News and
Media
News and
Media
Comments by and regarding Barry Associates and other news items of special interest to the information professional...
Cambridge, Massachusetts, November 21, 2006
The Havard University Archives announced its Guidelines for Managing University Files (pdf) in a posting to the US Archivists list. These excellent, succinct and refreshingly candid ("Currently, there is no comprehensive long-term strategy for preserving and maintaining access to e-mail and other electronic records") guidelines for faculty members will be useful not only to other institutions of higher learning, but to others outside of academia.
Little Rock,
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American Bar Association issue guidance on use of metadata:
The
The Model Rules of Professional
Conduct do not contain any specific prohibition against a lawyer’s reviewing
and using embedded information in electronic documents, whether received from
opposing counsel, an adverse party, or an agent of an adverse party. A lawyer
who is concerned about the possibility of sending, producing, or providing to
opposing counsel a document that contains or might contain metadata, or who
wishes to take some action to reduce or remove the potentially harmful
consequences of its dissemination, may be able to limit the likelihood of its
transmission by “scrubbing” metadata from documents or by sending a
different version of the document without the embedded information.
The
Arlington, Virginia, July 25, 2006
Our house...our family archive
This is probably
the only discussion on this site that is not about information and records
management, because it is about my home. It also in so many ways a precious family archive. It is about my own and my wife's
journey as we thought seriously about the home aspects of aging in place. Are you thinking
about retiring in the next few years? Baby boomer? Last kid in college?
Otherwise ready to downsize your life style without giving up on quality of
living—in fact improving on that?
Read media stories about the design and construction of Rick Barry's and wife Linda Cox's
journey with their single-family "retirement home" built in 2001-2, as one alternative
for 50+ year-old retirement.
The home was originally reviewed by architect and syndicated columnist,
Katherine Salant in, "A
House for All Seasons," in
the Washington Post, September
13, 2002 and some two dozen other newspapers in which her column is
syndicated. Subsequently, another article by Christy Pagans
editor of the Guide
to Retirement Living, "Aging in a Unique Place--A Home for (and of) the Future," was published in
the Guide's February 2006 edition.
That article was revised and published again, this time with interior photos, as
"A
Turning Tide, One Couple’s Practical Dream Home Is Ahead of Its Time"
in the Spring 2006
issue of Washington SPACES magazine,
Trish Donnelley, Editor. This is a one-level home designed by Rick and his wife
Linda Cox with assistance from
an architect an a builder using
multi-generational (Universal Design) architectural design features, though we
weren't aware of that until we were over half way through the project.
Bradford, UK, January 6, 2006
Emerald Publishing announced the 2005 Emerald Literati Network 2006 Records Management Journal Outstanding Paper Award for "Heritage groups challenge George W. Bush nominee for US Archivist: So What?" Authors Rick Barry and Mike Steemson. The award is selected by election among editorial boards of the Network. The paper appeared in the Records Management Journal, Volume 15, Issue 1, 2005. It discusses issues surrounding the process for nomination of the new Archivist of the US and related organizational issues and international implications.
Winnipeg, Manitoba
In the Guest Authors Section: 2005 ACA W. Kaye Lamb Prize for "What's History Got to Do with It?" by Tom Nesmith. Author and Associate Professor, Master's Program in Archival Studies, Department of History, University of Manitoba, received the 2005 Association of Canadian Archivists' treasured W. Kaye Lamb Prize -- named after the acclaimed Dominion Archivist of Canada (1948-68), first National Librarian of Canada (1953-67), and Society of American Archivists' president (1964-65) -- for the Archivaria article that best advances archival thinking and scholarship in Canada.
College Park, Maryland, April 1, 2005
20 Years of the National Archives and Records Administration April 1, 2005, marks the 20th anniversary of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as an independent Government agency. The agency was established in 1934, but achieved a new status of organizational independence by the National Archives and Records Administration Act of 1984 that became effective April 1, 1985. View a Webcast of the official May 20 celebration at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC:
Washington, D.C., March 7, 2005
Ninth Archivist of US sworn in. On Wednesday, February 16, Dr. Allen Weinstein, a noted scholar and professor of history and a recognized leader in global democracy issues, took office as the ninth Archivist of the United States. He was sworn in on March 7, 2005 with remarks by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
College Park, Maryland, January 25, 2005
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Web Harvest, a snapshot of Federal Web sites at the end of President G. W. Bush's first Administration
Excerpted
form a NARA memo (Thanks to Jill L
Schneider for the heads-up on this announcement):
...The harvest of Federal web sites from the end of the first term of the George
W. Bush Presidential Administration, captured during the first quarter of fiscal
year 2005, is now
available for public viewing.
