archives.gov/foia/pdf/attachment1-statement-of-objectives.pdf

NARA Electronic Records Archives (ERA) Original Contract


www.archives.gov/foia/pdf/attachment1-statement-of-objectives.pdf

Save The Date: RACO 2011

Save The Date: RACO 2011: "

Mark Your Calendar for our 23rd RACO Conference!


Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at the National Archives and Records Administration McGowan Theater located at 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC.


This year’s theme is: “Forging Ahead: Meeting the Challenges of Electronic Records in an Open Government”


Registration is free, but a limited number of seats are available.


We are providing this year’s RACO at no cost to attendees due to Federal budget constraints and uncertainties.


Registration will open later this week (on March 16, 2011). Please limit registrations to 5 attendees per agency until May 1, 2011. On May 1, we will open registration to all interested agency attendees.


For more information, including registration information, please visit the official RACO 2011 website at http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/training/raco/2011. News and information will also be posted here on the blog under the RACO 2011 category. You can also follow NARA records management on Twitter by following @NARA_Recmgmt.


The Records Administration Conference (RACO) is for Federal records officers, records management professional, information managers, and information technology professionals, space permitting.


Here is the RACO 2011 Save the Date Flyer.


"

New Web Content for Federal Agency Users of ERA

New Web Content for Federal Agency Users of ERA: "

An update from Michael Carlson, ERA Adoption Coordinator


NARA has posted a new home page with content on what federal agency users need to do to get started using NARA’s Electronic Records Archives (ERA).


The 30 Departments and Agencies that constitute the Chief Information Officers’ Council will start using ERA during their assigned months starting in March 2011 and ending in November 2011.  You may view the schedule here.  The rest of the government signed up for start months that ranged from July 2011 until September 2012.  If you are a records officer and have not yet signed up for a start month, just contact michael.carlson@nara.gov.


From the new home page you can Log On to ERA or transfer electronic records if you are trained, have user accounts, and are ready to go!


Otherwise, the page contains a link to ERA Training.  Getting Started With ERA gives you a four-step sign up process for your staff.  A “quick link” to the User Account Request form gets your staff quickly signed up for ERA.


Check out the ERA FAQs.  A user guide for scheduling records is available to help you get started created records schedules.


The links above should give you essential information about getting started with ERA.  We will be adding content regularly over the coming weeks.  We have also been working quite intensively with our help desk staff.  Between the help desk and your appraisal and accessioning archivists and me, of course, you should be well supported.


While you’re exploring, check out the newly redesigned page for the ERA project, including links to the Online Public Access search interface and information about the system itself.


Thanks so much for your support and commitment to ERA!


"

A Three Step Slam for Shrinking Paper

Check out this new Article I just published on Ezine!

A Three Step Slam for Shrinking Paper

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Improving open government oversight through FOIA reform | Gov 2.0: The Power of Platforms

Improving open government oversight through FOIA reform | Gov 2.0: The Power of Platforms

Sunday, March 13, 2011

The future of records management

The future of records management: "
RM as a discipline is seeking new orthodoxies: we are at a crossroads. One possible future orthodoxy is the “records repository model” – where a business classification scheme is held in a back end system (above item), and applied to content held in the various applications used by colleagues (item level).

As more and more applications come on stream in organizations individuals and teams have increased choice as to how and where they keep their records. This makes it problematic to insist on one corporate records system, and to apply retention and access rules. That's the impact of the individual orange world (incl. social Media) on the corporate blue world.

We have to live with the fact that Organizations have an information archaeology, not an information architecture (p. 254 Lappin). Digital landfill specialists ... is also a good term.

Dump and pick will be the paradigm in big organizations as transparency is not even a required principle from a legal perspective.
RM is the art of throwing things away. Therefore we have to focus on the enforcement of our disposition policy.
This is not about losing confidence in the RM profession as records are generated every day and we have no choice to keep them.
But we have to retreat from some orthodoxies (e.g. EDRMS as the only solution and centralizing paradigm which has brought us to a vendor-led profession) as James Lappin explains in his excellent article.

This refers to Lappins article in the latest issue of the Records Mgmt Journal, p.252-264 (Vol.20, Nr.3 2010): What will be the next records management orthodoxy?


"

Document and Records Management: Necessary elements of a document destruction polic...

Document and Records Management: Necessary elements of a document destruction polic...: "

A policy is the set of underlying governing rules which have to be adhered to by the people belonging to a particular organization in its working. The policies are made by the governments as well as the private organizations. The policies set out the broad framework of guidelines which are required to set up effective communications and to direct the efforts in a particular direction. The policies ensure continued and consistent work, irrespective of who is in charge of the works. For the private organizations, there is a need to have the document destruction policy which will ensure that the documents are destroyed without losing the important ones. This is a vital part of the more elaborate documentation management process which focuses more commonly and in a major way on safe keep of the documents.

