Jim,
Back in the dark days of man there was a cabalistic order of techno-geeks
(think Planet of the apes, those guys underground with the missiles). This
order's all consuming purpose and devotion was to something they called
"mainframe". Mainframe was a mysterious thing (being?) created in man's
image. Mainframe was totally unreliable, hard to work with, required
constant maintenance and care in the early days of life (which could stretch
on for years) and like a two year with a speech disorder could only be
understood by those caring for it.
Those individuals looking at Mainframe were confounded. People to look at
the materials that were used to add what was called "data" to Mainframe and
people could see things called "reports" that mainframe drew for people.
Only the caretakers understood mainframe. The Caretakers developed a special
language (actually several) that only they and Mainframe understood. As
mainframe aged, the languages became increasingly arcane. The difficulty was
that Mainframe had a lot of "data" within its "matrix". The U.S. courts had
an equally cabalistic and arcane group of individuals that are commonly
referred to as "judges". "Judges" are extremely knowledgeable about "The
Laws of Man" which they believe all U.S. citizens are bound by. However they
had never met Mainframe and did not know how to interpret it. The Caretakers
of mainframe said that only they could understand mainframe much as only
Judges could understand the law. The judges accepted this as true.
In the dark days of man record information was entered into Mainframes and
reports were generated. The data within mainframes was determined to be
non-record. With the advent of relational databases, global systems, and
twelve year olds that know more than any of the old Caretakers ever knew
about computers the demise of this misconception was obvious. The nail was
that in many cases there are no records prior to them being created in a
database. There are in many cases no record produced out of a database. The
entire history of a transaction is within a database. The lifecycle of the
record is there.
There are some (mostly located in the furthest reaches of the cold north or
hot muggy deep south) that harkens back to those halcyon days of
techno-geeks, Caretakers and mainframes. Those Records managers that hold to
these dreams are easy to spot, they are closely related to IT folk. They
linger around server arrays, addicted to the ozone. Yes they have gone to
the dark side. Do not pity or fear them, they are only temporarily lost to
us. They can still communicate with us, speaking our language, providing
insights we would otherwise miss. But use caution lest you be brought to the
dark side.
Jim I hope this helps to clarify the problem.
Chris Flynn
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-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Mullen [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2004 11:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Databases
Chris,
If they're not records, what are they and why are they being created,
supposedly maintained, and government and/or corporate $$ being spent on
them. Perhaps its a political ruse to create jobs.
Jim (its getting late) Mullen
<<<<<Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 10:45:43 -0700
From: Chris Flynn <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Databases
Here we go again,
I was discussing the need to schedule records within databases with a fellow
Records Manager (a nameless being in a far flung northern state where you
can shoot as many geese as you want). That "person's" view is that "data"
within a database is not a "record". Now I know that Farmers Almanac
forecast record lows this winter, and folks are preoccupied, but I thought
we had hammered this out a while back. Am I missing something? Is it
Fridayitis?
Chris Flynn>>>>>>>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jim Mullen, Records Manager
Oregon University System
Records Management Services
B093 Kerr Administration Bldg
P.O. Box 488
Corvallis, OR 97331-0488
(541)737-8325
Fax (541)737-9539
www.ous.edu/archives/RMS.htm
[log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
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