Research of retention and disposition

processes in an internet website of the

government of Israel: The Ministry of

Foreign Affairs as a case study

Silvia Schenkolewski-Kroll, PhD, Department

of Information Science, Bar Ilan University &

Assaf Tractinsky PhD Israel State Archives

Eva/ Minerva

Jerusalem, 8th November 2015

InterPARES Trust – 2013-2018

• Founding

– Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Partnership Grant

– University of British Columbia's Vice President Research,

the Dean of Arts, and the School of Library, Archival and

Information Studies

– Partners

• Partners: 50+ universities and organizations, national and

international, public and private

• From various continents: from North America, Latin America,

Europe, Africa, Australasia and Asia

Prof. Luciana Duranti, British Colombia

University, Canada http://interparestrust.org/

The International Research on Permanent

Authentic Records in Electronic Systems

(InterPARES)

• Luciana Duranti, Diplomatics: New Uses for an Old

Science, Part 1 -6, Archivaria (1989 – 1992)

• The Preservation of the Integrity of Electronic Records

(UBC Project) 1994-1997

• InterPARES 1 - The Long-term Preservation of Authentic

Electronic Records

• InterPARES 2 -Experiential, Interactive, Dynamic Records

• InterPARES 3 - Theoretical Elaborations into Archival

Management (TEAM): Implementing the theory of

preservation of authentic records in digital systems in

small and medium-sized archival organizations

WORK ENVIRONMENT OF THE

InterPARES TRUST

• Storage and Accessibility in the Internet and

Cloud Environments

‒ Creation and access to records by people and organizations

‒ Storing enormous amounts of data

‒ In an environment that is not very secure

• Questions:

‒ Can the information be trusted?

‒ How and where is it stored?

‒ Who has legal control and authority over it?

‒ Who has access to it, and until when?

‒ How secure is the information?

‒ Is its privacy guaranteed?

InterPARES Trust (2013-2018)

Purpose:

To create theories and methodologies in

order to develop international and local

policy, procedures, regulations, standards and

laws, with the purpose of ensuring public

confidence in the digital records found on the

internet.

Five Research Domains

• Infrastructure: Considers issues relating to system architecture and related

infrastructure as they affect records held in online environments.

• Security: Considers records issues relating to online data security,

including: security methods, data breaches, cybercrime, risks associated

with shared servers, information assurance, governance, audits and

auditability, forensic readiness, risk assessment, and backup.

• Control: Focuses on the management of digital material in online

environments. It addresses such issues as: authenticity, reliability, and

accuracy of data; integrity metadata; chain of custody; retention and

disposition; transfer and acquisition; intellectual control, and access

controls.

• Access: Researches open access/open data; the right to know/duty to

remember/right to be forgotten; privacy; accountability; and transparency.

• Legal: Considers issues such as the application of legal privilege (including

the issue of extraterritoriality);legal hold; chain of evidence; authentication

of evidence offered at trial; certification; and soft laws (in particular UN

standard-setting instruments).

Five Research Cross Domains

• Terminology: The ongoing production of a multilingual glossary; a

multilingual dictionary with sources;ontologies; and background papers

explaining the use of terms and concepts within the project.

• Resources: Ongoing production of annotated bibliographies, identifying

relevant published articles, books, etc., case law, policies, statutes, standards,

blogs and similar grey literature.

• Policy: Considers policy-related issues emerging from the five research

domains; in general, it addresses recordkeeping issues associated with the

development and implementation of policies having an impact on the

management of records in an online environment.

• Social/Societal Issues: Concerned with the analysis of social change

consequent to the use of theInternet, including but not limited to use/misuse of

social media of all types, trustworthiness of news,data leaks (intentional or

accidental/force majeure) consequences, development issues (power balance

in a global perspective), organizational culture issues, and individual

behaviour issues.

• Education: Develops different models of curricula for transmitting the new

knowledge produced by the project.

ARCHIVAL TERMINOLOGY

• Appraisal

– This is the process by which the value of archival

records and their disposition - whether for short-term

retention or permanent retention – are decided.

