Dear All,
I am presently reading the following text:
Archives: recordkeeping in society by McKemmish et al. (2005), as part of a
college course.
This text is very interesting in that it suggests records management as
part of the archival family. There are two main theories that are
commented upon, the Records Lifecycle Model, i.e. creation, capture,
transition to record, and then retention decision - destroy/archive, and
the records continuum theory, which presents a more holistic view of
records and suggests (to me anyway) that information when given
relationships i.e. its use/comment etc makes the content archival in
nature. A picture is just a picture until you add context such as a title -
it then has enough metadata to have archival value both as an active
record and beyond.
The Records Comtinuum has four dimensions
Create
Capture
organise
Pluralise
And these form part of the Continuum circles (create as an inner circle, to
pluralise as an outer circle.
The argument in favour of this model is complex, however in simplest terms
it appear to be about the use of content and the space around it or
impacting upon it.
I am of the view that this is a very well researched argument to place
archival management as the prime mover in information management in terms
of the lifecycle of information and that records management forms a
lifecycle element within archival management. I am uncomfortable with this
view, maybe my age, maybe my cultural backgound, maybe I do not understand
it, maybe I do but am in fear of dismissing it.
Records Management Journal 2000 edition 10(3) has more on this from Frank
Upward.
As this is a discussion forum for records management I would hope a few of
us have already considered the continuum theory and would be prepared to
add our views to this debate.
I must apologise for the brevity in explanation, reading the book or the
RMJ article would inform you much better
Comments?
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