Records Continuum Research Articles

Highlighting the Need for Collaboration Between Archaeologists and Information Professionals

The discipline of archaeology intersects with information science as it deals directly with the information of human history and prehistory through material culture. This paper examines the link between the disciplines of information science and archaeology within the context of the archaeological curation crisis, which has been exacerbated by the lack of attention to the curation of archaeological collections. While the issue and solutions have been identified in the scholarly literature, few sources discuss collaboration between archaeologists and information professionals as a potential solution. This paper on conceptualizes archaeological artifacts as archival records and analyzes the issue through boundary object theory and the records continuum model. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the complementary nature of the two disciplines and subsequently highlight the importance of collaboration between archaeologists and information professionals, as both discipline have the potential to identify areas of need and establish best practices to resolve this curation crisis.

Khmer Rouge archives: appropriation, reconstruction, neo-colonial exploitation and their implications for the reuse of the records

The Khmer Rouge archives that are now held by the Documentation Center of Cambodia in Phnom Penh are not the same archives as the ones that were built up during the Khmer Rouge regime. The largest archive, the archive of the Tuol Sleng incarceration centre, comprises records that were found in several places and brought together in one archive. In the upheaval of the first months following the breakdown of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979, many records were lost, stolen, misappropriated or destroyed. During the 1980s, the remaining records were kept in poor conditions and remained uncatalogued. Some records known to have been in the archive in 1979 later disappeared, and some records were later added to the archive. By retracing the history of the Tuol Sleng Archive and looking through a Records Continuum lens at the archival processes that were applied when the archive was appropriated by the successor government and reconstructed into an archive that supported their political aims, this paper uncovers some problems that have affected the way the records were managed, which have serious implications for the reuse of the records as instruments of evidence, accountability and memory. The author argues that the work that was done on the archive by foreign organisations amounted to a neo-colonial exploitation of the archive. She concludes that there is a clear need to rethink the way the records are accessed and used and she advocates for an archival system based on Cambodian values and ethics that takes into account the rights of the subjects of the records and of their communities.

Institutional readiness for digital archives management at United States International University-Africa

ABSTRACTThis article seeks to assess the readiness of the United States International University-Africa (USIU-A) to manage digital archives with a view to proposing strategies to enhance digital archives management at the institution. The study was informed by the Records Continuum Model, the Open Archival Information System Model and the Digital Curation Centre Lifecycle Model. A case study was used as part of a mixed-method research approach with a sample size of 120 respondents drawn from a population of 6937 by using systematic random sampling and purposive sampling techniques. Questionnaires, interviews, observation and documentary review methods were used to collect data. Qualitative and quantitative data was presented and analysed thematically. The study revealed that the infrastructure required for digital archives management was not up to standard. Moreover, a myriad of challenges were unearthed which were found to potentially inhibit the management of digital archives. The study therefore concluded that although USIU-A had taken steps towards digital archives management, more still needed to be done for the institution to effectively manage its digital archives.

In the shadows of the continuum: testing the records continuum model through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ‘Migrated Archives’

This article offers a test of the records continuum model. As a case study I use the Foreign and Commonwealth Office “Migrated Archives”, those records first made known to the public in 2011 during the court case against the British government. Through this case, records from over 30 former colonies were found to have been stored away by the FCO, since the colonies had become independent. While testing the continuum model with this case, I simultaneously use the records continuum model to tell the history of the Migrated Archives. My research finds that by highlighting the hidden moments—the shadows of the continuum—the Migrated Archives reveals that the continuum model can be too dependent on pluralization and a culture of openness and accessibility. Using the term “shadow continuum,” I attempt to rectify this situation by allowing for continuum model processes to continue, albeit in the shadows.

Care Leavers’ records: a case for a Repurposed Archive Continuum Model

The historical records created by Australian child welfare agencies were never intended to be released to the children after they left ‘care’. They were administrative records that were compiled for the agencies’ own use, not to meet the needs of the children or their adult selves. What happened after records were released to Care Leavers and reused by them is not what the agencies intended to happen. The author argues that this cannot be adequately mapped onto the Records Continuum Model and proposes a Repurposed Archive Continuum Model to represent the processes involved when Care Leavers are attempting to access their records.

Recordkeeping in an outsourcing public agency

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss the implications of an outsourcing policy for public recordkeeping. The research question addressed is as follows: What are the current impediments to create, capture, organize and pluralize records produced by contractors to whom work has been outsourced?Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses four dimensions of the records continuum model (RCM) as a structure for understanding what important aspects of recordkeeping that can be affected by an outsourcing policy and discuss the consequences for the creation of public archives. An investment project at a Swedish public agency with a far-reaching outsourcing policy in the form of a client–contractor model is used as a case to exemplify the problem.FindingsThe findings indicate that the legal framework for recordkeeping needs further development, or clarification as to how it should be interpreted in the outsourcing context. More case studies are needed to provide richer data about recordkeeping challenges arising from outsourcing and further opportunities for theoretical analysis using the RCM.Originality/valueThe RCM has been used in a first attempt to understand various aspects of records management practices and what principles need to be taken into account when making such significant organizational structural and cultural changes.

EMAIL MANAGEMENT IN THE GOVERNMENT SECTOR: A CASE STUDY

Email has become the significant tool for correspondence in all sectors, displacing and drastically changing usual letter composition. It has been acknowledged as a formal method of giving and accepting commands, agreements, decisions etc. Email is also an information communication system which captures organisations’ decisions. Therefore, every organisation needs to develop and implement an email policy to manage email as records for evidence and information. In the government sector there are examples of poor email management. For instance, Michael Gove, former UK Secretary of State for Education, conducted government business using his wife’s personal email account; and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email account and server for both government and personal business. This paper discusses preliminary findings from a study of email management in the government sector. It is based on a case study at a selected government ministry in Malaysia involving interviews with twelve participants in different roles across three departments and two policies and guidelines’ providers, comparing practices on the ground with the policies and guidelines. The records continuum model, which comprises the creation, capture, organisation and pluralisation of information in an organisation, was used to design the interview questions. The study aimed to critically explore the management of email in the context of the transition to digital information management (record keeping). Its context is the introduction of the 1Malaysia email project, which will provide a free email account for each Malaysian citizen over 18 years old to access e-Government services via a single sign-on user ID, as part of the move to e-government in Malaysia to accomplish its Vision 2020. This case study will contribute to the evolution of record keeping policies and practices in a former UK dependency during the transition to the digital and the identification of good practice that could be transferrable to other similar national government contexts.

Critical Archiving and Recordkeeping Research and Practice in the Continuum

Records Continuum research is increasingly engaging with critical and participatory archiving and recordkeeping approaches to research and practice, "questioning the social constructs, values and power differentials embedded in current frameworks, processes, systems and technologies, exploring archival and recordkeeping agency, autonomy and activism, and moving beyond insight and critique with the aim of bringing about transformative outcomes."[1] In this paper, we explore the characteristics of these approaches with reference to an illustrative case, and the Records Continuum, theory, models and constructs which complement, frame and support critical archiving and recordkeeping theorizing and practice.[1] Sue McKemmish, "Recordkeeping in the Continuum: An Australian Tradition.” In Research in the Archival Multiverse edited by Anne Gilliland, Sue McKemmish and Andrew Lau. Melbourne: Monash Publishing, 2016.

今、明らかになる! 米国SOX法の光と影 : 文書管理を中心に(特別寄稿, ライフサイクル論とcontinuum論のはざまで)

今、明らかになる! 米国SOX法の光と影 : 文書管理を中心に(特別寄稿, ライフサイクル論とcontinuum論のはざまで)

『日本占領下のマラヤ1941-1945』におけるアーカイブズの利用( ライフサイクル論とcontinuum論のはざまで)

『日本占領下のマラヤ1941-1945』におけるアーカイブズの利用( ライフサイクル論とcontinuum論のはざまで)

電子公文書等の長期保存 : 国立公文書館の取組みを中心として(特別寄稿, ライフサイクル論とcontinuum論のはざまで)

電子公文書等の長期保存 : 国立公文書館の取組みを中心として(特別寄稿, ライフサイクル論とcontinuum論のはざまで)

日本版SOX法・新会社法 : 内部統制の課題と文書管理のあり方(特別寄稿, ライフサイクル論とcontinuum論のはざまで)

日本版SOX法・新会社法 : 内部統制の課題と文書管理のあり方(特別寄稿, ライフサイクル論とcontinuum論のはざまで)

Describing Records in Context in the Continuum: The Australian Recordkeeping Metadata Schema

The Australian Recordkeeping Metadata Schema (RKMS), approved in July 1999 by its academic and industry steering group, is the major deliverable of an eighteen month Australian collaborative research project reported on in this article. The project's conceptual frame of reference was the Records Continuum Model and the Australian Series System. The RKMS uses recordkeeping understandings to make explicit connections between business, defined broadly to encompass all social and organisational activity, the people or agents who do business, and the records which are by-products of that business. Its vision links the dynamic world of business and social activity to the passive world of information resource management in cyberspace. In this article the conceptual models developed by the research team as a framework for standardising and defining Recordkeeping Metadata are presented, the Schema elements introduced and their extensibility explored through the metamodels employed to enable rigorous structuring and test validity. The capacity of the RKMS to facilitate semantic interoperability by providing a framework for mapping or reading other metadata sets is outlined, followed by a brief discussion of implementation issues and future directions. Describing Records in Context in the Continuum: the Australian Recordkeeping Metadata

Agency in the archive: a model for participatory recordkeeping

To date, definitions of participatory archiving or participatory recordkeeping have been elusive. The use of the single term ‘participatory’ for disparate and seemingly contradictory activities raises a number of definitional and practical issues. This paper is an attempt to address these issues by describing the various manifestations of such engagement in terms of a consistent framework; answering Huvila’s call for “a model of different degrees of participation in archival contexts” (2011, p. 1). Literary warrant was employed to explore models of participatory recordkeeping, and the ‘ladder of participation’ approach was shown to have a number of shortcomings when applied to recordkeeping informatics. This linear, meta-narrative approach was rejected in favour of a continuum approach to modelling participation. Based on the Records Continuum Model, a Participatory Recordkeeping Continuum Model is proposed that describes the distanciation of participants from the activities represented by records. A number of examples of participatory engagement reported in the literature including community archiving, Archive 2.0 initiatives, traditional researcher engagement, and participatory recordkeeping were examined and successfully described using the model. The paper concludes that any treatment of participatory engagement with records that attempts to solve problems of severe disenfranchisement requires a continuum approach—the Records Continuum Model to deal with the complexity of records and a Participatory Recordkeeping Continuum Model to understand the complexity of participatory agency. The Participatory Recordkeeping Continuum Model can be used to not only situate existing literature, projects, and systems, but to determine future system requirements for participatory engagement.

Understanding of Records/Archives and Archives Management Based on the Semiotics and 'Constructivism of Sunglihak: Focused on the Understanding and Supplement of Records Continuum

Understanding of Records/Archives and Archives Management Based on the Semiotics and 'Constructivism of Sunglihak: Focused on the Understanding and Supplement of Records Continuum

Evolution or revolution? The changing role of city archives in Australia

The City of Adelaide, established in 1840, is Australia’s oldest municipality. The City of Canberra is perhaps its youngest. The official archival institutions of both cities were established to serve notions of civic pride and a desire to support research into the history and development of newly identified communities. Over the intervening years each has evolved into an entity equally interested in modern recordkeeping, becoming an advisor on current information needs as well as a custodian of each local community’s archival heritage. In this paper, case studies of the history and development of these two institutions form a framework in which to trace the fortunes of municipal archives and archivists in Australia. The paper provides a broad overview of the activities and areas of focus of city and other local government archives in Australia, primarily during the period of the existence of the Australian Society of Archivists’ Local Government Archives Special Interest Group. These changes are viewed in the context of two key environmental factors of the time. The first is the increasing influence of new public management theory and its impact on local government reform agendas. The second is the acceptance by many Australian professionals of the records continuum model as a means of explaining the need for a closer relationship between records and archives management.