– In electronic records this process also combines the

technological knowledge required to appraise the

possibility of preserving the record; and whether

changes have occurred in the record over time, which

can harm its authenticity and preservation.

– This is a dynamic process.

RETENTION AND DISPOSITION PROCESSES ON A

GOVERNMENT WEBSITE – THE CASE OF THE

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

RETENTION AND DISPOSITION PROCESSES ON A

GOVERNMENT WEBSITE – THE CASE OF THE

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Purposes of the Research

• To examine the archival procedure of appraising

records on the website ‒ Retention schedule of records

‒ Removal of records (transfer to the appropriate place

of storage or archives, or destruction)

• Creation of processes and instruction manuals ‒ The Ministry will be able to appraise its records

according to retention schedules

‒ For disposition or permanent retention

PROCESSES OF RETENTION AND DISPOSITION

ON A GOVERNMENRT WEBSITE – THE CASE OF

THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

• Why the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

− It is conducted in English

− It contains public relations material that

changes at internals

− Old pages and contents are saved

− It receives responses from the public

− It is being used to develop consular

services

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Is there any method for determining retention periods for the

records on the site?

Is there a method for the disposition of records, by disposal of

the material or by transferring it to another repository?

What are the links between the organization and the internet

provider (Tehila), regarding the retention and disposition of

records?

What is the role of other elements (the Ministry units, the Israel

State Archives) in relation to retention and disposition?

To what degree do the existing procedures for electronic and

traditional records influence the content and functions of records

on the internet?

Do records found only on the site require special treatment?

• What is the most suitable method for determining retention

schedules and disposition on the website?

RESEARCH STAGES AND METHODS

Research Processes

a) Examination of the types of records, examination of the policy and

work procedures on the ministry website, and examination of the retention

and disposition processes

b) A comparison with the appraisal and retention process of the

InterPARES research

c) A comparative study of procedures and standards in Israel and abroad

Research Methods

• Observations of the site and their analysis (for example, perusal of

pages and understanding the type of document, procedures of preparing

metadata)

• Interviews with workers who operate the site, from the content aspect

and the technological aspect

• Interviews with workers who provide the site with material

• Reading and appraising procedures, standards and professional

literature in Israel and abroad

Steps and Findings

• Intensive examination of the website front-end

• Interviews with persons in the Ministry

• MFA website has implemented Gov-­‐X Standard, SharePoint

2010 - Used as content management system, Governmental

Cloud

• MFA has clear records management policy in general, but not

concerning the website

• MFA does not have a clear policy about website content which

is determined exclusively by the website content managers

(Except for Consular Department)

• The know-how on the part of the Ministry vis-à-vis server

operation is limited

• Literature review

APPRAISAL OF ARCHIVAL MATERIAL IN

THE RESEARCH

An attempt to adopt the existing model in the Ministry to the

website – it became apparent that a complete adoption was not

possible The characteristics of records on the website are different from

those of classic records (transaction material as opposed to material

of a publication nature)

Today’s retention schedules are based on Ministry units, subjects

and functions, which are difficult to adapt to the subjects and the

diplomatic forms of the records on the website

A method of appraising records of an organizational system at

the level of files, and not individual documents

Links between the sections of the website

The same records appear in several sections (where are they to

be appraised?)

Additional Issues

• Website harvesting

– The entire website

– Parts of the website

• The user issue - ways in which the website is

used

User segmentation

Website sections and the way they are divided

internally

Does the number of visits to a specific website section

or page point to their importance in the eyes of the

users?

Harvesting

• Software that makes it possible to locate the site or sections of it

– “To harvest" is to create copies in the computer on a specific date, and at intervals of time that have been determined by those responsible for this process

– Adapting to the structure of the site , its content, the time and a specific situation

Users Behavior

• The issue of the quantity of users and its

influence on the appraisal has not yet been

raised in the literature.