Documents destruction is the last stage of the documentation management process. The organizations need to destroy these for the want of more space, for cutting down expenses on the storage, for confidential requirements of the clients, to prevent the identity theft and even for reasons that the your competitor must not get hold of something unique or sensitive for your business. There varied requirement necessitate to have a well documented document destruction policy for the management document and all sorts of other documents.

So, some of the important elements of a policy made for destruction document are:

1. Obsolescence of documents: The documents should have reached the stage where these are not relevant anymore. This will depend on a number of factors like the time period, the nature of the documents, the change in the environmental settings and many others.

2. Time period: Every organization classified what all papers need to be retained for what time period and thereafter, the same shall be destroyed.

3. Exceptions to destruction: The secure document destruction shall not violate any law. When the requirement of the law and the legal process is that the documents might be required, then the same shall not be destroyed even when the stipulated time period has been reached. Many other similar exceptional provisions might need to be made for this purpose.

4. Legality: The documents destruction shall be legally tenable and justified. The secure destruction shall not run in to rough weather legally.

5. Authorization provisions: This is a key element of the confidential document destruction policy of the organizations. It is only after the due approval and authorization from the client or form a person with appropriate authority that the process shall be undertaken.

6. Security of destruction: Irrespective of the nature of the documents, the destruction has to be carried out in the most secured manner. The company policy might outline the type of process to be used for secure document destruction.

7. Eco-friendliness: The companies prefer to use those methods of documents destruction which do not harm the nature in any way. This could be one of the important elements of the modern document destruction policy.

"

Records management evolves to information governance: KMWorld/By Gordon Hoke

Records management evolves to information governance: KMWorld/By Gordon Hoke: "
It’s not your parents’ records management anymore. Old-fashioned library services, full of retention schedules and version control, recede into the wallpaper. Now new media, hosted solutions, e-discovery, contextual analytics, cloud computing and more converge, transforming records management into information governance.

ARMA International, which convened in San Francisco in November, reflected that evolution. New technology and new applications of recent technology took center stage. ARMA’s generally accepted recordkeeping principles (GARP), launched last year, strode to the forefront as the primary interpreter of the developments and everything that used to be called records management.

GARP defines the discipline of records management. It is a codification of thousands of years of evolving records practices. For ARMA, it has become, as intended, a primary branding mechanism designed to relate to professionals in legal, finance, IT and other areas. ARMA promotes GARP’s accompanying maturity model as a tool for measuring risks that derive from shortcomings in organizations’ records programs.

Approximately 2,700 attendees (a substantial rise over last year) filled meeting rooms for 80 presentations. Additionally, poster sessions, industry roundtables and a bustling expo floor reflected practitioners’ keen interest in the information governance evolution.

Befitting a new stage, questions related to the latest technology abounded. These questions and untold others echoed across the conference:

•How can we build alliances with IT?

•How can we harmonize record retention schedules across many continents?

•How can we manage records in the cloud?

•How can we produce Facebook correspondence for e-discovery?

•How can we control derelict collaboration sites?

Not surprisingly for a new development, successful case studies/war stories were hard to find. Steve Nelson, business process manager at St. Jude Medical (sjm.com), explains, “If it’s not SharePoint-easy, people are not adopting it yet. There are cost issues (the big vendors do not make it easy to start off small), and there are ease-of-use issues. The problem is the short-term focus. The rewards [of the new technology] are on the back end. If the whole focus of a company is on quarterly earnings, and you’re trying to do something that will reap rewards in five to 10 years, it is a hard sell to management. They don’t see the long-term gain.”

Traditional records management is still a significant challenge, and its practitioners struggle to find, retain, dispose or archive records. New media present challenges, as the records managers strive to corral not just proliferating e-mail, but also Tweets, VoIP, hard drives on multifunction printers and much more.

At ARMA 2010, the atmosphere was positively encouraging. Lurking in the wings, however, is the threatening issue that almost no one mentions: long-term preservation of digital records. While the bulk of business records are ephemeral—with a lifespan of six months to five years—there are few strategies for preserving records that require long-term storage.

Fortunately, two factors offer hope. First, the discipline of records management is medium neutral. It values and manages information based on its content, not its form or format. Second, neither paper (with its 1,000-year storage potential) nor microform (predictively viable for 500 years) is going away. ARMA’s expo floor featured both banker box manufacturers and fresh initiatives in microforms from Kodak, Fujifilm and others.

