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Enterprise Content Management and the Records Continuum Model as strategies for long-term preservation of digital information

Enterprise Content Management and the Records Continuum Model as strategies for long-term preservation of digital information

Information culture and records management

Information is used mostly as an indefinite concept, but implicitly as an object.The concept of records is rarely recognized.Focus is on information as a source, not as documentary evidence.Creation, capture and management are absent in discourses on information culture. Good information and records management is assumed to promote organizational efficiency. Despite established management regimes and available technology, many organizations still consider information and records management challenging. The reason may be cultural factors. This study based on a literature review, aims to explore the academic discourse on information culture and to discuss its relevance for records management. The findings show that the concept information culture is used in various ways: as an explanatory framework; as an analytical and evaluative tool; or as normative standard. The research on information culture addresses several areas: business performance, systems implementation, the manifestation of information culture in different organizations, and a few concerns records management practices. The research settings and the objects of study varied, why general conclusions are difficult to draw, but often a positive correlation between culture and performance is assumed. The focus has been on how information is used, shared and disseminated, while the production and management, that is the vital object of records management, has with few exceptions been neglected. If information culture should fully function as an analytical framework concerning records management, a widened and more inclusive conceptualization is required, which also will enrich information culture as a theoretical concept.

Information culture in three municipalities and its impact on information management amidst e-government development

This article presents research conducted in three municipalities in Sweden and Belgium. The municipalities were involved in e-Government development. The article focuses on information culture, which constitutes the attitudes and norms embraced by the municipal employees towards public information management and use. E-Government is meant to improve efficiency through the use of information technology and information. This, however, requires effective information management regimes if information is to be leveraged in a manner that will enable the municipalities to attain their ultimate goal of high quality service delivery. Despite investments in information systems this research has proved that the information culture embraced by these will have to change if the ultimate goal of delivering high quality services to the citizens and the effective use and re-use of information is to be achieved. Information culture researchers argue that there is a correlation between business success and information culture. Therefore, the attitudes, norms and how the employees value organizational information, impacts its efficient use and management. This article therefore highlights some of the challenges that are caused by the attitudes of the municipal employees like lack of information management skills, collaboration and insufficient information management systems and satisfactory information management architecture. Even though huge investments are currently being made in the development of e-services, there are soft issues that need to be seriously addressed.

Exploring Two Approaches to Information Management: Two Swedish Municipalities as Examples

This chapter explores the differences and similarities between records management and enterprise content management (ECM). The need to manage information effectively as a key asset is central to the delivery of quality service, and information management determines the efficiency level of business operations. Information systems are deployed to facilitate the effective creation, capture, organization, management, and dissemination of information, so a proactive and holistic approach to information management is critical if information is to be leveraged in a manner that gives organizations a competitive edge. Records management, a field of management that controls the systematic management of records, enables organizations to comply with the regulations governing corporate or government information. It also serves broad societal purposes like the promotion of government accountability and transparency and the societal memory. While records management focuses on records that carry the evidentiary value of business transactions, other types of information resources such as documents, audio files, video clips, and desktop information have proliferated in governments. This type of information is unstructured and highly relevant to the day-to-day business operations, but often it is kept in multiple places and in duplicate, which complicates the task of finding it. This development has led to new ways of managing information such as ECM. ECM is variably defined as a technology, an initiative, a framework or a set of skills that organizations employ to manage their unstructured information resources.

