We are happy to announce the start of our public information gathering related to the Presidential Memorandum on Managing Government Records. We will be using the IdeaScale tool for this. Records and information management professionals, vendors, and the general public are all invited to participate in this community.
We have set up the Managing Government Records IdeaScale at http://govrecordmanagement.ideascale.com/. This community will be open for comments until March 27, 2012.
Here is how it works. You can also download this handy .pdf of quick tips.
- Create a free IdeaScale account.
- Submit your ideas for improving the management of Federal records under the six categories specified by the President in the Memorandum. These are: Creating a government-wide framework; Promoting practices that enable agencies to Fulfill Missions; Maintaining accountability through documentation; Increasing Open Government and Access; Supporting Agency Compliance; and Transitioning from paper to electronic when feasible.
- Provide comments on ideas already submitted.
- Vote “up” or “down” on posted ideas. This will indicate to others what you think of the idea.
- Encourage others to participate! Send a link to your colleagues or professional network
- Check back to the site to see what is going on. Did others like your idea? Do you have something else to propose?
In addition to Ideascale, feel free to contribute a comment here. Let us know of the ideas big and small that should inform the directive to be issued this summer in response to the Presidential Memorandum.
Thank you for your participation!
Records schdules were created for a paper and file cabinet world. That is not today. Today items are created electronically. So items need to be stored electroniclly and have a good search function. They then are either temporary or permanent.
There is already a good handle on what should be permanent so it is just a question of how long to keep temporary.
There is much more that can be flushed out and said but this is a start.
Since most of the “general public” lives outside of the beltway, will NARA be doing anything special to reach them and to help them to understand why they should care about this effort?
Hi Diane – Yes, we will continue to reach out to the public anywhere, mostly through this blog. We are asking our professional colleagues at SAA, ARMA, and NAGARA to spread the word as well and will be working with them to come up with some creative ways to reach their audiences. In addition, keep reading the blog. We are planning some things that we might be able to announce shortly.
Looking at the first days of the IdeaScale portal, I suspect that NARA repeats typical error of many crowdsourcing projects. Don’t presume that well-known experts in the field will come to you, – invite them! And invite them now and personally!
Dr. Khramtsovsky
Thanks for the comment. Your advice about how to garner participation is accurate. We are working with our colleagues in the professional communities of ARMA, SAA, and NAGARA to have them reach out to their members with invitations to participate.