With GARP and its maturity model, specialists in records and information governance appear ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with leaders in law, IT, finance and others to meet the challenges of new technology. Information governance, using GARP, apparently offers the best opportunity in recent memory for the discipline of records management to make major contributions to organizations’ success.

The vexing challenges
Industry leaders and strategists see information governance offering solutions to some of the public and private sectors’ most vexing needs:
•Corporate counsel wants comprehensive, cost-effective e-discovery.

•Information technology leaders want relief from the exponential growth of storage.

•Operations officers want rapid access to business and customer documents.

•Compliance officers want to lighten the burden of regulations.

•Security officials want assurance that valuable or private information is safe.

"

What should you do to preserve records with a long life cycle?: KMWorld/By Gordon Hoke

What should you do to preserve records with a long life cycle?: KMWorld/By Gordon Hoke: "
Unseen dangers lurk. Opportunistic bacteria, crocodiles and sleeper cells all lie in wait for the right moment to wreak havoc on the unaware. Some hide, some take cover and some wear camouflage until the moment of revelation. To paraphrase Thomas Pynchon, paranoia is valid when the threat is real.

Add to the list of dangers: digital records with long life cycles. If a digital file is a record, it is important, by definition. Keeping an (important) digital record viable for a long time is problematic.

How long is long? Definitions abound, but consider that common removable digital storage media—like DVDs and Digital Linear Tape—lose integrity in fewer than 10 years, according to many sources. Similarly, leading software producers typically end support for versions of operating systems and application software after 10 years. Ten years is a useful (and some would say generous) life expectancy for the original forms of digital records.

Escalating variables

By way of contrast, parts of physical records remain after 3,000 years. The Dead Sea Scrolls go back a couple millenniums. Translating ancient texts challenges linguists, but the physical eye and sunlight are the only necessities. Similarly, microforms with a projected longevity of 500 years store large quantities of records in a small space. Their technology is only a bit more complex: In addition to a light source, the reader needs a magnifying lens.

The complexity multiplies geometrically for digital records. The list of issues includes computers, peripherals, protocols, operating systems, device drivers, formats, application software, storage media and more. That complexity raises the number of variables and, hence, the size of the array of risks to digital records. As the time of storage grows, so do the number of risks.

Long-term storage of digital records is not a universal issue. In this writer’s experience, the life cycle of a majority of records—especially in the private sector—has been less than 10 years. Selected records of business transactions, regulatory reports, accounting, inventories and compliance documents can and should be disposed of in fewer than 10 years.

The remaining minority of records—those with 10-year-plus life cycles—may be more significant than their ephemeral counterparts, on average. Those include records of laws, regulations and history; records of property, real and intellectual; and health/medical records. Concerning the last, diagnosing physicians improve their perspectives with lifelong records of their patients. The health history of parents and grandparents helps identify familial trends and likelihoods. Also, medical researchers covet families’ multigenerational records for longitudinal studies.

A real-world example: For a developer of implantable heart defibrillators, it is redundant and too costly to start each new model from scratch. Instead, each model builds on the previous one. That daisy chain reaches back to pacemaker research in 1972, and the laboratory notebooks that led to Defib Number One must remain viable as long as the line continues. There is no foreseeable end to the need for those records.

The HITECH problem

The U.S. Congress passed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Touting that legislation, President Obama mentioned improved healthcare, but gave primary emphasis to the need to control costs.

As clarified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on July 13, 2010, healthcare facilities that want to qualify for large payments in 2011 and 2012 will have to keep 80 percent of their patient records digitally. Also, 40 percent of prescriptions have to be digital. After two years of transition through government incentives, mandatory regulations will launch in 2013.

Between the U.S. government’s carrot and stick, and a feeding frenzy among opportunistic vendors, it is clear that American medical records soon will be digital for the most part. The economic stimulus will occur.

Unobserved in both the mainstream press and the computer trade press is the viability of long-term storage of medical records. In the great rush to digitize, few address the maintenance of records. Amidst the heady exuberance of progress, danger lurks.

Obstacles

Consider the words of futurist and optical character recognition (OCR) inventor Ray Kurzweil: “Information lasts only so long as someone cares about it. The conclusion I’ve come to … after several decades of careful consideration, is that no set of hardware and software standards existing today, nor any likely to come along, will provide any reasonable level of confidence that the stored information will still be accessible (without unreasonable levels of effort) decades from now.”

