> I find it interesting that an online article by Technology Review about
> technology issues uses so many animated banners that each page loads
> very slowly. I printed it, because I don't have the time to wait for
> each page to load.

 And I'd encourage others to print an read the article, as it paints a 
bleak, albeit realistic picture of the complexity of the problem NARA is 
facing. And while they are facing it on a much larger scale than many 
privately held entities, those who are doing business in a multi-national 
environment or are dealing with highly complex forms and formats of 
application dependent information would be wise to consider NARA's stated 
dilemma.
 While they are ultimately the custodians of the Nation's knowledge, we are 
all custodians of some set of knowledge... that of ourselves, our families, 
or our employers.
 What strikes me most in reading this article, which is not much more than a 
compilation of any number of more focused pieces that have been produced 
time and again over the past 10 or more years, is the lack of regard anyone 
is paying to the inherent message. That being, "Get a GRIP, people!" 
 We are still allowing the perpetuation of applications that are generating 
and storing information in proprietary formats, and application and 
operating systems that continue to spit out new versions which fail to 
access information generated in earlier versions. And we do nothing to stem 
the tide.
 Microsoft is issuing edicts as they roll out new versions of their 
operating system and office applications that users "will not be able to 
access versions of documents created in version XYZ" and everyone throws 
their arms up ion the air and says "Oh well". As the largest producer of 
office software and operating systems in use in the US, it's hard to believe 
that the buying public (including the Federal Government and their 
Contractors, the source of much of the information NARA is concerned with) 
isn't able to garner SOME LEVEL OF influence over their ability to orphan 
huge collections of information. 
 As mentioned in the article, there are concerns related to formats 
information is stored in, media its stored on, applications its generated 
in, and the long term storage, conversion and migration of information to 
ensure its continued accessibility and verifiability over time. There are 
also concerns related to the contextual issues, such as version control, 
"electronic marginalia", attachments, and provenance. T
 The example given regarding the 9/11 Commission reports is but one, but the 
bigger question is not what we intend to do about the ultimate "backfile 
conversion" to access these older sets of information, but what we are doing 
to prevent the problem from compounding in the day forward electronic record 
environment? 
 As mentioned in another thread regarding e-mail (which appears to have 
migrated here from the UK RM List and ERECS-L), what is needed is TRAINING. 
But before training can take place, POLICY and PROCEDURE need to be 
developed, at least on an organizational level, to ensure there is a 
consistent manner in which information is going to be created, collected and 
managed as an asset. This at least establishes a uniform manner of doing 
things, which allows the development of training to ensure everything 
possible its done to minimize the impact on an organization for collection 
of information.

Oh well, like Mary said... thanks for letting me vent =^)
 Larry

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