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Sent to you by pakurilecz via Google Reader: PowerPoint to the People?
via L'Archivista by [log in to unmask] (L'Archivista) on 1/29/09 I
don't expect that journalists will grasp the finer points of records
management, and I recognize the acute time pressures that they face. I
am nonetheless disappointed when a reporter or columnist whose work I
generally admire makes a mess of things. Fred Kaplan, Slate's military
affairs correspondent, has just joined the ranks of journalists who
haven't done their homework.

In this week's column, "PowerPoint to the People," Kaplan starts by
identifying another step that, in his view, would enable that the Obama
administration could demonstrate its stated commitment to open
government:
Force the federal agencies to file and maintain all the records they're
creating now, so that in the future when citizens file [Freedom of
Information Act] requests to declassify documents, they won't receive a
form letter that reads, "Sorry, no such documents exist."Archivists and
records managers will immediately pinpoint the folly of this approach,
which will result in the preservation of all kinds of materials that
simply don't warrant long-term preservation, among them countless
e-mail messages about routine matters (e.g., lost reading glasses,
traffic problems, staff holiday parties), innumerable iterations of
draft documents produced in the course of completing projects,
duplicate copies of files disseminated for staff review or convenience,
copies of billing records documenting routine purchases (e.g, pens,
notepads), and other records of transitory value. In such a
recordkeeping environment, the important stuff will probably be kept,
but sifting through all of the digital detritus in order to find it
might be a real challenge.

Most of "PowerPoint to the People" concerns a U.S. National Archives
and Records Administration (NARA) assessment of recordkeeping practices
within U.S. Air Force central offices. This report was completed in
2005 but remained an internal document until this week, when it was
released as a result of a lawsuit filed by the National Security
Archive.

Unfortunately, a close reading of the report itself suggests that
Kaplan did not fully engage with it or do any sort of follow-up work.
For example, as Kaplan rightly notes, the report indicates
that "electronic records" generated by the fifteen units that comprise
Headquarters Air Force "are generally not disposed of in accordance
with" federal regulations. However, as the report plainly states, one
of NARA's key findings was that "to date, this has largely resulted in
retaining temprorary records indefinitely, as opposed to their
premature disposal or the destruction of permanent documents" -- a
conclusion that directly contradicts the keep-everything approach that
Kaplan advocates.

Kaplan's dissection of the report's assessment of NARA's own capacity
to manage electronic records also leaves the impression that this
column was assembled with undue haste. He makes much of the report's
assertion that NARA "is still unable to accept Microsoft Word documents
and PowerPoint slides": PowerPoint is the preferred format for internal
Pentagon briefings, and NARA's inability to accept PowerPoint files
raises the possibility that a significant amount of archival records
created by the military "may be lost to the ether."

NARA's apparent inability to accept PowerPoint slides or Word documents
is truly distressing, and NARA's current transfer guidelines indeed
indicate that, at least at this point in time, agencies cannot transfer
files in these formats. Nonetheless, had Kaplan done a few quick Web
searches he would have been able to advance a stronger and more nuanced
argument.

For example, Kaplan, whose only source is the 2005 Air Force
recordkeeping report itself, points out that:
The National Archives only "recently" —- it doesn't say how recently -—
revised its procedures so that it could accept e-mail with attachments,
scanned text documents, PDFs, digital photos, and Web content.According
to NARA's current electronic records transfer guidelines, NARA began
accepting e-mail with attachments in September 2002 and continued
expanding its list of acceptable file formats until September 2004,
when it started accepting Web records. Why Kaplan didn't do a quick Web
search -- or simply call NARA's press office -- is a bit of a mystery.

Kaplan also notes that:
The National Archives is developing an "Electronic Records Archive," so
that it can finally deal with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. But,
according to the study, that is being "planned for implementation in
the next seven years." (Italics added.) The study was written four
years ago; so, assuming the program is still on track, it will be up
and running three years from now, when Obama's first term is almost
over.NARA hasn't always been as forthcoming about the specifics of the
multi-year, multi-phase Electronic Records Archives project, which
began taking in records last summer, as some within the archival and
records management communities would like. However, the NARA Web site
contains a lot of information about the program, and tracking it down
isn't particularly difficult.

Finally, Kaplan summarizes the report's recommendations regarding
improvement of electronic records management practices as follows:
Meanwhile, the study urges all agencies to keep their electronic
records in a safe place. Good luck with that.In fairness, assessing the
report's recommendations is a bit of a challenge: all of the
higher-level recommendations have been redacted from the publicly
released version of this report. However, the report contains many
recommendations that were not redacted and are readily identifiable,
among them:

- Give the records management office greater visibility and authority
by increasing the salary grade of the records management officer and
placing all records management staff positions under the authority of
the records management officer.
- Develop detailed file plans for all Headquarters Air Force offices.

- Maintain all records "in electronic folders on a shared drive in
accordance with the [records] disposition schedule."
- Headquarters Air Force should consider implementing an electronic
recordkeeping system that complies with Department of Defense standard
DOD 5015.2-STD.
- Transfer to NARA archival paper records and electronic records
encoded in formats that NARA can currentl accept.
- Work with NARA to ensure that all electronic records are properly
scheduled, i.e., classed as meriting permanent preservation or eligible
for destruction at an agreed-upon time.
- Taking steps to ensure that duplicate copies of electronic records
are identified and properly disposed of.
- Ensuring that records slated for transfer to a NARA-operated federal
records center are indeed transferred appropriately.One can argue that
these recommendations fall short of the mark, but surely they amount to
more than simply advising Headquarters Air Force to "keep their
electronic records in a safe place."

I still like most of Kaplan's work; among other things, he's offered
what is, in my view, the most cogent explanation to date of President
Obama's decision to appoint Leon Panetta to head the Central
Intelligence Agency. I also recognize that every now and then, a good
columnist will produce a real clinker of a piece -- s/he may be chasing
a big story, unable to marshal all the facts prior to deadline, or
simply under the weather during a given week. I just wish that Kaplan's
clinker had centered on something other than electronic recordkeeping.
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