The complexity necessary for long-term preservation of digital records contributes to the potential for failure. Consider the vulnerable points, colloquially known as a chain of weak links:

•Removable media—There is no way to assess the longevity of removable media, including tape and laser-written disks (CD, DVD, Blu-ray, WORM, etc.). There are too many variables. The standard way of testing media is “accelerated aging,” but only the future will prove its accuracy. There are no standards for quality, and it is difficult to impossible to consistently identify the materials and manufacturing processes that produced a shipment of disks. Controlled temperature and humidity affect the stability of a disk’s substrate and dyes, but storage environment is only half a disk’s life cycle. Even for a disk made of high-quality materials, who can verify the conditions and duration under which the disk was transported and warehoused before use?
•Hardware obsolescence is obvious and visible to all who have reached adulthood. Floppy disk drives (5.25-in. or 3.5-in.) are difficult to find, to say nothing of players for ZIP, Jazz and other proprietary format media. In 1991, Sony advertised a 12-in. optical disk guaranteed to last 99 years. While the verity of that claim will be revealed in 2090, not even museums are likely to have a compatible disk player.
•As operating systems evolve, they have limited compatibility with their ancestors. Can a PC running Windows 7 read files created under CP/M? Can today’s IBM Power System OS consistently extract files written on a s/38 from 1979 or a system/3 from 1969?
•Application software becomes obsolete as well. Consider the boneyard of former market leaders: VisiCalc, WordStar, Wang word processing and countless others. Microsoft stopped supporting Office 97 about 10 years after its release.
•Output drivers—Retrieving old records also depends on being able to display and/or print content. Even with legacy CPUs, OSes and application software, the period monitors, printers and the software that drives them may be unavailable or inoperable.
•Encryption and password protection—Long-lived records, including health records, often require security and privacy protection. Maintenance of passwords and decryption capabilities loom as additional impediments to the retrieval of old records.
Options for long-term preservationThere are at least four viable options for keeping digital records available over 25 to 100 years.

The most obvious is media migration. Here, records transfer from a storage medium approaching obsolescence to newer technology. For example, records written in MS Word 97 and stored on single-density CDs transfer to Word 2010 files written on Blu-ray disks. The portage to newer technologies may be repeated several times for records with long or indefinite life cycles. A drawback is that each migration alters the metadata accompanying individual records.
"

eDiscovery, records management, gouvernance de l’information : ce qu’il faut savoir !/Publié le 3 mars 2011 par Claude Super

Good presentation!

eDiscovery, records management, gouvernance de l’information : ce qu’il faut savoir !/Publié le 3 mars 2011 par Claude Super: "
"

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Transparency Through Technology: Evaluating Federal Open-Government Init...



"Transparency Through Technology: Evaluating Federal Open-Government Ini...



"Transparency Through Technology: Evaluating Federal Open-Government Ini...



"Transparency Through Technology: Evaluating Federal Open-Government Ini...



NARA ERM Guidance on the Web

Very important site!

NARA ERM Guidance on the Web

NARA Stripped-down digital records archive set to debut - FederalTimes.com

Intriguing developments at NARA!

Stripped-down digital records archive set to debut - FederalTimes.com

EIN Presswire - Colligo & FileTrail Announce Partnership for Physical & Electronic Records Management in SharePoint

EIN Presswire - Colligo & FileTrail Announce Partnership for Physical & Electronic Records Management in SharePoint

Friday, March 11, 2011

Executive Insight Jason R. Baron- Government's Record-Keeping Challenges | DGI | Digital Government Institute

Executive Insight Jason R. Baron- Government's Record-Keeping Challenges | DGI | Digital Government Institute

Social Media: How Are Businesses Addressing the Challenge

Social Media: How Are Businesses Addressing the Challenge: "

In a report from AIIM on how Social Media is affecting businesses and the way that they operate, the following survey findings are reported:



43 percent of organizations bar their employees from accessing social media sites
44 percent of organizations have no written policy or guidance about the use of social media
55 percent of all employees think [...]"

Why electronic records could cost a CIO his or her job | TechRepublic

Why <b>electronic records</b> could cost a CIO his or her job | TechRepublic: "Career Management. Why electronic records could cost a CIO his or her job. Recommend. +7 Votes. 7 Comments. more +. Email; Print; Add to Favorites; Del.icio.us; Digg; Facebook; Google Buzz. Hacker News; LinkedIn; Reddit; StumbleUpon ..."

Planning your Electronic Document & Records Management System in ...

Planning your <b>Electronic</b> Document & <b>Records Management</b> System in <b>...</b>: "Planning your Electronic Document & Records Management System in SharePoint - Planning Considerations. 3) Planning Considerations. Designing the Information Architecture is only part of the EDRM consultancy exercise. ..."

What they do in the document management system? | Article Resource ...

