On Thu, Oct 9, 2014 at 1:40 PM, PeterK <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> NARAtions » New Digitization Strategy now available
> The National Archives 2014-2018 Strategic Plan
> <
> http://www.archives.gov/about/plans-reports/strategic-plan/2014/nara-strategic-plan-2014-2018.pdf
> >
> puts forth a bold vision for NARA in providing unprecedented access to our
> records and promoting public participation to accomplish our goals. NARA’s
> digitization strategy must also present a clear path forward in meeting our
> goal of public access to NARA records in digital form.
>
> Source: http://blogs.archives.gov/online-public-access/?p=9292
>

Ultimately, we are ALL GOING TO BE impacted by this "guidance"... in two
ways:

1) our tax dollars are going to be spent to perform this work to convert
and image millions of source records that have a "Permanent" retention
requirement.  And once converted we will be paying for the constant 'care
and feeding' of the electronic content.

2) these are Federal Records... OUR RECORDS... and some of us and or our
heirs will want access to the content at some point in the future.  It may
be for research, or others may be researching in on our direct or indirect
behalf to create new laws and regulations, or to support past decisions.

For that reason, I felt it was important to comment to this...but many
times in the past I've submitted comments to the NARAtions Blog and my
comments have NEVER BEEN PUBLISHED.

So here's what I submitted.  If any of you are in agreement with any of
this, or have similar/different comments of your own, I'd suggest you
submit them.

COMMENT
One glaring omission from this guidance is a lack of Standards to provide
necessary capabilities to ensure the images captured meet any of the
requirements for characteristics intended for optical scanning.

There is nothing to explain the procedures for sampling and inspection,
calibration, quality control, or capture of images that meet the need for
trustworthiness and reliability for long-term preservation or legal
acceptance of images.

Agencies are being told to image records with a "Permanent" retention
value, but NOT being given any guidance related to what needs to be done to
do this.  And after these conversions and imaging projects are completed,
the source materials will be destroyed.  This means when a skewed or
out-of-focus image is found later, there will be no possible way to
recreate it.

And given the accelerated schedules Agencies are being told to meet, much
of this work will likely be contracted to third parties.  How will the work
be audited if there are no Standards given for the work being done?

There are numerous ANSI/AIIM and ISO Standards, many which have been in use
for over a decade to ensure when this work is done, the resultant images
are EXACT copies of the source materials they are captured from.  Isn't
this what NARA should want to ensure happens to preserve our history and to
make it persistently accessible for future use by the public?

There have been many reports and stories in the press in the recent past of
conversion projects performed by and on behalf of Agencies and Federal
Organizations that have resulted in poor quality images, or images that
could not be used or found, due to a lack of standard procedures in quality
control of image checking and especially in poor indexing of content
stored.

What is the value in having an electronic repository of worthless images
that can’t be located because they weren’t properly indexed?  Maybe the FBI
can weigh in on this, or possibly the VA?  These are both recent examples
of conversion projects, performed with limited oversight, that lacked any
guidance of the Standards to be met to result ion reliable, trustworthy and
legally acceptable images.

HELP US HELP YOU in not only meeting the metrics for work performed, but to
perform the work accurately and adequately.





-- 
Larry
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*----Lawrence J. MedinaDanville, CARIM Professional since 1972*

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