Enterprise Content Management and the Records Continuum Model as strategies for long-term preservation of digital information

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to establish whether Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Records Continuum Model (RCM) frameworks could be used to mitigate long-term preservation challenges. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative research was undertaken using two case studies and interviews were conducted with the different categories of the municipal personnel to solicit answers to the research questions. The questions were designed using the lens of the RCM and its four dimensions that cover the creation, capture, organization and pluralization of records and prescribed factors of ECM which include business process management, enterprise architecture, collaboration, system integration, re-purposing of information, change management, knowledge management and the life cycle management of information. Not all the ECM factors are dealt with in this paper: the remainder have been dealt with in the author's earlier works. Findings – Challenges of long-term preservation of information still persist despite the enormous research that has been generated over the years. The municipalities that were subjects of this research are still grappling with issues of lack of long-term information management policies, enterprise architecture, disparate information systems, collaboration and system integration. This is likely to work against the investments that are being ploughed into e-Government developments should the municipalities fail to espouse strong information and records management regimes. Embracing the ECM prescribed factors and the RCM thinking might mitigate these challenges. Originality/value – The author's licentiate research proved that there was no discourse between records managers/archivists and ECM proponents. Therefore, the originality of this article lies in the application of the two frameworks of ECM and RCM. The findings confirmed that even within the records management framework the municipalities were addressing factors similar to ECM prescribed factors. Embracing both the RCM model and the ECM prescribed factors might mitigate the challenges of long-term preservation and hence the re-use of information and enhancement of the societal memory.

Finding aids in context: using Records Continuum and Diffusion of Innovations models to interpret descriptive choices

The Records Continuum model allows the context of records to be examined from a range of views and perspectives. By viewing finding aids as records created by archivists, the Records Continuum model can be used to examine the influences acting on archival finding aids and the archivists creating them. The Diffusion of Innovations model may reveal barriers and motivators for the adoption of new descriptive systems. The Records Continuum model was used together with Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations model to develop a mixed-methods survey and to analyse the results in a study into descriptive practice in New Zealand archival institutions. This paper looks at the effectiveness of the two models for this type of research.

An educative intervention: assisting in the self-assessment of archival practice in 12 community service organisations

There is a need for systemic improvement in the management of care records in Australia. This has been highlighted by government inquiries, media coverage and research literature relating to the significance of records for those who experience out-of-home care. The Who Am I? project – an interdisciplinary collaboration between historians, social workers and archivists – sought to address this concern and support positive change in 12 participating community service organisations (CSOs) in Victoria. To provide a framework for practice improvement, research archivists on the Who Am I? team designed the Self-Assessment Tool for Archives. Based on an action research methodology and influenced by the Records Continuum, this was an ‘educative intervention’ for the CSOs, as well as the participating archivists.

Can archival science add value to chemical compound library management?

The synthesis and testing of thousands of chemical compounds is an essential process in the development of small molecule drug therapies. Over time, even a small research group can generate tens of thousands of compounds and a vast amount of data that is associated with the compounds. One of the challenges faced by research groups is how to manage these compound collections. This review considers chemical compound libraries from a records management perspective and was written based on personal experience working in drug discovery and with knowledge gleaned during postgraduate study in archival systems. A review of the four dimensions – create, capture, organise and pluralise – of the Records Continuum Model has been employed to address some of the issues associated with the management of large chemical compound libraries. This review is not a technical description of how to create a compound library management system; rather, it serves as a starting point for drug development scientists to consider applying archival science theories to improve chemical compound management.