Whither the retention schedule in the era of big data and open data?

McDonald, J. Michael; Léveillé, Valérie

doi:10.1108/rmj-01-2014-0010

Cited by 21 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 5 publications

(2 reference statements)

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“…It is important that records management professionals do their utmost to ensure that information is documented and that the public will have the required access to official information. They are the professionals who have the expertise to organise, assess and see to it that the information is provided (Casellas, 2014;McDonald and Léveillé, 2014;Lemieux et al, 2014). Information and records management, as well as records management systems, can play important roles in responding to the FOI Act (Burt and Taylor, 2009;Cherry and McMenemy, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Casellas (2014), for example, argues that RM can contribute to open data projects by the appraisal of data, and active participation in such projects could be a challenge for professionals in the field. An approved retention and disposition schedule could be an important instrument for open data initiatives (McDonald and Léveillé, 2014), and, as more and more organisations are placing data online to be openly accessible, "the need will grow to implement controls over data creation and management and to create documentation about data to facilitate ongoing use and trust of data" (Lemieux et al, 2014, p. 139). Even the best of open data initiatives will not, however, negate the need to be able to request information of public interest that is not being made public voluntarily.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reasons for the poor provision of information by the government: public opinion

Gunnlaugsdottir

2016

RMJ

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present, on the one hand, the findings of a survey conducted during 2012 in Iceland and, on the other hand, the results of interviews held in 2015 concerning why it was felt that the authorities withheld information either about subjects of general public interest or about public expenditures. Design/methodology/approach A survey questionnaire was sent in March 2012 to almost 2,000 Icelanders randomly selected from the National Registry. The response rate was almost 67 per cent. As to the interviews held in 2015, these were with individuals who were known to understand well the government’s actions, both as to provision of information to the public and the opposite, suppression of information. The interviewees were chosen purposively. The survey was modelled on other research and resources concerning open public information and other research that had examined trust towards public authorities and the influence of freedom of information acts on government information practices. Findings The research revealed that both participants in the questionnaire survey and the six interviewees in the later study felt that information was kept secret for a variety of reasons. Most felt that information was kept under wraps by the government, both about subjects of general public interest or about public expenditures, and that both transparency and traceability were less than sufficient in the public administration of Iceland. Practical implications The results could be of value to public authorities who want to improve the provision of information and practices according to the freedom of information act. They could also bring diverse and valuable opportunities to the profession of records managers as to documentation and registration, as well as others who practice information management. Originality/value The survey adds valuable information and fulfils a need for a better understanding of why public authorities suppress the provision of information in Iceland. Although the research cited was limited to Iceland, the findings may be of value also to public authorities and researchers in the Western World, Australia and New Zealand to give a few examples where the culture and the practice of government may not be that different, as well as in other countries. The two studies can, therefore, lay the foundation for further research into the field.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reasons for the poor provision of information by the government: public opinion

Gunnlaugsdottir

2016

RMJ

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“…Additionally, standards of practice for managing social media as records have been published, as exemplified by a report on federal agencies from the IBM Center for Government (Franks, 2010) and a white paper from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA, 2013). This work is extended by recent publications relating to open data, with researchers proposing requirements (Sataslaatten, 2014), examining practice (McDonald and Léveillé, 2014;Léveillé and Timms, 2014) and identifying new opportunities (Lemieux et al, 2014).…”

