Australasian Digital Recordkeeping Initiative – Adrian Cunningham

SESSION OUTLINE

• Challenge – Making, Keeping and Using Digital Records over long term

• Australasian Digital Recordkeeping Initiative (ADRI) – objectives, principles

• Uniform Australasian approach• ADRI projects• Outstanding issues

CHANGES IN THE RECORD KEEPING ENVIRONMENT• Devolution of responsibilities

to individual agencies• Changes in work processes• Internet & data exchange• New public records laws

THE PRESERVATION PROBLEM

• Rapid obsolescence of– Data formats– Digital media, densities etc.– Hardware – Software – operating systems &

applications

• Physical instability of digital media

CONVERGENCE TO XML?

• International standardisation vs proprietary formats

• Extensibility = adaptability• Platform neutral

AUSTRALIA’S TRACK RECORD• The Records Continuum/AS 4390 (1996)• E-Permanence/DIRKS/Functional analysis• Metadata standards• Work Process Analysis for Records, AS 5090• Victorian Electronic Records Strategy• National Archives of Australia’s Digital Preservation

Program – Xena, etc• History of cross-jurisdictional cooperation within a

federal system of government

Members since 2004• National Archives of Australia• Archives New Zealand• Public Record Office Victoria• State Records NSW• ACT Territory Records • Archives Office of Tasmania • Northern Territory Archives Service• Queensland State Archives• State Records South Australia• State Records Office Western Australia

ADRI Vision

• All governments in Australia and New Zealand implement a uniform approach to making, keeping and using digital records to ensure accountability and the long-term protection of vital cultural heritage.– This uniformity leads to efficiency, economy

and interoperability across participating communities.

ADRI Objectives (1)

1. That all ADRI members are committed to agreed principles for digital recordkeeping.

2. That ADRI supports members in advocating for appropriate digital recordkeeping to support government in their jurisdictions.

3. That each government in Australia and New Zealand has an e-governance regime which is supported by sound strategies for making, keeping and using digital records.

4. That vendors provide implementations of standards developed by ADRI.

ADRI Objectives (2)

5. That the evidence of e-government of Australia and NZ is captured, preserved and accessible for the benefit of current and future generations.

6. That professional leadership and development is provided in digital recordkeeping for Australia and New Zealand.

7. That, in a digital environment, agencies can meet their legal and functional responsibilities effectively and economically.

8. That the best possible strategic use of limited collective resources is made.

ADRI Guiding Principles (1)1. Advocacy and assistance responsibilities of

government archives.2. Primary importance of the design and implementation

of recordkeeping systems. 3. Shared rights and responsibilities and the need for

adequate support and training.4. Commitment to common standards.5. Importance of identifying recordkeeping requirements.6. Importance of standardised recordkeeping metadata.

ADRI Guiding Principles (2)

7. Records that are made in digital form should be retained in digital form.

8. Digital records need to be actively managed and maintained.

9. Preservation formats should not be constrained by proprietary rights.

10. Need for trusted digital repositories.

11. Public access should be maximised by full use of available networked technologies.

Uniform Australasian Approach• Making & Managing Digital

Records• Keeping Digital Records (both in

agencies and in the archives)• Transferring Digital Records to

Archives• Using Digital Records

Making & Managing Digital Records• Guidelines and tools for:

·   Creating accurate & reliable records·   Classification and control metadata for records·   Technology-specific issues for records (eg., email; encryption; web-based resources)·   Functional requirements for r/k systems ·   Model software procurement specifications·   Compliance assessment and/or self-diagnosis·   Schemas for record genres

• Standards for:·    Recordkeeping metadata·    Methodologies for recordkeeping system design and implementation

Keeping Digital Records (both in agencies and in the archives)

Guidelines on:    Preferred long term data formats   XML–based approaches to digital preservation    Migration paths for long-term digital records   Preservation treatment of specific data formats (e.g.

database-derived records; web records)   Process models for preservation of digital records in

agency custody   Dealing with changes in the machinery of

government over time   Process models & recommendations for retrieval of

records from defunct systems or media

Keeping Digital Records (both in agencies and in the archives)

Standards for  describing digital records  minimum requirements for preservable data

formats  trustworthy digital repositories  maintenance of provenance and authenticity

for digital records

Transferring Digital Records to Archives

Guidelines on:   Preferred data formats & methods for transferring

records to archival custody  Methods for automatic transfer of recordkeeping

metadata  Maintenance of provenance and authenticity Standards for   Transfer between government agencies and from

agencies to archival custody  Minimum authenticity requirements  Transfer media

Using Digital Records

Guidelines on:   Legal provisions re access to digital archives  Expunging sensitive data from public access copies   Storage & presentation of preserved data formats  Certification of provenance & authenticity  Fraud prevention  Data re-formatting and presentation (e.g. databases)  Searching & discovery mechanisms Standards for    Uniform resource discovery based on metadata sets (e.g.

AGLS)   Thesaurus-based searching

Uniform Australasian Approach

• Public standards– ISO 14721:2003 (OAIS Blue Book)– ISO15489 – Records Management– XML rfc

• Managing the entire continuum– Recordkeeping standards– Metadata standards– Genre schemas

• Implementation approaches

Uniform Australasian Approach

Public standards

• ISO 14721:2003 -Reference Model for an Open

Archival Information System

4-1

.1

MANAGEMENT

Ingest

Data Management

SIP

AIP DIP

queries

result sets

Administration

AccessPRODUCER

CONSUMER

Descriptive Info

AIP

orders

Descriptive Info

Archival Storage

Uniform Australasian Approach

Implementation-level approaches • XML package wrapping• Industry commodity

platforms• Open, documented formats• Minimise migration

requirements • Provenance & authenticity

mechanisms (e.g. checksums)

Uniform Australasian Approach

What is not uniform?

•Legislative regimes•Access regimes• Implementation details•State of play

ADRI: Projects/Products• Common transfer/ingest format and/or standard for

a Submission Information Package (Exposure Draft)• Generic business cases for digital recordkeeping• Generic specifications for digital archive hardware

and software functionality• Staff training workshops/modules• Generic specs for digital archive hardware/software• Generic specs for records management software• Advice on Digital Rights Management Technology

Issues to be resolved?

• Whole of archives reinvention for end to end digital archiving

• Capacity planning/scalability• Metadata encapsulated

objects vs distributed metadata management?

• Digital Rights Management technology

ADRI Website

– http://www.adri.gov.au

– http://www.adri.govt.nz