Public Information Directive (PSI) implementation in two Swedish municipalities

Purpose This paper examines the implementation of the Public Sector Information (PSI) directive in two Swedish municipalities amidst a changing information management landscape impacted by e-government development. Government information is currently looked upon as a “gold mine” and “raw material” to be explored by interested parties. The PSI directive grants European citizens a right to access government information flows (PSI) in order to develop new electronic services. The Swedish government implemented its PSI directive in July 2010. Swedish municipalities have to embrace the directive and make the PSI available to the general public. The literature review highlighted a number of critical issues that should be addressed if PSI initiatives are to succeed. This study revealed that the two municipalities had different resource capacities, and the levels of e-government development varied. This meant that the implementation of the PSI directive also varied. The bigger municipality with a bigger budget had implemented the PSI directive and was publishing data sets on its website, while the smaller municipality with a smaller budget only published a few documents. This paper, therefore, argues that the municipalities should have the same capacity if the PSI is to be a democratic endeavor to serve all citizens. Good quality PSI will also require the municipalities to embrace a records and information continua thinking, which highlights the necessity to proactively and holistically manage the information for pluralization in different contexts. Design/methodology/approach This paper builds on interviews that were conducted with four municipal officers. The number of respondents is quite small because the focus was specifically on people who were responsible for the implementation of the PSI directive in the municipalities. The respondents were identified through their fellow colleagues and they also recommended each other. Pickard refers to this kind of approach as a snow-bowling approach. Through interviews and observation, one participant advises on issues that need further inquiry and, hence, directs the researcher to another person who might offer more answers. A general interview guide approach was used to solicit answers to issues such as the implementation of the PSI directive, guidelines for PSI publication, if terms such as big data and open data were being used in the municipalities, if the municipalities had an information governance plan and how it was understood, if the information systems were well aligned to meet with the requirements of the PSI directive, how e-government development affected information management and information security and if the municipalities had information security guidelines. Findings The Swedish government requires its administrations to engage in e-government development. This development has led to increased amounts of information that the municipalities have to effectively manage and make available to the general public. However, the municipalities operate under different conditions. Municipalities that are financially stronger are better placed to invest in measures that will lead to better quality PSI. All municipalities are, however, expected to implement the PSI directive. The two municipalities that were the subjects of this study had different information management environments and the capacity to invest in information management systems that would facilitate the management of their information resources. The budgetary constraints faced by smaller municipalities might impact the implementation of the PSI directive and, hence, hinder the publication of the PSI. e-Government is meant to be an inclusive project, and the PSI is meant for all citizens with innovative ideas. There is a risk that citizens who belong to poorer municipalities might not be equally privileged compared to those living in resourceful municipalities. This poses a democratic challenge that should concern all people interested in an open and inclusive society. Originality/value Little research has so far been published on the implementation process of the PSI directive. The discourses that have started to emerge discuss the challenges of open data without paying much attention to the creation, capture and the management aspects of the PSI. The originality of this paper, therefore, lies in the application of the records and information continua thinking, which highlights dimensions that enhance information management and the democratic challenges that will be caused by the data divide, as municipalities have different capabilities when it comes to the publication of the PSI.

Has the Freedom of Information Act enhanced transparency and the free flow of information in Liberia

This article investigates if the adoption of the Liberian Freedom of Information (FOI) law 2010 has led to a transparent government and increased the free flow of government information. Freeing government information is expected to create transparent and accountable governments. It brings forth democratic and inclusive government institutions that work for the people. Inclusivity, transparency and accountability are expected to address sustainable development challenges and democracy deficits. Transparency and accountability can only be achieved through access to government information. The right to access government information is also included in the national constitution of Liberia. The citizens of Liberia in West Africa suffered from a protracted civil war between 1989–1996 and 1999–2003 respectively. These wars were partly caused by non-accountability of the governments, endemic corruption and the mismanagement of the countries’ resources. Efforts are being made by the government with the help of the international community to embrace a new democratic dispensation. Liberia was also one of the first African countries to enact a Freedom of Information (FOI) Law that would enable Liberians to access government information.

