Greatest Digital Archiving Challenge of All
The greatest digital archiving challenge of all is documenting change and continuity over time. We refer to it as Cloud Control.
As archiving technologies change, people and processes are modified. An institution continues to create, manage and archive its materials. But whether it’s intellectual property, content, communications, or anything else, digital assets and electronic records help document continuity and change over time.
Many institutions focus attention towards current, near-term or ongoing projects throughout the year. With good reason! They make deliverables or deliver results. Whether assets are stored on a shared drive or on a centralized system, they gain enduring value. Assets serve a function whether they serve one or more users. You must manage information actively to manage it effectively. Greater awareness and better arrangement and description improves search and navigation.
Documenting Change and Continuity Over Time
Documenting change and continuity can be synchronic (point-in-time) or diachronic (over-time). The notion that IP exists at any point in time, and not just as a post-hoc arrangement, posits that the role of the archivist is key. S/he could exist as part of an integrated records continuum and a holistic information ecosystem approach. This model is based on authority and context control of the content. Appraisal provides authority control when focused on function or provenance (creator). Arrangement and description captures relevant metadata. This will improve physical and intellectual control. A comprehensive understanding of ownership, usage, users, and chain-of-custody rules are critical. They lay the foundation for an effective digital archiving system that provides authority, accountability, transparency, and builds trust.
Documenting change and continuity simultaneously is critical. Interpreting materials may change over time, but active and effective content management helps quantify and protect content. Cloud control analysis identifies patterns and helps set priorities related to content that can be optimized.
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ERecsDay and Electronic Records Day 2019
Today, 10/10/2019, is ERecsDay and Electronic Records Day. As part of the growing awareness of the challenges of managing and archiving electronic records, the State Council of Archivists commemorates October 10 as Electronic Records Day. In sum, for those of us who have worked in digital archiving over the last decade, it’s a great relief that we do this each year. Of course, most of the good stuff happens in bit-sized tweets on twitter, but it’s not all ephemeral!
So, this year for ERecsDay and Electronic Records Day, we’ve been tracking some of our favorite tweets on twitter. In fact, this year we interacted with a archivists at a variety of institutions including the National Archives, the Council on State Archivists, and the Library of Congress. Here’s some resources including quizzes and news stories.
#ERecsDay TAKEAWAYS
- There is a “Did you know: Some Interesting Facts About Digital Media” quiz from the Library of Congress . Though it’s short, it serves as a good baseline and shows how archival knowledge and insights affect our daily lives. . . . So check it out!
- Every year, the Council of State Archivists shares some of their excellent resources. Check them out here!
- “10 reasons why electronic records need special attention PDF” at CoSA
- National Archives provided answers about recordings and/or transcripts from different White Houses. They also provided links to the Nixon Presidential Library and to the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.
- Preservica announces the release of a “The State of the State” report on State Archives in the US for the Council of State Archivists PDF.
All of these resources provide critical information related to electronic records and digital archiving!
If you have any questions or need some assistance, check out our site of past clients or our services.
Remember, it is very, very, very, very, very, very very important.
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Digital Archivy Scorecard for Information Appraisal (pt 2)
Digital Archivy Scorecard on Information Appraisal, part 2
As we join the nation in watching how the #ImpeachmentInquiry plays out, it is an excellent time for us to design a prototype Digital Archivy scorecard for informational appraisal. The Digital Archivy Scorecard will provide grades based on Assessment, Identity, Description, Priority, and Security Classification.
In this way, we can determine the value of content based on provenance, function, significance and accuracy. With that in mind, today we will look at one piece of critical evidence: The Transcript of July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukraininan President Zelensky. The 9-page transcript of the conversation has disappeared from public. It was replaced by the 5-page Memo of Conversation prepared and released by the White House. This piece focuses on the “idea” of the original transcript.
THE TRANSCRIPT
The transcript is a record of the phone call. As far as we know, there is no audio recording of it. There is a chance, of course, that the Ukrainian Government made an audio recording. Assuming there is no recording, this transcript was created by 12 employees who listen in on the call and jot down notes. Later these notes are compiled and combined by somebody, and then they are used to re-create the transcript. There is no guarantee that the final version is the most accurate representation.
You can see from the scores below, that it is lacking as a trusted source of information. By our score card, we give it straight C’s in five categories: Assessment; Identification; Description; Assign Priority; and Security Classification.
In the first stage, Assessment, we grade as a C because we cannot confirm provenance with regard to authorship. It may be collaborative, but it contains spelling errors (misspelling they’re as there). It also loses points due to the fact that editorial changes were made prior to public release.
Identification gets a B. This is not a unique (“smoking gun”) transcript, but its authorship is clear. Rather, it is one of many different calls between Trump and Zelinsky. There were additional conversations between Zelinsky and Trump, Mike Pence, Rudy Giuliani, and probably others.
Scorecard Descriptions
We give a C to Describe because the content itself is not complete. There are, for example, a number of sentences that contain ellipses. This indicates an incomplete transcript. Without knowledge of the call’s duration, the subject matter, or even the number of participants, we can not trust that this 5-page transcript is complete and accurate.
We grade Priority on this information source as a D. It is not authoritative and may serve other purposes. Also, it loses data integrity because it is an interpretation of an aural phone call. It is in a written format. This is key. Since we do not have access to additional supporting materials (e.g., complete notes or an audio recording) yet, this is a non-trusted source.
We give Security Classification an F. This document was declassified and semi-redacted and clearly serves political issues. In fact, the redactions serve to undermine the authority of the message. We cannot look at it as an unvarnished truth. Also, it is an interpretation of one of many phone calls in which the US Administration asked for a favor and withheld funds promised and approved by the Congress.
Conclusion
Read more about the transcript itself from The Washington Post’s. However, the article focuses more on the preparation of the MemCon (Memorandum of Conversation). The Post also warn us on its value: “Don’t rely on whatever transcript is released,” said a former staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment candidly. “Even if it’s unredacted; those transcripts are heavily edited by political leadership at NSC. I’ve seen substance deleted from these call ‘transcripts’ to delete either superfluous details or more substance.” Here’s an article from Quartz that addresses the “transcript” described herein. They state it is a full and unredacted, but it is “not a verbatim transcript of a discussion.”
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Check out Part 1 on the Information Appraisal Scorecard here.
Stay tuned for Part 3 of this blog series.
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