CA RKMS is based on traditional recordkeeping thinking. However, it also looks to the future by viewing records as active agents of change, as intelligent information objects, which are supported by the metadata that RKMS' framework provides. Through RKMS, the dynamic world of business can be linked to the more passive world of cyberspace resource management.
Phrases
<P1> As long as records remain in the local domains in which they are created, a lot of broader contextual metadata is "in the air," carried in the minds of the corporate users of the records. When records move beyond the boundaries of the local domain in which they are created or, as is increasingly the case in networked environments, they are created in the first place in a global rather than a local domain, then this kind of metadata needs to be made explicit -- that is, captured and persistently linked to the record. This is essential so that users in the broader domain can uniquely identify, retrieve and understand the meanings of records. (p.7) <P2> The broader social context of the project is the need for individuals, society, government, and commerce to continually access the information they need to conduct their business, protect their rights and entitlements, and securely trace the trail of responsibility and action in distributed enterprises. ... Maintaining reliable, authentic and useable evidence of transactions through time and space has significant business, social, and cultural implications, as records provide essential evidence for purposes of governance, accountability, memory and identity. (p.6)
Conclusions
RQ There is a need to develop typologies of recordkeeping relationships such as agent to record and better ways to express them through metadata.
CA The want for hard unassailable recordkeeping rules ignores the fact that recordkeeping is contingent upon unique needs of each organization as far as acceptable risks and context. Reed argues that aiming to achieve basic agreement on a minimal set of metadata attributes is an important start.
Phrases
<P1> Recordkeeping must be tailored to the requirements of specific business functions and activities linked to related social and legal requirements, incorporated into particular business processes, and maintained through each change to those processes. (p. 222) <P2> A record core or metadata set which lacks such specificity, detailing only requirements for a unique identifier, will not support interpretation of the record outside the creating domain. To enable that, we need more detailed specification of the domain itself, data which is redundant when you know where you are, but essential to understanding and interpreting records where the domain is not explicit. (p. 229)
Conclusions
RQ To establish requirements for viable core elements, the big challenge is the issue of time and that data will change over time ÔÇöespecially as far as individual competence, business function and language.
Type
Web Page
Title
Documenting Business: The Australian Recordkeeping Metadata Schema
In July 1999, the Australian Recordkeeping Metadata Schema (RKMS) was approved by its academic and industry steering group. This metadata set now joins other community specific sets in being available for use and implementation into workplace applications. The RKMS has inherited elements from and built on many other metadata standards associated with information management. It has also contributed to the development of subsequent sector specific recordkeeping metadata sets. The importance of the RKMS as a framework for 'mapping' or reading other sets and also as a standardised set of metadata available for adoption in diverse implementation environments is now emerging. This paper explores the context of the SPIRT Recordkeeping Metadata Project, and the conceptual models developed by the SPIRT Research Team as a framework for standardising and defining Recordkeeping Metadata. It then introduces the elements of the SPIRT Recordkeeping Metadata Schema and explores its functionality before discussing implementation issues with reference to document management and workflow technologies.
Critical Arguements
CA Much of the metadata work done so far has worked off the passive assumption of records as document-like objects. Instead, they need to be seen as active entities in business transactions.
Conclusions
RQ In order to decide which elements are to be used from the RKMS, organizations need to delineate the reach of specific implementations as far as how and when records need to be bound with metadata.
Type
Web Page
Title
Capturing Electronic Transactional Evidence: The Future
