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Clever Recordkeeping Metadata Project
Automating Recordkeeping Metadata Capture and Re-use: Translations from Theory to PracticeJoanne Evans, Karuna Bhoday, Sue McKemmish and Sergio Viademonte
Association of Canadian Archivists Conference 2005June 8-11, Saskatoon, Canada
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Recasting Paper Minds
• ‘recast our ‘paper minds’ to deal with electronic realities’
• ‘if improved ways and means are applied to the wrong ends, to the old archival paradigms ... then these ways and means will not solve the problems that we face.’
Terry Cook, 'Electronic Records, Paper Minds: The Revolution in Information Management and Archives in the Post-Custodial and Post-Modern Era', Archives and Manuscripts, vol. 22, no. 2, November 1994, pp. 300-329.
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Recordkeeping Metadata Standards
Records Continuum Theoretical FrameworkRecords Continuum Theoretical Framework
SPIRTRecordkeeping
MetadataProject
OutcomesAustralian Recordkeeping
Metadata Schema
Conceptual Models of Recordkeeping
StandardsRecordkeeping Metadata
Standard for Commonwealth Agencies
New South Wales Recordkeeping Metadata
Standard
State Records of South Australia Recordkeeping
Metadata Standard
Recordkeeping metadata:-
‘structured or semi-structured information that enables the creation, management and use of records in and through time, and within and across the domains in which they are created and used. Recordkeeping metadata is used to identify, authenticate, and contextualise records, as well as the people, processes and systems involved in their creation, management and use.’
David Wallace, ‘Archiving Metadata Forum: Report from the Recordkeeping Metadata Working Meeting, June 2000’, Archival Science, vol. 1, no. 3, 2001, pp. 253-269.
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Recordkeeping BusinessTransaction
Recordkeeping Business Activity
Recordkeeping Business Function
Business Transaction
Business Activity
Business Function
Ambient Function
BUSINESS
Relation
MANDATES
Figure 4: Coverage of Recordkeeping Metadata
Govern
EstablishCompetencies Account For
Rel
atio
n
Recordkeeping Ambient Function
BUSINESSRECORDKEEPING
Relation
Person/Actor
Organisational Unit/Work Group
Organisation/Corporate Body
Social Institution
AGENTS/PEOPLE
Relation
Record Object
Record Aggregation
Corporate Archive/ RK System
Collective Archives
RECORDS
Relation
Relation
Rel
atio
n Relation
Govern
Relation
Rel
atio
n
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Transforming Paper Practices
• Recast our paper minds but yet to transform our paper practices and systems? Need for research to investigate how
theoretical understandings are translated into practice
Conceptualise new methods, tools and infrastructure to support recordkeeping in electronic environments
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Clever Recordkeeping Metadata Project
Chief Investigator• Professor Sue McKemmish, Monash
University
Partner Investigators • Professor Anne Gilliland-Swetland, UCLA• Mr Adrian Cunningham, National Archives
of Australia
Industry Partners and Collaborators• National Archives of Australia• State Records Authority of New South
Wales• Australia Society of Archivists, Committee
on Descriptive Standards
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Create once use many times
How to enable metadata interoperability?
Practical Perspectives
Overcome barriers to implementation of
recordkeeping and resource discovery standards
Demonstrate the business case for recordkeeping
metadata
Research Perspectives
Explore role of recordkeeping metadata in support of
business and recordkeeping processes
Impact on recordkeeping and archiving functions
Requirements for meta-tools for recordkeeping metadata management
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System Development Research Method
• Demonstrate the concept of automated metadata capture and re-use through iterative prototyping:-
– Small scale startup leading to more sophisticated development
– Simulated real world scenario - generalise to other environments
– Test aspects of the concept and use to champion the concept
Step 1 Concept Building
Step 2 System Building
Step 3 System Evaluation
Burstein 2002 (after Nunamaker, Chen & Purdin 1990-91)
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First iteration
• Scope:-– Establish a scenario of recordkeeping metadata capture
and re-use, and– Instantiate this scenario to show metadata re-use using
existing technologies and instruments for metadata translation
• Simple solution:-– Defined set of metadata re-use scenarios– Translations as crosswalks instantiated as XSLT files
• Expectations:-– Identify barriers to metadata interoperability– Test existing instruments and technologies– Make the case for meta-tools
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eGovernment Policy Development – Recordkeeping – Publishing – Archiving Scenario
Records Management Application
Archival Management Application
Learning Object Portal
Other Portals
Desktop Applications
Intranet
Public Website
Metadata Standards – Australian Recordkeeping Metadata Schema, RKMSCA, AGLS, CRS, Digital Object Preservation
Archival Gateways
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Metadata Re-use Scenarios
Records Management Application
Archival Management Application
Learning Object Portal
Other Portals
Web Management
Systems Archival Gateway
Email and Desktop
Applications
Metadata Broker
Business Information
Systems
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Metadata Re-use Scenario - Publishing
• Re-use of recordkeeping metadata as resource discovery metadata
RKMS
Metadata
RKMS – Recordkeeping Metadata Standard for Commonwealth Agencies
AGLS
Metadata
AGLS – Australian Government Locator Service
XSLT
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Metadata Re-use Scenario - Archiving
• Re-use of metadata from business recordkeeping system as archival description
CRSItem
Metadata
CRS – Commonwealth Record Series
CRS Series
Metadata
RKMS – Recordkeeping Metadata Standard for Commonwealth Agencies
RKMS
Metadata
XSLT & Java Objects
XSLT
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Findings and Challenges
1. Recordkeeping metadata re-use is possible
… but feasibility and sustainability are key issues
Further conceptualisation of the functionality of the metadata broker using a prototyping approach
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CRKM Metadata Broker
Metadata registry
Authoritative information on metadata schemas, elements and translations in
human readable and machine processable forms
Repository
Machine processable representations of metadata schemas, elements and
translations
Temporary store of metadata instances undergoing translation
Source metadata Target metadata
Translation services
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Findings and Challenges
2. Systems integration is constrained by interoperability limitations of current business, records and archival management applications
Conceive of metadata broker as a service within an integrated systems environment based on a service oriented architecture (SOA)
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Findings and Challenges
3. Existing metadata standards are not as interoperable as developers assumed
RKMS Date•Created
•Transacted•Registered
AGLS Date•Created•Modified
•Valid•Issued
RKMS Identifier
AGLS Identifier
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Findings and Challenges
4. Recordkeeping metadata re-use is dynamic and complex Demonstrate metadata interoperability taking into
account element semantics, their value domains and encoding schemes
Investigate recordkeeping metadata standards based on dynamic rather than static metadata models with multiple entities
Semi-automation – where full automation is not possible, how can existing metadata be re-purposed to facilitate metadata attribution?
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Findings and Challenges
5. Recordkeeping metadata re-use constrained by workflow configured around retrospective metadata creation
Re-engineering and re-positioning of recordkeeping and archiving processes in line with a continuum view
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Metadata Re-use Scenarios
Records Management Application
Archival Management Application
Learning Object Portal
Other Portals
Web Management
Systems Archival Gateway
Email and Desktop
Applications
Metadata Broker
Business Information
Systems
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Findings and Challenges
6. Role of action research in developing theory and practice Greater and growing understandings of the
complexity of recordkeeping metadata re-use Feedback to metadata standards developers
of requirements:-- to support implementation- to support interoperability