The woes of Swedish private archival institutions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the long-term preservation challenges that the Swedish private archives are faced with. In as much as they offer a complement to the public archives and hence offer a nuanced national narrative, they lack both financial and human resources to effectively deal with the digital information management environment. Design/methodology/approach Participatory Action Research (PAR) was used to identify the challenges of long-term preservation together with the six private archives institutions that were involved in the collaboration. The collaboration was financially facilitated by the Sodertorn University. PAR is defined as a systematic investigation, with the collaboration of those affected by the issue being studied, for the purposes of education and taking action or effecting social change. What is distinctive of PAR is the active involvement of people whose lives are affected by the phenomenon under study. Findings The private archival institutions face long-term preservation challenges such as lack of a digital repository that would facilitate the capture, organization and management of digital records that are of different formats and in a dispersed environment. There are no stringent legal requirements to facilitate the creation and management of the records in a standardized way and the institutions fear that imposing such requirements might deter their clients from depositing archival materials with them. The institutions will also need to espouse the business-oriented archival descriptions where private organizations are concerned to identify relevant archival materials and to promote participatory archival descriptions that would allow the creators to tag their records with metadata. Digital information requires a proactive approach, that is, planning for the long-term preservation of the information before it is created. Private archives need to invest in education packages that will facilitate their clientele’s understanding of the challenges of digital long-term preservation. Research limitations/implications The findings cannot be generalized to all private archival institutions, as it was only six institutions that participated, but the issues discussed are relevant to most archival institutions. Practical implications A lot of research has been carried out in the area of long-term preservation, but researchers have not paid enough attention to the woes of the private archives. To sustain a nuanced national narrative, the private archives need all the support to be able to live up to their mission of preserving archives of the private sector that are not captured by the public archival institutions. This is important in a pluralistic society such as Sweden. Highlighting the challenges might enable the institutions to work towards finding common challenges. Social implications The private archives are part of Sweden’s national heritage. Their preservation matters to the society as a whole and to enhancing the voices of the underrepresented. Originality/value The literature review revealed that not much research has paid attention to the challenges being faced by the private archives. This paper, therefore, contributes to this knowledge gap.

Freedom of information laws and information access The case of Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone was engulfed in a destructive civil war between 1991 and 2002. The civil war was partly caused by the non-accountability of the government, endemic corruption, misrule and the mismanagement of the country’s resources. Efforts have been made by the country, with the help of the international community, to embrace a democratic dispensation. To demonstrate its commitment to the democratization agenda, Sierra Leone passed the Right to Access Information (RAI) Act in 2013. The Act guarantees access to government information and also imposes a penalty on failure to make information available. However, Sierra Leone’s state institutions are still weak due to mismanagement and lack of transparency and accountability. Freedom of expression and access to information are cornerstones of modern democracies. Public information/records are a means of power that governments and other political institutions use to exercise control over citizens, but are also a means of citizens’ empowerment. Through access to government information/records, media can play their watchdog role and people can assess the performance of governments and hold them accountable. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the fact that it is not enough to enact freedom of information laws (FOIs) if there is no political will to make government information accessible, an information management infrastructure to facilitate the creation, capture, management, dissemination, preservation and re-use of government information and investments in civil education to promote an information culture that appreciates information as a resource that underpins accountability and transparency.

Enterprise content management (ECM)

The increase in the amount of information has led to new information constructs in enterprise content management (ECM). ECM is proposed by its proponents as the panacea to the challenges in the current information environment. It focuses on the management of all content in an organization whether it is structured or unstructured. It is claimed that it enables organizations to control their content, boost productivity, promote collaboration, meet with compliance initiatives, promote better content-centric processes, which make information easily accessible and easy to share. ECM is however variably defined as a technology, an initiative, a framework, and skills an organization espouses to manage its information resources effectively. ECM proponents highlight factors such as: enterprise architecture, business process management, change management, collaboration, knowledge management, system integration, repurposing of content, and the life cycle management of content. The challenge organizations face today is how to exercise control over their information resources, which is often in dispersed environments. Such environments often create information silos instead of promoting access. Information can only be regarded as a resource if it can be timely accessed and used. Information in dispersed environments is often crucial to the day-to-day operations of an organization. This information can also be controlled by individuals other than being stored in a common repository where everybody who needs it can access it. Today’s working environment requires that employees access information regardless of where they are in the world. This mobile office environment also requires organizations to put in place information management strategies that can manage information securely and at the same time promote use and accessibility. This chapter explores the concept of ECM.