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Making the record (Guideline 24)

It is good practice to make decisions on what needs to be captured before the commencement of using any web 2.0 technologies.

When approaching web 2.0 tools, there are usually two types of records that are created:

  1. a duplicate record of a master record – e.g. a diagram that was created by an individual saved as a record in an original recordkeeping system and stored on their hard drive or server is placed on a media sharing service
    or
  2. content is created through / on the web 2.0 application, e.g. within a blog or wiki or through instant messaging. 

It is good practice to make decisions on what needs to be captured before the commencement of using any web 2.0 technologies. In addition, it is a requirement of the Standard on digital recordkeeping that ‘the public office must define the digital State records that it will make and keep’ for business conducted in the electronic environment.

The best way to do this is by a process of appraisal. Appraisal activities, such as functional analysis, are often carried out as part of the design and implementation of recordkeeping systems, business systems and processes to ensure that recordkeeping functionality is built into the systems. This is increasingly important where records are either 'born digital' or digitised and need to be managed appropriately within business systems. Appraisal primarily involves:

  1. determining what records should be created and captured to document a business function or activity
  2. determining how long the records should be retained and how they should eventually be disposed of.

The use of web 2.0 applications within an organisation should be linked to a business purpose. Often there are many requirements within an organisation, including legal, business and regulatory that stems from the business of the organisation and affects the keeping of records. Consideration should be given to what requirements within the organisation affect web 2.0 recordkeeping.

When determining what records created using web 2.0 applications need to kept, consideration should be given to:

  • business requirements – e.g. project management blogs may need to be captured to understand the status and delays of a project and to be of use for future planning purposes.
  • legal and regulatory requirements – e.g. a public submission forum conducted via a blog may require that all posts from the public are retained.
  • cultural requirements – e.g. images of an organisation’s activities or key events captured on Flickr may need to be preserved as a pictorial history of the organisation. 

Other requirements may include confidentiality and security requirements relating to records created using web 2.0. For more information on identifying the specific requirements of your organisation, please consult the Strategies for Documenting Government Business: the DIRKS Manual, Step C Identification of recordkeeping requirements.

The level of detail used to define what records are to be kept depends on how much information is needed for implementation purposes and the level of risk associated with the records and the business they document. A useful technique for defining the records is to analyse business processes where they are used and identify the transactions that comprise them.

Records created by web 2.0 applications might be defined in different ways. For example:

  • organisational policy may state that at the completion of a collaborative project all records held solely in the collaborative tool (e.g. wiki) must be captured and maintained accordingly
  • use of instant messaging for meetings requires a copy of the transactions of the meeting to be retained as minutes.

Thought should also be given to when and how information needs to be captured. In this regard it is a good idea to work out a strategy for record capture with the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) department and the business unit using the application. Ideally the record capture process will be automated to limit the impact on users.

Be aware of technologies that have a variety of behaviours. One example of a website with a mixture of behaviours would be a blog, which might have behaviours such as:
  1. a live feed (e.g. RSS), offering live linked information about changes and users
  2. recent comments, which can change and update even when the main content remains static
  3. other behaviours connected with management of the blog, such as site administration
  4. bookmark and tagging features, which may connect out of the blog to other related services [1]

It may not be feasible or desirable to capture all of these features but at a minimum the context and functionality that has been defined by your public office via identified recordkeeping requirements should be captured.

Footnotes

[1] Joint Information Systems Committee, The preservation of web resources handbook, United Kingdom, 2008, p.21 viewed 02 February 2009 <http://jiscpowr.jiscinvolve.org/files/2008/11/powrhandbookv1.pdf>