Moments of Risk: Identifying Threats to Electronic Records
Abstract
The author left the field of electronic records a decade ago, and has returned to survey the landscape of what at that time appeared to be a battleground of irreconcilable positions. Since 1997, significant areas of agreement seem to have emerged. This paper identifies six agreed “moments of risk,” which occur at critical state transitions in the life of records: at capture, maintenance, ingestion, access, disposal, and preservation. It examines the literature of the past decade to identify the commonly held criteria by which records can be known to have survived such moments of risk unscathed. By locating widely accepted critical points in the life of records and the criteria by which we can assure ourselves that our management methods have succeeded, it hopes to make way for tests that could be agreed between proponents of different strategies.
RÉSUMÉ
L’auteur a quitté le domaine des documents électroniques il y a dix ans, puis il y est retourné afin d’examiner ce qui à l’époque semblait être un champ de bataille de positions irréconciliables. Depuis 1997, des points de convergence significatifs semblent être ressortis. Ce texte identifie six « moments de risque » qui se produisent lors de transitions d’états critiques dans la vie des documents : l’enregistrement, le maintien, l’ingestion, l’accès, la disposition et la préservation. Il examine la littérature de la dernière décennie dans le but d’identifier les critères généralement reconnus selon lesquels on peut savoir que les documents ont réussi à traverser ces moments de risqué indemnes. En repérant les points critiques dans la vie des documents et les critères selon lesquels nous pouvons nous assurer que nos méthodes de gestion ont réussi, il espère préparer l’arrivée de tests qui pourraient être acceptés par les défenseurs de différentes stratégies.
Authors of manuscripts accepted for publication retain copyright in their work. They are required to sign the Agreement on Authors' Rights and Responsibilities that permits Archivaria to publish and disseminate the work in print and electronically. In the same agreement, authors are required to confirm that "the material submitted for publication in Archivaria, both in its paper and electronic versions, including reproductions of other works (e.g. photographs, maps, etc.) does not infringe upon any existing copyright." Authors of manuscripts accepted for publication retain copyright in their work and are able to publish their articles in institutional repositories or elsewhere as long as the piece is posted after its original appearance on archivaria.ca. Any reproduction within one year following the date of this agreement requires the permission of the General Editor.
