The ARMA NOVA Chapter is preparing for a March seminar with this title (or a variation of it). The discussion we hope to have with our speakers is as follows: 

“As organizations struggle to get their arms around
ever increasing volumes of data many people are starting to question if it even
makes sense to try and dispose of electronic records. Have we passed the window
of opportunity to cost effectively tag, organize and dispose of electronic
records? If you are a Federal agency has a transfer to NARA become impractical?
If you’re a commercial organization is defensible destruction feasible.”

The seminar advertising brochure goes on to say,  

"Data in the information age is money. Big data storage
and data mining techniques are getting better all the time at extracting value
from data. But data can also
be cost and risk. Some people believe the potential for extracting value
from data outweigh the potential cost and risk of keeping everything forever. Others believe that when data no longer has any
perceived value, it should be disposed in accordance with compliance and the
economic costs of keeping it. But, how is data that no longer has value identified and
acted upon?  And, who is going to hit the
delete key? Some believe this is just too expensive and has proven to be too
big a challenge. Instead of disposition, why not just put expired data in
an inexpensive Cloud and harvest it for value as needed? In the age of big data and cheap Cloud storage, does
disposition matter any more"?
 This has led to a spirited debate among our board members. 
Member One said, "I
am very concerned that Big Data should be the title with Does Disposition
Matter as the subtitle." 
To which Member Two responded, "I've been mulling this one over, and Member Ones comment has nudged
me a bit further...I am not sure that the question around
"Disposition" is all that interesting.  After all, the
term refers to the transfer and disposal of records - i.e. what
happens to records when they are no longer active or useful to an
organization.  While Big Data is about mining and exploiting structured
and unstructured data, to include records. Yes, they are connected, but so
are a lot of other things that may have more value. In other words, the question of "disposition" may be
subaltern to a larger question: "Can Traditional Records
Management Policies/Practices Be Successful in a World of
Big Data?" I think that this is the question we may want to
ask/answer, with the subject of disposition being just one of the items worth
noting along the way."Member Three added, 
"Tagging and retrieving data and having a policy
is still relevant to show compliance, I'm not sure disposition is ever done for
e-records. Microsoft recently changed their email delete policy to retrieve
indefinitely based on industry pressure. I'm not seeing much controversy in identifying
legal citations and CFR s for claiming compliance or creating policies and
procedures to show due diligence. I think we are seeing a lot of controversy in
disposing of something. In fact, I've never seen it done on any scale. Now add
big data/data mining to the mix and the reasons for disposition get even more
challenging, I think. I'd like to know if it really matters anymore and who's
doing it. Here's
the other angle, Cloud vendors want your data forever and won't partner with
technology that takes data out of their Cloud. Who's going to force the right
to be forgotten in the US?"That prompted Member One to say, 
"Wait
a minute.  Who owns the data that cloud vendor's house? Are you suggesting that cloud vendors may disallow disposition of temporary records which
have reached their retention limits? Wow!
What a topic for discussion or even the whole seminar."



Member Three replied, 


"I
am wondering what mechanisms will be provided to delete or migrate your data and
yes, who actually owns it as well, so yes your title is good as well, but the
other part being does anyone care anymore. I don't know."Member Four (me) chimed in,

"Putting
disposition only in the context of big data narrows the topic. Does disposition
ever matter is the larger question.

Without
disposition there in no RIM. We can just close shop and hang out the "gone
fishing" sign."That sparked Member Three to reply,


"I'm
not sure of that, maybe it just means things have changed and it's more about
finding and keeping than disposing. I just don't see anyone deleting terabytes
of data at a time, which by now they should be doing if they were following a
retention schedule. Instead we're still seeing organizations thinking the
problem is still technical. Meanwhile IT is moving to the Cloud at a fairly
rapid pace. So will anyone ever dispose e-records? Is data in the Cloud so
large it is not practical to transfer it to NARA? Should Cloud vendors be FRCs?"And Member Two added, 


"Indeed,
Disposition is essential to RM. However, as with the rising need to use
flexible scheduling for government electronic records, the use of big data for
business purposes will probably force us to rethink retention periods,
associated storage matters, and to tackle under what circumstances would
non-record data turn into records. That, I believe, is the challenge that big
data poses for traditional records management. There are probably lots of ways
to approach this, but it does not spell the end of RM.  Far from it. "Member four (me) wrapped up the discussion and suggested posting it on the Listserv,


"I
think the discussion we are having is proof that we have a hot topic for the
seminar. I understand Member Three's frustration after providing NARA a certified body
of electronic records that could be deleted and then years later finding that
no one had the guts to push the delete button. I argue that lack of disposition
and inability to separate records from non-records is the cause of big data.
And moving inactive stuff to a basement or offsite storage unit is like moving
to the cloud. Out of sight - out of mind. Having just filled a dumpster with
personal clutter and records that I might want some day, I understand the reluctance to
dispose but also the freedom that results. Perhaps we could start a Listserv
discussion about this to generate other ideas."
So here is the question for the Listserv, "Does disposition matter?"

George D. Darnell, CRM
Membership Director
Northern Virginia Chapter of ARMA (ARMA NOVA)
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Manassas, Virginia
 		 	   		  
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