Fairfield New Jersey, January 13, 2005
"S-OX Making an Impact on Not for Profits," Sarbanes -Oxley Compliance Journal. "As a best practice, not-for-profits should create and enforce document destruction and whistleblower policies. Doing so is a cost-effective way to ensure compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley." (Thanks to Peter Kurilecz for the heads-up on this announcement.)
Arlington, Virginia, November 16, 2004
The OpenReader™ Consortium Project , CIOs, IT Directors, Electronic Records and Digital Library Managers Take Note!
"OpenReader™ is a cooperative project to create next-generation software for reading digital publications. The software and accompanying format are for books, periodicals, newspapers, business documents, and other similar types of publications — most any type of content best presented in a page-based manner. The OpenReader System will be open source, built upon XML and related open standards....The OpenReader format, now in the initial stages of development, will be a single, portable, compressed archive file which will internally contain (“encapsulate”) a recognized XML/CSS-based framework representing one or more publications...."
This project has enormous potential for long-term access to electronic records and other digital objects. Originally conceived as a multi-media reader for e-books, newspapers and other publications, it will also be developed for digital documents including electronic records. Principal founders of the OpenReader™ Consortium Founders include Jon Noring, Rick Barry and David Rothman. Further information may be found here. The founders are seeking inputs from the archives and records management community on ways in which to enhance OpenReader so as to more fully accommodate electronic records access needs in all major native formats, including multi-media records. Please contact Rick Barry at <rickbarry at aol.com>.
Arlington, Virginia, November 15, 2004
"National Archives and Records Administration officials have proposed revising federal e-mail policies, permitting agency officials to discard some e-mail messages after a limited time without preserving copies of them.
"The proposed rule represents a significant shift from current e-mail retention policies, which some federal records managers find burdensome. But public interest group officials, who have opposed federal electronic records policies in the past, said the proposed rule change could result in important historical records being lost...."
Washington, D.C. November 12, 2004
NARA
unveils incredible "Public Vaults" with hi-tech access to original
historical documents
In partnership with the private-sector Foundation for the National Archives, and as one of its National Archives Experience projects, the National Archives and Records Administration opened an extraordinary assemblage of over 1000 documents to the public on November 12, 2004 in its permanent "Public Vaults" exhibit in the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. next to the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom where the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights are kept in their refurbished "elevator" viewing pods. My memory isn't what it used to be, but I will never forget this experience as long as I live, and I can't wait to go back. It is the most advanced museum production anywhere around, marrying state of the art technology and museum/space design with a wide ranging spectrum of original historical documents very cleverly and interactively presented, including multimedia objects. Of course, the real stars of the show range from a penciled note hand-scribbled by FDR in his White House bedroom when he was informed in the middle of the night of the September 1, 1939 invasion of Poland, opening the first chapter of the beginning of World War II, to Kent State footage, to an investigation of the sinking of the Titanic, to a wax recording of Teddy Roosevelt and genealogical documents of Henry David Thoreau and Alfred Hitchcock. And even some objects, such as the original Zapruder camera that is the only known camera to have captured the entire assassination of President Kennedy. The objects are thematically organized along lines of the Preamble of the Constitution -- We the People, To Form a More Perfect Union, etc. The self-guided exhibit is truly awesome. The specific exhibits will change over time. This is just a taste of what is to come. Thus, for those of you fortunate enough to live within driving distance of the nation's capital, go see it as soon as you can. For those of you who aren't so close, put this high on your list of things to do the next time you come to Washington or make it a good reason in itself to come to Washington. This will surely top the list of essential tourist stops for a long time to come. More than just something for the tourist's check-off list, whatever your nationality may be, it is something that will tug at your heart as the stuff that democracy was made from. And don't forget the real message here: Old records are just formerly new records that have been protected and kept accessible over time. Let's think about this exhibit as we think about how well or poorly we are doing capturing today's "new" records. Archival records and history are marvelous, but much more so if we put them into today's perspectives of current records and current events and decision making.
For a brief introduction, see NARA's November 12 announcement of the opening of the Vaults. For a more detailed online guide with some virtual samples of the objects there, see The National Archives Experience. RB
Washington, D. C. November 16, 2004
"WASHINGTON
(AP)
- The
government promises anyone with a computer will have access within a few years
to millions of pages from old newspapers, a slice of American history to be
viewed now only by visiting local libraries, newspaper offices or the nation's
capital. The
first of what's expected to be 30 million digitized pages from papers published
from 1836 through 1922 will be available in 2006....The National Endowment for
the Humanities is working on the project with the Library of Congress, which has
embarked on a broader project to preserve records of American newspapers dating
from the late 1600s."
Washington, D.C., September 28, 2004
"SEC to make online authentication more stringent," by William Jackson
"The Securities and Exchange Commission wants to be
sure it knows whom it is dealing with when documents are filed through its
Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval system.
