Dear colleagues: This is in follow-up to my earlier announcement of a survey
on "Overcoming Barriers to Major Users in Accessing Electronic Records."
Please forgive and ignore cross postings.
Originally, the survey was to have closed on Jan 11. However, as it turned
out, I received many, many auto-replies from announcements of the survey noting
that people wouldn't be back in office till Jan 10. Also, the American
History Assn had its annual meeting the week prior to that. So I've been asked to
extend the survey closing date, which I have now done, until Thursday, Jan 20.
We have gotten excellent feedback so far from archivists and records managers
that will be very useful, and hope to get more, but we are woefully lacking
in feedback from other key stakeholders in the user and systems communities --
people we badly need to hear from and take account of.
I therefore especially ask that you urge other non-records people in your
organization to complete this survey, especially key stakeholders whose jobs
depend on continuing good access to trustworthy records to do their own jobs --
the program managers and staff who create and use records and other key users
(auditors, inspectors general, lawyers, historians, journalists/public relations
specialists and other users in your organizations, as well as those
responsible for designing enterprise information and technology architectures and
implementing IT systems (CIOs, CTOs, CKOs, IT Directors) and other information
management and information technology professionals.
I again stress that it is not necessary to have read the Electronic Records
Policy Working Group reports to take the survey as the key ERPWG findings and
recommendations are quoted in the survey.
A few interesting observations, although based on preliminary data of course:
to date about 30% of respondents heard about the study only when they
received the invitation to this survey. 65% had not read the ERPWG reports. Another
15% had been briefed on them. Only 1/5th had read one or both reports. Still,
we are getting excellent feedback from these respondents, including some very
thoughtful "General Comments."
Over 90% so far had not commented on the reports. Which is what makes this
survey such a potentially valuable instrument for all of us; because, as we all
know, the creators and users of records are among the most important of all
stakeholders. Without understanding their views -- without their understanding
the obstacles facing the archives and records community -- all the budgets in
the world will not overcome the challenges to effective management of and
access to electronic records.
90% of respondents so far, including many international respondents, indicate
that they believe that the findings in the ERPWG reports have useful
applicability at their own levels of government (state/provincial/local) and elsewhere.
Although this is an independent, pro bono survey, I have coordinated closely
with NARA in its design, and they are looking forward to seeing the results,
especially as it reaches out to the principal creators and users of records.
Your assistance is greatly appreciated. While it is about a US interagency
report, we invite international participation as well. Such respondents should
simply click on the "Other" category for question 2 of the survey.
Below is the Intro/invitation that appears at the beginning of the survey. It
takes about 10-12 minutes to complete. I have set it up so that I can't see
the identities of respondents. With the exception of individual, free-text
offerings in the optional "Other General Comments" section of the survey, the
results will all be aggregated and reported on http://www.mybestdocs.com/.
The survey is accessible at:
http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB22426QEW6JG
Thanks very much for your assistance.
Regards,
Rick Barry
http://www.mybestdocs.com/
Cofounder, Open Reader Consortium
http://www.openreader.org/
=======================================
Overcoming Barriers to Major Users in Accessing Electronic Records:
An independent survey by Rick Barry at:
INTRODUCTION: If you received this survey in your role principally as a user
or creator of records or enterprise systems professional, please complete it
yourself rather than sending it to your records staff to complete. Your
perspectives are important targets of this survey. Records staff have been separately
invited to participate. No individually identifiable information will be
accessible by the survey author or be provided in the results of this survey
except where participants wish to include such information in free-text, Optional
General comments sections. A few demographic questions are asked to
differentiate reactions among different stakeholder groups.
The purpose of this survey is to determine the extent to which key users of
public records are aware of two major interagency reports on “Effective
Management of Government Information on the Internet and Other Electronic Records”
and their issues and recommendations. If approved, they will be used as major
government electronic records policymaking resources. It is thus important to
obtain views of stakeholders in the public, private and nonprofit sectors and
academia – historians, auditors, journalists, educators, information managers
and other researchers – who require easy access to trustworthy electronic
records to carry out their work. It is also important to determine if key user
stakeholders may not have been aware of these reports and their findings. Thus,
even stakeholders who were not aware of, or haven't read, these reports are
requested to complete this survey. The survey also seeks views of those who produce
or manage public records at all government levels as well as CIOs/CTOs/IT
professionals involved in enterprise systems architecture and systems. The survey
quotes, but is not limited to, findings and recommendations identified by the
Electronic Records Policy Working Group (ERPWG) in two reports addressed to
the Interagency Committee on Government Information: “Barriers to the Effective
Management of Government Information on the Internet and Other Electronic
Records” (Draft, June 28, 2004), and “Recommendations for the Effective
Management of Government Information on the Internet and Other Electronic Records”
(Draft, October 20, 2004).
http://www.cio.gov/documents/ICGI/ERPWG_Recommendations.pdf
Although this survey has not been requested or underwritten by any
organization, it has been coordinated with NARA and, like a previous survey conducted by
this author, “Report on the Society and Archives Survey,” 29 January 2003,
its results will be published on www.mybestdocs.com and be accessible to all
participants as well as ERPWG and other interested parties. In the interest of
producing timely results, respondents are urged to take the few minutes
necessary to complete the survey as soon as possible but in any case not later than
Thursday, January 20, 2005, and to make the survey known to other colleagues
privately and by posting to professional discussion lists/blogs and encourage
them to do the same.
The survey is accessible at:
http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB22426QEW6JG
Thank you for your participation.
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
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