Social Computing versus Records management : let the debate begin

Social computing is fast becoming the significant cultural experience of the early 21st Century. It consists of Web 2.0 networking tools like bulletin boards, forums, portals, wikis and weblogs. Millions of people use these technologies every day on the internet to keep in touch with friends, interest groups etc all over the world, in the blink of an eye.

These informal on-line networks are gradually (but with increasing pace) being introduced into the working environment to help organisations share knowledge and information. Whisper it softly but these social computing technologies are doing knowledge management far better than we ever could have dreamt possible. (Who said that technology wasn't the answer :-) ???!!)

The challenge for records managers is how we identify and manage the recordness of these new technologies. This is part of the crucial debate about what records management is in the 21st Century. Social computing technologies are challenging our orthodoxies in the work environment and our assumptions about what records are and how we should manage them. In my organisation we are making our first tentative steps towards using social computing technologies. So it's pertinent that we start asking questions about how we should manage the work they create.

First of all, it's probably true to say that we don't know for certain whether staff are ready for it. So we have to create an atmosphere where staff are encouraged to say what they think openly and honestly and where they can find connections and collaborative working spaces with their colleagues. I suppose we have to 'put it out there' and see what happens but we also have to be ready to manage the records that fall out of these new initiatives.

I want to look at these technologies separately and examine what I think are the main issues. Feel free to let me know what you think.

Forums / Bulletin boards / Newsgroups

These are extremely popular and quite simple technologies that give users a place where they can post questions or statements and get responses (and discussions) from anyone else who has access to the system.

There are hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of these forums on the internet and they are usually managed by 'moderators' (a.k.a. 'mods') who police the site to make sure there is no offensive content, swearing or abusive behaviours.

In the workplace, I think that there should always be a records manager helping out with the moderating. Then, we can keep an eye on anything that needs to be kept as a record. That's certainly going to be my approach. We will need to write detailed procedures to make sure that any decisions reached, agreements made or significant documents drafted are moved to our ERM systems for storage.

This, of course, raises questions about whether this can be done; whether we have the technology to transfer it seamlessly from the social environment into the records space; or the staff time and energy to do it.

But, of course, this is what might happen in an ideal records management view of the world. The reality is likely to be different. Would we have the staff resources? Do we even want to develop complex infospaces for people to work in, encourage participation and then micro-manage them?

Wikis

A wiki is a website that allows users to easily add, remove and edit content. The ease of interaction and operation make wikis ideal for mass collaboration and authoring. Perhaps the most famous wiki is Wikipedia a massively influential, online, collaborative encyclopaedia. I'm really looking forward to starting one in my organisation. But what do we need to do to make sure we capture the records?

We will have to decide on clear procedures. For example, when does something become a record?Is it X number of days after an amendment? Or every time there's an amendment? On reflection it might be best to treat wikis exactly like you'd treat a website. See the attached link for details of TNA guidance on managing websites.

Blogs

Blogs (or, more accurately, weblogs) are websites where entries are written in chronological order and displayed in reverse chronological order.

Blogs can provide commentary or news on a particular subject and some function as more personal online diairies. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.

The problem of what to capture (and when) is even more difficult for blogs than it is for wikis. Wikis tend to be collaborative efforts, whereas blogs can be highly personal offerings. So a wiki is, on the whole, more likely to contain records.

We need to establish how much of any blog can be saved as a record. Take this blog, for example, does any of it have the status of a record? Or is just the ramblings of a bonkers mind??? Perhaps it's both, I hear you cry. I've not tried to save this into our ERM system...but I bet I couldn't do it very easily. I could draft out the documents first and upload from the ERM system - but that would take away the immediacy of it.

Let me know if you've been through this already...what did you decide?

I think I need to look again at the National Archives stuff on the management of websites.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/website_toolkit.pdf