"'We’re looking at implementing a new authentication system to prevent
people from fraudulently filing,' SEC chief security officer Chrisan Herrod
said...."
Washington, D.C., September 27, 2004
"Records are records, no matter what the format,"
by Richard W. Walker
"A case a few years ago involving the Bureau of
Indian Affairs underscores what can happen when an agency hasn’t implemented
effective policies and procedures to preserve and protect electronic
correspondence.
"Between Dec. 1, 2001, and Oct. 1, 2002, a BIA official deleted e-mail
messages relating to a court dispute over American Indian trust funds..."
Washington, D.C., September 27, 2004
"NARA prepares for a new era in records management," by Jason Miller
"The numbers are enormous—1 billion military
personnel files and 600 million Census Bureau records, to name just two
examples. Federal agencies are producing millions of records each year and are
struggling to manage them.
"In addition, records management has not been the most popular subject
among agency executives, leaving records managers paddling against the
managerial current. The National Archives and Records Administration recognized
the e-records glut early on and since 1997 has been working on a solution—the
Electronic Records Archive system...."
Arlington, Virginia, July 19, 2004
Where does the recordkeeping buck stop? by Sara Michael
"According to the report from the Electronic Records Policy Working Group, most experts already acknowledge that electronic records are poorly managed. To fix that, the report recommends user-training programs as a way of encouraging better records practices. Some electronic-records experts, however, have criticized the findings....Rick Barry said the report is lacking in criticism of records managers and senior-level agency managers. 'I find no fault with anything said in the report — but [with] what hasn't been said and what might be said,' said Barry, a principal at Barry Associates.'..."
Washington, DC, June 28, 2004
BARRIERS TO THE EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET AND OTHER ELECTRONIC RECORDS, A REPORT TO THE INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, by the Electronic Records Policy Working Group, Michael Kurtz, Chair, June 28, 2004, Draft
Comments were requested by August 1, 2004
Arlington, Virginia, June 21, 2004
Making technology work for record management by Sara Michael
"Technology and records managers typically don't understand one another. Historically, a tension exists between the two camps, but as the disciplines evolve, they are becoming more intricately linked, and increasing the need for understanding on both sides, analysts said....Records management consultant Rick Barry agreed. 'Records were and are seen as the paper evidence of the organization's work and thus of little concern to the IT manager,' he said. 'This is no longer true' now that many records are born digital....Many agencies put the records management duties in the chief information officer's shop when it should be a separate organization to allow for checks and balances between the two, said William Hooton, the FBI's assistant director for records management...."
Arlington, Virginia, June 21, 2004
In the records management community, they say that the intensity of an agency's interest in records can be directly tied to how recently the agency experienced a records disaster. For the FBI, that rule became all too familiar....'Clearly, we didn't have our act together,' said William Hooton, assistant director of the FBI's Records Management Division. 'We didn't even know what we had....We didn't have time [and] I didn't want to train people...We were able to do this because the director approved SES positions. Records management might be a grade 12 at other agencies, which is ludicrous.'.... Records management is being incorporated into enterprise content management, particularly since technology has created forms of records, such as e-mail and instant messaging, said Rick Barry, a records management consultant and principal with Barry Associates in Arlington, Va. However, content management systems are still catching up...."
Washington, D.C., May 2004
John B. Horrigan, “How Americans Get in Touch with Government,” report of a survey of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, May 2004, Washington, D.C., May 2004. "Internet users are increasingly turning to e-government sites to carry out their business with government. But Internet users and non-users alike value having more than one way to get in touch with government."
Chicago, Illinois, May 24-26
The Twelfth Annual National Conference, "Managing Electronic Records," sponsored by Cohasset Associates, will be held at the Westin Michigan Avenue Hotel in Chicago May 24-26. The National Conference on Managing Electronic Records (MER) is the only annual conference that focuses exclusively on the life-cycle management of electronic records.
See also:
ARMA/AIIM/Cohasset White Paper: Electronic Records Management Survey: A Call to Action
Brisbane, Australia, May 17, 2004
"Three Little Words," ("They've been shredded!"), Australian Broadcasting Company's TV program about Kevin Lindeberg and the internationally infamous Heiner case concerning the Queensland State Archives destruction of litigious records and the current Parliamentary inquiry into what has become known as "Shreddergate".
Arlington, Virginia, May 20, 2004
"Government Printing Office officials are looking for so-called fugitive documents and plan on sending a Web crawler out to find them. As more federal agencies publish government information on Web sites without notifying GPO, important documents that should be indexed, catalogued and preserved for public access in the Federal Depository Library Program have instead become "fugitive" documents, according to GPO officials...."
Arlington, Virginia, April 27, 2004
Thank You ARMA-Winnipeg, AMA Winnipeg, and...Winnipeg!!!