• Only a systematic study during a specific

period of time, of the quantity of users

compared with the material presented on

various parts of the site, can provide an

answer about this criterion

Analysis of sections

• MASHAV (1957) - Israel's Agency for

International Development and Cooperation

(Certain amount of autonomy)

– Presenting courses

– four continents

– The information of this sub-site is partly informative

and partly fulfilling administrative functions

• Foreign Policy

– present through information from the past and current

news, the policy and activities of the Ministry of

Foreign Affairs .The format of the material is similar to

traditional publications in the written and electronic

media

MASHAV Structure

Foreign Relation Structure

Attempts to determine retention

periods for the two sections above • MASHAV

– The parallels exist because the section

represents a defined administrative unit

– sections 1, 2, 5, 6 and 9 of the Archives Law

guidelines for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

• Foreign Policy

• Publicist nature - has no parallel to the retention

periods

• Harvesting periods in accordance with the pace

of events and/or the number of users

Attempts to determine retention periods for

the two sections above (Cont.)

Foreign Policy (Cont.)

• The webmaster made an advance selection of the

material

• The criteria for her choices are unclear. Therefore, it

appears that there is no point to recommending setting

retention periods for the 'Foreign Relations' section

• Each of the sections will require a process of study

and analysis of each section,

– Internal organization and

– Content and diplomatic form of the records

A Comparison of Users' Data

• The purpose - to integrate users' behavior on the website in

the process of its appraisal

• The goal - to present trends and estimates in the field,

rather than results

• Reasons:

– The material on the website is mostly different than that of

the internal organizational systems and

– The material on the site is accessible to the public at all

times.

– An external element may be required to assist in the site's

appraisal, in addition to, or instead of, the criteria usually

used in a standard appraisal, such as administrative use; or

legal, sociological and research value

Summary of 2014

Number of Pageviews in the Sections

Summary of 2014

Periods of Time Spent

Trends/Conclusions

1. This type of system makes it possible to observe sections

and sub-sections throughout various periods of time.

1.1 Criteria that influence the appraisal and the determination of

retention periods.

2. The sections most viewed are 'About Israel' and 'Foreign

Policy'. The section with the fewest pageviews is

MASHAV. However, in MASHAV, users spent the most

time on pages, in accordance with the nature of the sub site

and its operational nature.

3. According to the experience of the director of the website,

the minimal significant amount of time spent on a page is

at least 60 seconds. This datum requires additional study.

Summary and Conclusions

• Literature on the subject (mainly instructions for

retention of websites)

• The Archives Law of Israel

• Analysis of :

– the structure and content of the Ministry of Foreign

Affairs website in English, focusing in-depth on

sections of MASHAV and Foreign Policy

– To demonstrate two different types of records and

information included in each one of them,

– Assumption that they can constitute a basis for

appraisal of additional sections.

Summary and Conclusions

We did not find in the regulations for the

retention of government websites any

special appraisal instructions; only general

instructions on procedures according to the

law.

The Archives Law of the State of Israel

does not mention the subject.

There are no practical instructions on this

topic.

Summary and Conclusions (Cont.)

Appraisal of the entire website or operating a

harvest program which is programmed to act on

fixed dates, or adapted to the contents of each

section.

Its not seem feasible to operate a harvest

program at lower levels

Whether from the aspect of the content or the

technical difficulty.

Summary and Conclusions (Cont.)

• MASHAV

• Close adherence to the MASHAV administrative

unit

• Operational nature

• Archives Law

• Foreign Policy

• Informative - almost journalistic –nature

• Statistical data – quantity of users, and the time they

spend in the section.

• No possibility of relying on a previous appraisal,

because it does not exist

Summary and Conclusions -Topics that

Need to be Studied and Discussed

Transferring the entire website, or parts of it, to be

permanently stored in the Israel State Archives, has

not yet been dealt with.

An appraisal according to sections, and to determine

retention periods for each one of them, the

technological aspect of its implementation will need to

be studied.

There is a need to define the meta-data required to

preserve the authenticity of the stored records and to

prevent changes to them.

Summary and Conclusions -Topics that

Need to be Studied and Discussed (Cont.)

• A study of the entry points of the users and

their geographical origins may constitute

parameters of significance in the evaluation.

• Using statistical methods on sample records

for purposes of choosing material for

preservation.

• The quality of the website, from the aspect

of its accessibility and links.

Thank you