Ok.  I have no problem with the use of modern technology, I personally have a few email accounts, use IM, chat, manage my own website and have used many other methods of communicating and sharing information out there in technology land (and I'm an old codger of 50).  I think the new technology is a wonderful advance and I do recognise its value to business and the way we work, it's my obligation as a records management professional to do so.  The manager that banned the use of the Internet obviously didn't.  New collaboration technology is also changing the way we work but I wouldn't advocate its use on a publicly available website for corporate business.  

I have no problem with the use of technology to publically communicate and to share and publish information that is allowed to be in the public domain, e.g. information published on a departmental website, which also has rules regarding disposal and what can and cannot be published. I do have issues with having to accept the advocation of communication anarchy just because all the young people do it because that's what they had growing up and used at home, so it doesn't matter and to heck with the rules.  That's like saying we don't need rules against speeding as the cars today are more technologically advanced, faster and more powerful than my day so because the youth driving them can speed faster and get to those speeds quicker than I could then we'll let them because they understand the cars better than a mechanic or driver of yesteryear does.  Actually, the opposite is happening here with tighter restrictions on young people and how they use their cars, inlcuding
 resticting the number of passengers..

My views on the records management issues come from a government perspective and the rules governing their records.  There are security rules, access rules, ownership and custody rules and by allowing individuals to place corporate or public RECORDS in the public domain without control and obeyance of the rules is ludicrous.  It is also against the law here under all state and federal records legislation as placing a government record on a blog or private website without approval or against policy is transferring the custody of the record out of government control and allowing unauthorised access, use, etc.

People can discuss their work and their organisation as much as they want on their blogs or MySpace sites,etc. as long as it is not defamatory, or whatever. This is no different to me discussing my work and place of work at the pub with some mates.  I am, however, restricted in what I can discuss and say by law when talking to my mates or anyone else for that matter.  I am not and should not be allowed to openly discuss commercial secrets, national security matters or anything that is not allowed to be in the public domain according to law, government or corporate policy, etc. openly and in public regardless of what technology I grew up with or how many others are doing it. I would be surprised if the CEO of GM, Sun, Socialtext, and the other Global 2000 organisations would allow their employees to do so as well.

I have yet to work in an organisation, private or public, that allows the open slather use of IM, chat, posting blogs, etc. without corporate controls and rules, that if abused or disobeyed can and sometimes does result in dismissal.
 
Wayne

----- Original Message ----
From: Jesse Wilkins <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, 30 April, 2007 1:34:28 PM
Subject: Re: [RM] E-mail Business Rules


I disagree - in fact much of this has already taken place. As part of my
high school education I learned all of the standard office documents,
salutations, titles, tab spacing, etc. None of it pertains in an email
(maybe the titles, but I don't send very many letters OR emails to Right
Reverends, Honorable Secretaries, etc.). 

I do agree with Wayne that training is important and that employees as
individuals shouldn't flout corporate policies. That said, Bernadette I
think hits it on the head regarding the next generation of employees: my
19-year-old brother thinks absolutely nothing of having a dozen IM and IRC
clients open, uses Flickr, del.icio.us, and Myspace, doesn't have a blog but
reads quite a few of them from his friends, and has just entered the job
market. I'm sure he could be taught to eschew all the ways he communicates
today for a very short period of time - but he and his generation recognize
that many of these technologies have a lot of value. Just as we decided to
accept electronic transmission of signed contracts using that newfangled
facsimile technology some time ago, younger workers not only accept new
technologies but don't understand those who don't understand them. 

<snip>
In any workplace situation the rules are different from those at home or
other personal use of technology and it is usually part of your employment
conditions to abide by the workplace rules and conditions of use or you do
not end up having a job.

The use of Internet email services for corporate business is irresponsible
and leaves an organisation open to all sorts of risk.  Internet email can be
rife with viruses, has no security functionality for sending sensitive
corporate records or information and is easily intercepted by third parties
who will not have a need-to-know for the information contained in the
email.</snip>

True - but you can't fire everyone. I liken this point of view to an
argument 12 years ago I had with my manager, who forbade the use of the
"Internet". His position was that it was a waste of time at best and a
vector for viruses, video games, and dirty pictures that had no place in the
modern office. 

With regards to web-based email, I believe it is at LEAST as safe as most
corporate email systems for this reason: the major providers all do virus
scanning and you can bet their data files are up-to-the-second updated. Many
modern email systems are not inherently set up for security, so no
difference there; and webmail is no more easily intercepted than normal
email. 

With regards to blogs, Myspace, etc., I suspect that the CEO of GM, Sun,
Socialtext, and numerous other Global 2000 organizations would disagree.
Training and policies come to play here, to be sure, but there are things
that can be discussed in public. I believe there is a strong argument to be
made for *more* openness and collaboration between organizations and their
customers, not less; in fact Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams make exactly
that argument in Wikinomics. 

I do believe we have to manage records by content and context. I truly do.
What I agree with from Bernadette, and the argument I made last week
regarding email, is that there are limitations with the classical
60-year-old records management model as they are applied (or as is more
often the case NOT applied) to electronic records and email, in part because
of the complexity of the media/format/system and the difficulty of
separating the same; in part because of the way in which we use these
technologies (and that horse left the barn years ago); and in greater part
because of the volumes involved. 

Remember, we used to use carbon paper and interoffice memos with "chop
sheets" as well. And younger workers of a certain era were trained on how to
use them. I'm certain some of them were fired for not following established
policies and procedures. But eventually offices recognized that the days of
the mimeograph, the steno pool, and shorthand were past. I am NOT arguing
that the day of records management is past - far from it. But times change,
technologies change, and it is incumbent on us as *information management
professionals* to manage information as efficiently and effectively as
possible, and if that means web-based email, collaboration through wikis and
instant messaging, storing the outputs of both in large buckets, and
searching using new technologies and approaches, then I'm all for it. Not
throwing the baby out with the bathwater, but sometimes the water does need
changing. 

My tuppence as I work on a white paper on collaboration, 

Jesse Wilkins
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