>
> on the archivist listserv one poster pointed out that there is a
> limitation with listserv software. You are unable to delete individual
> messages, if you want to do that you must delete an entire week's
> worth of message. IIRC you can delete it an individual message only IF
> it is the first message of the week and no other message has been
> posted after it.
>
> What I see here is a problem of trying to apply physical records
> retention rules to a digital environment. In a physical world the
> retention for something like a listserv would be very short-term due
> to the transitory nature of the information, the vast noise to signal
> ratio and finally the difficulty of locating key information amongst
> thousands of individual physical messages if the listserv were
> conducted using physical mail.
>
> But an electronic environment turns the schedule on its head since you
> now have the ability via a search engine (either something like google
> or the listserv native search function) that allows you to search
> listserv archives ignoring the detritus and locating the information
> you seek. plus since it is web-based the user can bookmark the message
> they have located, print it out or capture it in pdf format.



Peter raises some good points about the difficulties of applying paper-based
retention rulers to electronic records, depending upon the systems and
methods used to generate them.   I added the last caveat because a
"listserv" is a different beast than e-mail or many other types of
"traditional" systems that generate individual records each time you
interact with them.  And I think this is a limitation of the software.  When
you search a "listserv archive", a term I hate to see used to describe a
compendium of messages, you can see individual postings and postings by
individuals, by date, subject matter or other discrete  identifiers.   This
tells me the "archive" DOES store and handle them individually.  However,
the software captures the content on a daily basis in a "digest" and  stores
the overall content.

I think if there was sufficient desire, a decision could be made
administratively to capture and "archive" a listserv's content on an annual
basis, and similar to general correspondence, place a two-year retention
period on that content.  Problem is, SOMEONE would have to do this, and then
manage it, and because a listserv is sort of the equivalent of a feral cat,
it belongs to whoever was the last person to feed it =)  this individual
doesn't exist.  These have always been "free range creatures", sort of the
wild west of communications... which is why the flame wars resemble the
olden days Range Wars.

Personally, I just think it's ironic that a profession such as Archives is
not more concerned with what happens to their 'historical' communications.
As mentioned by many of the posters to the A&A list over the past couple of
days, there have been some valid and valuable discussions and opinions
expressed there, along with the "me too" messages and personal diatribes....
and a number of students and graduate students have rightly pointed out that
they were directed to search the Listserv Archives as a starting point for
information on a variety of subjects over time.

Sure people can capture and save individual posts as PDF or even (I can hear
Steve sighing already) PRINT THEM, but it's much more useful to be able to
search across a repository for content.

And one may ask, what would happen in a business environment?  Well, many
businesses are facing these exact concerns when it comes to things like
blogs, and collaborative environments (can anyone say eRoom?) now and need
to determine what they need to do and are going to do.

Larry

-- 
Larry Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance