Peter,

Thanks for the link to the book review. The book looks interesting. I could not access the full review because it was behind a paywall.

 

I would argue that the media model for the last 160 years is not an anomaly. It will remain in a modified form. In many ways, we see it already as corporations develop their social media presence and media corporations move away from set platforms to attract individual bloggers and writers to their organisation. In many ways, the news itself is changing which reflects a new golden age for records management and how it records are used.

 

I have argued elsewhere that the new social media allows people to challenge the state, and its representatives, on the central issue of memory. Who holds or maintains the official memory is often a determining factor in who gets justice. To the extent that official representatives are deemed to have provided the official record, as privileged by a court, over the hearsay of a participant, they have a great advantage. Who was in a position to challenge the official history of Hillsborough in the years that followed the tragic incident? However, the chances of a Hillsborough “official” history are reduced, even if social media and the new records management, which is based on the new approach to memory, which the web provides, can never eliminate them.

 

In many ways, the web itself, and hyperlinking, provide a new paradigm for memory, which has a huge consequence for how records are managed, and archives are sustained. The full effect is only beginning to emerge and will not be fully understood, at least through its effects, for at least another 20 years.

In the first instance, the private individual can now challenge the official record. This is the first challenge of the new media and its effect on records management. Individuals can start to do their own history, their own version of events, to challenge the official story. The media, to the extent it acts as the establishment’s gatekeeper, privileging some stories and ignoring others, is under direct existential threat. They are struggling with the new business model and the new ethos concerning memory and accountability.  http://lawrenceserewicz.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/private-memories-public-accountability/ However, this is the macro effect. The real difference is emerging at the micro level.

 

For the individual practitioner, the challenge is immediate and present. The person in care or facing an employment tribunal is now in a position to challenge the practitioner and their actions. They can record their own version of events and publicize that challenge. Instead of waiting and hoping someone will take up their case, they can make their own case to the public. They can also use the new media and the attendant technology to challenge the official story. http://lawrenceserewicz.wordpress.com/2013/07/10/street-justice-social-media/

 

Consider the increase is cases that have gone to the high court where an employee has covertly recorded conversations within the workplace to challenge discrimination claims and tribunal decisions. In the past, the only words that would have been accepted were the official record presented by the practitioner. Now the client or customer can create their own version to challenge either by recording conversations or by annotating their own records based on what has transpired in meetings or the records provided by the organisation.

 

Records management skills inside and outside the organisation will be in demand. However, it will not be the traditional version of Records Manager. It will be advice and guidance on how to organise records, how to determine provenance, and what retention and destruction mean within the context. We see some of this developing with the ongoing work around e-discovery and predictive coding. In many cases, software companies are working on ways to turn the tacit knowledge into an application that can be used by anyone. Will it work? Probably not in the way many predict. As the challenges increase, the demand for a properly organised and annotated record will increase, which will change the role that records managers play within organisations.

 

Thanks for the link.

 

Best,

 

Lawrence

 

 

 

 

 

From: The Information and Records Management Society mailing list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter Kurilecz
Sent: 24 November 2013 15:22
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fwd: Book Review: "Writing on the Wall" by Tom Standage - WSJ.com

 

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