the following comes from Paul Scott
    
 -----Original Message-----
 From: [log in to unmask]
 To: [log in to unmask]
 Sent: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 1:20 PM
 Subject: FW: [RM] Question
 
  Peter,

The county is playing games with my e-mail address again.  Please post
this to the List for me.

Paul
 
Deborah Tamborski followed up my first response (succinctly stated, that
in the future as in the past human ingenuity can recover information
from obsolete recording systems IF the media survives and IF it has the
will) to ask:

    "But, if the magnetic tape is not fully readable and in some
sort of     format that can be read, do you believe the information
can be  retrieved and undestood, adding the fact that the program is
probably    not functional as well."

To which I first observe that the question has transitioned from what is
"possible" to what is likely.  

So, let us consider Calvin Mooer's Law (1960): "An information retrieval
system will tend not to be used whenever it is more painful and
troublesome for a customer to have information than for him not to have
it."

Like most profound statements this can be interpreted in several ways.
For the purposes of this discussion I assert that it means that whether
the information will be recoverable rests on the perceived cost and
likelihood of penalties exceeding the cost of compliance.

If Deb's organization is the only one that has any interest in
recovering information from some particular type of obsolete media, then
it is unlikely that it will be able to command the resources to do so 50
years hence.  If many agencies have a similar need, then the combination
of market forces and human ingenuity is likely to make it happen, at a
price.

So the real question is what to do.  If the organization knows that it
needs to retain the data for a long period, its best tactics are either,

(1) migrate it to a permanent media where it can stand long periods of
benign neglect (i.e. microfilm or quality paper) or;
(2) commit itself to refresh the data periodically (and pray that future
managers will honor the commitment).  

In either case it is most unlikely that the metadata will survive in
tact but the "record" itself would probably be acceptable under the best
evidence rule--especially since everyone else will have the same
problem.

But the cynic in me suspects that this question has arisen because
someone in management is looking for a reason not to go to these
expenses.

Paul R. Scott, CA, CRM
Records Management Officer
Harris County, TX

The opinions expressed above are my own and do not reflect county
policy.
   
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