What they do in the document <b>management</b> system? | Article Resource <b>...</b>: "The modern records management systems are basically the electronic systems and therefore these are also called the electronic document management system (EDMS). These are an important part of any such policy. ..."

8 Things you need to know about social networking and content management-but you were afraid to ask.

8 Things you need to know about social networking and content management-but you were afraid
to ask.
: "Presented by Oklahoma Chapter



Mar 31, 2011

Tulsa-OK-United States


"

AIIM Washingtong DC Conference and Expo!

AIIM 2011 Conference and Expo, plan to be there or be square 3.21-3.24 n Washington DC Conv. Center! http://images.questex.com/AIIM/2011/info360_B2.pdf

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

More agencies moving paper records into the digital realm - FederalTimes.com

More agencies moving paper records into the digital realm - FederalTimes.com

Monday, March 7, 2011

Social media not easy for U.S. embassies

Social media not easy for U.S. embassies: "

U.S. embassies find that establishing a social media presence in their host countries is a labor-intensive and sometimes pitfall-ridden practice, according to a February State Department inspector general report posted online March 4.


Embassies view social media as a way to reach a younger audience. But, successful U.S. mission social media sites that have original content and audience interaction 'require a serious commitment of staff time,' the report says--resources that embassies may lack, the report says.


Of 57 missions examined by the inspector general, 42 had active public Facebook sites. Public affairs sections have found it difficult to get other sections to contribute, 'a necessity for serious discussion of consular or policy issues,' the report states. About a quarter of the 42 missions updated their Facebook page daily, half did so every day, while a quarter did so less than once a week, State auditors found.


In addition, embassies have had to deal with users adding questionable material to U.S. social media sites--the bane of open forums everywhere--such as postings from terrorist group supporters or U.S. partisan political screeds. Embassy staff were uncertain how to handle comments severely critical of U.S. society or policies, the report adds.


U.S. mission Facebook pages themselves sometimes crossed the line between posting informational versus promotional links, the report says. When linking to a non-federal webpage, an official U.S. site must have a disclaimer eschewing endorsement. But, of the 14 or so embassy Facebook pages that had linked to non U.S.-governmental organization or event webpages, few had disclaimers.


Embassies evaluate how effective their social media efforts are by counting followers or interactivity, often as measured by Facebook Insights. But, if the goal is to change attitudes abroad, then additional metrics are needed, the report states.


For more:
- download the report, OIG ISP-1-11-10 (.pdf)


Related Articles: 
Clinton: Internet freedom is a foreign policy priority 
State Department, Middle-Eastern governments ramp up social media efforts in wake of Egypt protests 
Report: Muslim extremist terrorist groups find Western converts with social media

"

NARA ERA spending plan 'not reliable,' says GAO

NARA ERA spending plan 'not reliable,' says GAO: "

An October 2010 spending plan submitted by the National Archives and Records Administration for the final developmental year of its Electronic Records Archive project failed in several key ways, says the Government Accountability Office.


The GAO, in a report dated March 4 but based on a presentation given to congressional appropriations subcommittees on Dec. 21, says the NARA plan is an unreliable basis for informed decision making. Namely, the plan's cost estimates aren't reliable because of weaknesses in the supporting methodology, and it doesn't clearly show what functionality ERA managers plan to deliver and by when.


NARA awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) a $317 million cost plus award fee contract in 2001 to develop the system; since then, the program has come under repeated scrutiny for lateness and cost overruns. In July 2010, the Office of Management and Budget directed NARA to halt developmental activities by Oct. 1, 2011. NARA is examining which requirements it can drop but also considering the start of a second developmental phase, according to another GAO report, dated Jan. 13. NARA could need up to $1 billion total to finish the system  as planned, says the watchdog agency.


NARA had originally planned to spend $88.5 billion on ERA during the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, but apparently due to the funding uncertainties for this particular year, also prepared plans for lower amounts. In a continuing resolution approved Feb. 19 by the House of Representatives that would fund agencies for the remainder of the current fiscal year, NARA would get $72 million with $52 million of that to be available to NARA until Sept, 30, 2013.


(The House legislation ran into opposition in the Senate, so both chambers approved yet another short-term continuing resolution that funds the government through March 18; negotiations are said to be ongoing.)


GAO criticism encompasses NARA fiscal 2011 plans at any spending level, however. Other defects include lack of post-implementation review of currently deployed ERA capabilities; Office of Management and Budget approval of the fiscal 2011 ERA plan (which NARA was supposed to gain); and lack of documentation on schedule and scope changes to a recent ERA increment.


NARA officials told GAO auditors that when it came to selecting which requirements to implement before the end of fiscal 2011, they were unsure because the requirements were still the subject of negotiations with Lockheed Martin.


National Archivist David Ferriero told auditors in a letter dated Feb. 15 that NARA is preparing an addendum to the fiscal 2011 spending plan.


Meanwhile, NARA announced March 4 on its official blog that it has a rollout schedule for when agencies will start using ERA and that it's met with eight agencies already to discuss rollout plans.


'We have asked agencies to begin using ERA for scheduling and/or transferring permanent records to NARA during their start month. Although the amount of work they generate in ERA is at their discretion, we ask that once they start using ERA for a particular ERA function, they continue to use ERA,' the official blog post states.


For more:
- download the report, GAO-11-299
- read the NARA official blog post on ERA and see the rollout schedule


Related Articles: 
NARA: Most agencies at risk of bad records management 
GAO: NARA archives system would cost up to $1 billion to complete 
NARA announces reorganization

"

NARA ERA spending plan 'not reliable,' says GAO - FierceGovernmentIT

NARA ERA spending plan 'not reliable,' says GAO - FierceGovernmentIT

Friday, March 4, 2011

NARA reinvents preservation for the digital age -- Federal Computer Week

NARA reinvents preservation for the digital age -- Federal Computer Week

NARA debuting online search tool -- Federal Computer Week

NARA debuting online search tool -- Federal Computer Week

Agriculture, Education, Justice and Transportation at high risk of poor records management, NARA survey shows -- Federal Computer Week

Four federal departments — Agriculture, Education, Justice and Transportation -- rated themselves at high risk of failing to manage and preserve official records in 2010, according to a mandatory self-assessment survey of 270 agencies released by the National Archives and Records Administration.
Sixteen departments received aggregate scores indicating moderate risk of being ineffective in managing records, NARA said in the March 2 report. None of the departments showed low risk.
On the whole, the study revealed that federal departments and agencies are struggling with their records management duties, especially for electronic records, with too few staff and resources dedicated for that purpose, NARA said.
Related stories:
NARA debuting online search tool
NARA offering tips in FourSquare check-ins
“The responses indicate that many agencies are not managing the disposition of their records properly or, in some cases, they are saving their records but not taking the necessary steps to ensure that they can be retrieved, read, or interpreted,” the report said.
A key problem is little staff attention paid to records management. Governmentwide, 3,174 employees are assigned to records management responsibilities on a full-time basis, which is one records manager for every 1,460 employees. However, NARA noted that some of those recordkeeping employees also handle other duties and also do not have sufficient funding, guidance or training to manage the records appropriately.
Electronic records and e-mail preservation pose persistent problems, the survey indicated. Many agencies do not ensure that e-mails are preserved consistently and do not monitor compliance. Furthermore, many agencies use inappropriate preservation strategies, such as using system backup as a means of preservation, or printing e-mails on paper.
“These findings confirm that management of electronic mail remains the most troubling issue,” NARA said in the report. “Only a few agencies have a DOD 5015.2 compliant electronic record-keeping system. Many agencies, even if they have implemented an electronic record-keeping system, are not able to use it to capture e-mail messages because the record-keeping system and the e-mail systems are incompatible.”
NARA began requiring the self-assessments in 2009. For the 2010 survey, while 93 percent of the 270 agencies responded, a few did not, including the Office of Management and Budget.
The archives agency took some steps to validate the self-assessment findings. For example, in one case where agencies indicated they had filed planning documents, NARA verified whether they had done so. However, NARA in most cases accepted the agencies’ scoring of their own progress, the report said, and it asserted the results are generally accurate.
The 270 agencies assessed their records management on a 100-point scale, with scores over 90 indicating low risk, between 60 and 90 moderate risk, and below 60 high risk. In addition to agency scores, departmental aggregate scores were calculated for each department.
The high-risk departments were Education, with a score of 49 out of 100; Agriculture, with 52; Justice, with 56; and Transportation, with 59. The most favorable scores — while still being considered moderate risk — were for the White House, which scored 70; and the departments of Labor, 73; Veterans Affairs, 76; Interior, 87; and State, 87.
At the agency level, a number of agencies rated themselves at low risk. At Interior, eight of the 12 agencies that responded scored themselves in the 90 to 100 range. The Internal Revenue Service rated itself a 93, and the Office of Job Corps rated itself 97.
NARA distributed the survey on a pilot basis in 2009, and it revised the survey in 2010. The NARA website today had a link to the 2009 survey, but the link was broken.