Section: Social Media In Archives and Records Managementmentioning

confidence: 97%

Voices in the cloud: social media and trust in Canadian and US local governments

Evans

Franks

Chen

2018

RMJ

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Purpose This study aims to examine how 20 local governments in Canada and the USA operationalize the government–citizen trust relationship through the administration of social media by answering two questions: Can local governments use social media to increase citizen trust? and if local governments can use social media, what can be learned about the administration of social media that results in an increase in citizen trust of government? Design/methodology/approach Based on a normative belief that increasing the trustworthiness of government is a desired outcome, the working proposition is that social media may offer a low-barrier method for engaging citizens and supporting trust-based relationships, if social media programs are administered in a way that operationalizes this objective. Using content analysis of data collected from interview transcripts and documentary sources, this exploratory, process-oriented study emphasizes the social, organizational and functional contexts of social media and social media as records. Findings The study found that most cities had extensive programs featuring multiple accounts on a number of common platforms. The cities maintained tight control over content, account creation and employee and audience participation to ensure compliance with federal and provincial or state legislation and to mitigate technology and content-based risks. The cities used social media to broadcast information, respond to service requests and provide issue management. Social media results were measured sporadically on an ad hoc basis for operational purposes and only two cities had dedicated procedures in place for managing social media as records. Contrary to previous research, this study indicates that fiduciary trust relationships do require trust by the agent (i.e. institution) and the principal (i.e. citizen). Research limitations/implications To increase generalizability, an effort was made to select cities that were demographically and geographically diverse by selecting a range of population sizes and locations. However, selection was skewed towards cities with well-developed social media programs, and as a result, over half of the cities were national, provincial or state capitals or larger population centres. While these cities experienced economic advantages, the participants in the study identified challenges around resourcing and capacity, and their responses are expected to be of value to cities operating under similar constraints. Additionally, this study represents a point in time, as social media use at the local governments continued to expand and evolve during and after the data collection period. Practical implications This paper identifies three scenarios where social media content from local government accounts should be managed as records, including: the documentation of incidents, the on-going collection of city content from high-profile accounts and the “on demand” collection of citizens’ content where cities have asked for citizen input on topics or issues. Social implications This study provides an in-depth characterization of social media administration and use by 20 local governments in Canada and the USA. Considering the progress made by cities in e-government using their websites as a base, cities can develop greater capacity for open government, meaning wider participation by citizens in the decisions that affect them on a daily basis. To achieve goals of transparency, accountability and civic participation, cities will need to develop capacity around social media measurement, reporting and procedures for managing social media as records. Originality/value In providing a detailed and complete description of social media use in 20 cities in two countries, this study moves beyond a compliance- and requirement-driven approach to consider the larger question of government–citizen trust and the relevance of records within this relationship.

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“…The first stage of iTrust, an international research initiative to develop specifications and formal record retention schedules for open data and big data was reported by McDonald (2014). Using a fictitious organization to describe the characteristics of open data and big data initiatives, the study developed a hypothesis that lay the foundation for real world case studies, the planned future work of the project.…”

Section: Big Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Electronic records management – a state of the art review

Oladejo

Hadžidedić

2021

RMJ

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Purpose This paper aims to examine the state of the art in electronic records management (ERM) with the goal of identifying the prevailing research topics, gaps and issues in the field. Design/methodology/approach First, a wide search was performed on academic research databases, limited to the period between 2008–2018. Second, the search results were reviewed for relevance and duplicates. Finally, the study sources were checked against the list of journals and conferences ranked by computing research and education and JourQual. The final sample of 55 selected studies was analyzed in depth. Findings ERM has lost some research momentum due to being deeply embedded in affiliate information systems areas and the changing records management landscape. Additionally, the requirement models specified by Governmental/National Archives might have constrained technology innovation in ERM. A lack of application was identified for the social media research area. Research limitations/implications Limitations were encountered in available search tool functionality and keyword confusion leading to inflated search results. While effort has been made to obtain optimal search results, some relevant articles may have been omitted. Originality/value The last ERM state-of-the-art review was in 1997. A lot has changed since then. This paper will help researchers understand the current state of ERM research, its understudied areas and identify gaps for future studies.

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Whither the retention schedule in the era of big data and open data?

Cited by 21 publications

References 5 publications

Reasons for the poor provision of information by the government: public opinion

Reasons for the poor provision of information by the government: public opinion

Voices in the cloud: social media and trust in Canadian and US local governments

Electronic records management – a state of the art review

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