Arlington, Virginia, April 15, 2004
Records
overseers push for architecture spot
Arlington, Virginia, March 15, 2004
NARA seeks comments on rule changes
"Officials at the National Archives and Records Administration announced today that they are seeking comments from other federal agencies and from the public on proposed revisions to the agency's rules for managing federal records....According to NARA officials, IT staff members who manage the information systems that contain electronic records do so according to their own procedures, which are sometimes at odds with practices that federal records managers consider optimal...."
Arlington, Virginia, January 12, 2004
"There are still many records management experts in government and industry keeping an eye on Congress to make sure appropriators understand that slowing down the Electronic Records Archives will slow down many e-government efforts, said Rick Barry, a records management consultant and principal with Barry Associates in Arlington, Va....NARA is also relying on advice and recommendations from the National Academies. Program officials have been addressing all of the concerns raised by others and are moving forward with confidence with their plan, according to ERA Program Director Ken Thibodeau."
Toronto, July 28, 2003
The electronic genie
"There is a story that neatly summarizes the challenges archivists face as they grapple with the digital revolution."
Thanks to Terry Cook for the heads up on this article.
Brisbane, Australia, June 13, 2003
"THE lawyer who instructed jailed Chief Magistrate Di Fingleton that it was appropriate to send fellow magistrate Basil Gribbin an e-mail later found to be evidence of a retaliatory threat has admitted he did not know it was a crime...."
(Thanks to Kevin Lindeberg for the heads-up on this article.)
Arlington, Virginia, June 2 and 9, 2003
"Nearly everyone knows documents are increasingly 'born digital' — and often are never even used in paper form. But not everyone realizes that digital documents constitute public records. Some of those records are only trivial in value, while others may be needed for a few years. But a very small portion is of enduring value, important to the 'life of the Republic' Judgments about which records are trivial and which are substantive are critical. Serious human rights and public accountability issues are at stake for the government and the public. Indeed, Eduard Mark, an Air Force historian, wrote in an April 24 online discussion with other historians that the system to maintain federal records has "collapsed utterly..."
Part 2 "Record challenges: Commentary," of a two-part column, by Rick Barry, Federal Computer Week, June 9,2003.
"[NARA's] practice redesign and ERA program are crucial not only for our federal records system, but also for state and local governments and business, because they face similar issues and few have the will and resources to fashion long-term solutions themselves. It is essential that the president, Cabinet members and members of Congress provide NARA with the tools necessary to get it right — and that NARA uses them wisely."
Arlington, Virginia, June 2, 2003
"Instant messaging technology is both a boon and a bane for agencies. On the plus side of the ledger, IM provides 'presence awareness' that can rapidly link internal and external participants. Dynamic, multiparticipant meetings can be held via IM — and so can one-on-one conversations between employees, customers and business partners. Documents and desktop applications can be shared and files transferred. In short, IM can boost productivity and enhance an agency's collaboration and problem-solving capabilities. On the negative side of the ledger, IM introduces security risks and the potential for a reduction in productivity."
This excellent article gets the IM issue out of the closet, presents its pros and cons and compares current IM products. Unfortunately, it fails to even mention the fact that, like email, IM can very well constitute records, and the issues that gives rise to even beyond those with email, due to the absence of necessary metadata and related recordkeeping functionality. Clearly, CIO, corporate attorneys and other executives are going to have to go through the same learning process as was the case with email. RB
Canberra, 26 March 2003
Washington, D.C., March 10, 2003
"E-archiving still lacks enforcement," by Diane Frank, Federal Computer Week.
"NARA issued draft guidelines in July 2002 defining a new records management and archiving approach — the Redesign of Federal Records Management, which includes an oversight and assessment plan.
"But the agency cannot simply assess agencies' programs, Rick Barry, an electronic records consultant, told NARA and the National Academies' Digital Archiving Committee Feb. 27. NARA must also take a more active role in ensuring that all agencies adopt the different approach outlined in the draft, he said.
"NARA officials may lack the skills or power to enforce the guidelines, Barry said. He suggested that officials examine legislative changes or, to address short-term needs, work with the White House to develop an executive order."
Arlington, Virginia, February 27, 2003
At the invitation of the National Academies, Computer Science and Technology Board's (CSTB) Committee on Digital Archiving and the National Archives and Records Administration, Rick Barry made a presentation to the CSTB group on “Electronic Records: Stops down the garden path; looking over the wall.” (This is a MS PowerPoint™ presentation. It may take longer to load.)
Arlington, Virginia, January 29, 2003
"REPORT ON THE SOCIETY AND ARCHIVES SURVEY," 29 January 2003, by Rick Barry, Barry Associates. See the: Report Table of Contents, including links to other Survey Documentation; 2-page Executive Summary; and Full Report