Agriculture, Education, Justice and Transportation at high risk of poor records management, NARA survey shows -- Federal Computer Week

Get access to your confidential documents from anywhere with electronic records management! - Computers - Software

Get access to your confidential documents from anywhere with electronic records management! by Kirti Joshi
in Computers / Software (submitted 2011-03-04)

It is impossible to imagine a business organization without documentation and records. In fact most companies are stuffed with data records that just go on increasing with time. But, it is very important to manage this data in a smooth and effective manner if you really want to run your organization efficiently. And electronics record management has helped in clear and smooth document management that prevents misuse of important files and protects the same. Online files storage is therefore very necessary so that mismanagement can be avoided that can cause serious problem for any business.
The internet has given rise to several remarkable facilities and benefits that were unthinkable just a few years ago; and online files storage is one of them. With the help of online storage you can get access to your important documents anytime and from anywhere in the world. With the help of such a facility it is now possible to store all your business information in the form of presentations, slideshows etc. You just need an internet connection and you can retrieve your data from any destination. Online files storage is acceptable in all formats and not limited to only MSWord or Power point presentations. This sort of an electronics record management system is in fact very beneficial for a person who is always on the go.
With the help of an electronic records management system; information for different organizations around the world can be availed very fast and in any file format. This is a much secured way of storing data online and has proved to be very helpful for most organizations. Organizations that use a computer to create, use and manage information basically needs to use an online files storage system. More and more people and companies are using the electronic records management system for different document management services that includes sending emails, creating excel/spreadsheets, web page publishing, database management and lots more.
If you are planning to avail the best electronic records management system, you should look for a document management software vendor who has proper knowledge of the product and its related matters and offers genuine and reliable services.
About the Author
Online Files Storage is acceptable in all formats and not limited to only MSWord or Power point presentations. Electronic Record Management has helped in clear and smooth document management that prevents misuse of important files and protects the records files


Get access to your confidential documents from anywhere with electronic records management! - Computers - Software

National Archives to end development of e-records project - Computerworld

A very significant NARA development!

National Archives to end development of e-records project - Computerworld

U.S. GAO - Electronic Government: National Archives and Records Administration's Fiscal Year 2011 Expenditure Plan

U.S. GAO - Electronic Government: National Archives and Records Administration's Fiscal Year 2011 Expenditure Plan

Meeting Priority Goals: Complying with GPRA 2.0

Meeting Priority Goals: Complying with GPRA 2.0: "The Performance Institute has revised our services to ensure that agencies not only meet the new GPRA requirements, but are better able to make the best use of all performance information in a new era of fiscal discipline."

February FRC/BRIDG Meeting to be Repeated February 22

February FRC/BRIDG Meeting to be Repeated February 22: "

We will repeat yesterday’s FRC Forum/NARA BRIDG meeting on February 22, 2011 at 10:00 AM -12:00 PM, because of the high interest from our customers in the topics that were discussed. This repeat session will be available as a Genesys teleconference only. If you are interested in attending the Genesys teleconference, please see the instructions below:


Web access instructions:



  1. Go to http://www.genesys.com/

  2. Click on the Genesys Login: ‘Participant’ button. (The button is bright blue and on the top right side of the page.)

  3. Enter 7916727 as the meeting number and follow the remaining prompts.


Note: Select “Dial Me Now” (Be prepared to answer your phone) and enter your telephone number in the space provided.


Telephone-ONLY access:



  1. Dial the toll free number: 1 866 233 9464

  2. Enter the Meeting Number: *7916727* (Be sure to enter the * star key before and after the Meeting Number)


If you are only able to listen via phone, please remember to press *6* to mute yourself. The same code will turn off the mute if you wish to speak at some point.


If you dial-in for the teleconference on February 22nd, you are still welcome to schedule an appointment to meet your agency’s new FRC Account Manager. For more details about the new account managers, please see FRC Communications memo 02.2011 or contact Ron Mitchell (ron.mitchell@nara.gov or 301-837-3422) to schedule an appointment.


Please note that the McGowan Theater in the National Archives Building is currently under construction. It will be operational for the FRC Forum/NARA BRIDG meetings for the rest of the fiscal year, so space will not be an issue for these meetings.


Thank you very much for your interest in our FRC/BRIDG Meetings.


"

2010 Records Management Self-Assessment Report Released

2010 Records Management Self-Assessment Report Released: "

The 2010 Records Management Self-Assessment Report has been released and is now available on our website (.pdf). Recall that in May 2010, we issued the mandatory annual records management self-assessment (RMSA) to Federal agencies. This followed the pilot self-assessment that was completed in 2009. The goal of the self-assessment is to determine whether Federal agencies are compliant with statutory and regulatory records management requirements. Of the 270 agencies that received the self-assessment, 93 percent (251) responded.


The responses indicate that 95 percent of those Federal agencies that responded are at high to moderate risk of compromising the integrity, authenticity, and reliability of their records. They risk improper management and disposition of records or, in some cases, they are saving their records but not taking the necessary steps to ensure that they can be retrieved, read, or interpreted. We believe that the RMSA serves as a baseline for evaluating records management within the Federal Government and provides a roadmap for its future. Agencies can use RMSA data to chart their own programs. NARA will use survey results in agency inspections. Taken together, data gleaned from the RMSAs and inspections will allow NARA and the Federal records management community to continue to assess the effectiveness of current records management practices and develop strategies for improving the compliance of programs in Federal agencies


“Non-compliant records management undermines the ability of Federal agencies to efficiently conduct their business; undermines Government accountability and citizens’ rights and interests; and jeopardizes the historical record,” said Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero. “This is unacceptable to the National Archives as the institution charged with safeguarding and preserving the records of our Government. It is also unacceptable to everyone interested in effective records management, from Federal Records Officers, to researchers, and to members of the public.”


NARA has the authority to inspect the records management programs and practices of Federal agencies under 44 U.S.C. 2904 and 2906. NARA evaluates agencies for compliance with requirements stated in 44 U.S.C. Chapters 31 and 33 and the regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) - specifically Subchapter B - Records Management of 36 CFR Chapter XII.


The report may be downloaded from our website as a .pdf from: http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/pdf/rm-self-assessmemt.pdf


Also keep reading this blog for information about the upcoming 2011 Self-Assessment Report. We will post updates on the timing and more information about that report later this Spring. In the meantime, what are your reactions to the 2010 report or what do you want us to ask about in the 2011 report?


"

Update on ERA Rollout

Update on ERA Rollout: "

An update from the ERA Adoption Coordinator.


As many of you know, on November 16, 2010, NARA informed the 30 Departments and Agencies that constitute the Chief Information Officers’ Council that it would begin expanding the use of ERA in their agencies starting in March 2011 and ending November 2011. The list of agencies and the months in which they will start using ERA is located here.


To date, we have met with the following agencies and gone over the rollout plans with them:



  • Department of State

  • Health and Human Services

  • Department of Justice

  • Department of Army

  • Department of Commerce

  • Department of Treasury

  • Department of Interior

  • Department of Air Force


Meetings with the other agencies will take place over the next few months.


Also in November, NARA announced a second phase of the ERA rollout. The over 200 headquarter records officers in non-CIO Council agencies received emails asking them to select a month between July 2011 and September 2012 in which to start using ERA. The emails were sent to the records officers during the week of January 31, 2011. Another email soon followed that gave them instructions for using the online sign up portal. We gave the agencies until February 18 to select a start month. So far, 92 agencies have met the deadline. We  left the sign up window open until February 25. Now, however, we will begin assigning months to the agencies that did not meet the deadline.


Agenda topics during the initial rollout meetings include:



  • Rollout timetable: How will ERA be rolled out in my agency?

  • Potential workload: What workload can my agency expect?

  • Training: What training do I need?


We have asked agencies to begin using ERA for scheduling and/or transferring permanent records to NARA during their start month. Although the amount of work they generate in ERA is at their discretion, we ask that once they start using ERA for a particular ERA function, they continue to use ERA. We also let them know that the use of ERA will be mandatory for scheduling and transferring permanent records after September 2012.


At this time, the online training has been changed to reflect the Increment 3 update to ERA. As Increment 5 enhancements are deployed throughout FY2011, the training will updated to reflect the changes. Before the March 2011 rollout month, we also intend to post additional information in the form of “quick start” guides on how to sign up to become users of ERA and an online sign up process.


Much work still needs to be done. We have only addressed rolling out ERA within the headquarter levels of agencies. We need to incorporate the regional components of agencies into the ERA rollout plan. The planning for a regional rollout will take place over the next few months.


Many thanks to all of you who have participated in the ERA rollout to date and we look forward to everyone playing a part in the successful rollout of ERA throughout the next two fiscal years. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments.


"

Reliable Electronic Records Retention in the eDiscovery Process — Clearwell

A very good eDiscovery site, with some excellent tools!

Reliable Electronic Records Retention in the eDiscovery Process — Clearwell

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

NARA announces reorganization - FierceGovernmentIT

NARA announces reorganization - FierceGovernmentIT

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Archives.gov

Archives.gov

Delaware Court Implements Guideline Regarding the Preservation of Electronic Information — The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation

Delaware Court Implements Guideline Regarding the Preservation of Electronic Information — The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation