Metadata - Information about electronic records

ARMA Records Management Quarterly, Oct 1995 by Phillips, John T Jr

CREATING CUSTOM TOOLS

To design a generic method of describing all information that applies to both electronic environments and hard copy paper documents requires establishing parameters for information descriptions that apply across all relevant computer system platforms and operating business environments. Such parameters will be similar across business activities, with some unique parameters designed to capture particular information aspects that are of significant interest in special settings. Information is valued based not only on the data content, but also on the perspective or view from which the information was generated. An electronic mail message that says "Please discard all old procedures manuals" can have a very different importance and impact depending on who issued the memo. Did it originate from executive management, the records management department, or a new (and uninformed) department head? This contextual information must be captured to fully appreciate the value of the message. Who issued the message, when was it issued, why was it distributed, and who received the message? All of these factors affect the authenticity and value of that communication.

For information to be managed to meet all organizational and governmental requirements will require new methodologies for documenting records creation and use throughout their life cycle. Unfortunately, many of these tools are only in a rudimentary state of development in today's software environment. There is no common set of accepted data elements that can be used to describe a paper letter, a corporate report, data in a computer database, or an electronic mail message. Common tools that are used to identify information on a computer's disk drive are user-assigned filenames or keywords assigned by a particular software. For instance, a microcomputer using the MSDOS operating system would allow assigning a filename like BDGT95RM.XLS to a spreadsheet (XLS Excel filename extension) that was the budget information (BDGT) for 1995 (95) for the records management (IM) department. However, unless one was already familiar with the abbreviated nomenclature used to name this file, it is unlikely that one could decipher the content of the file without loading the file onto a computer for an actual visual inspection. Some modern software will also allow adding keywords, titles, or abstracts that are searchable by a computer user. For the most part, these do not provide a sufficient number of descriptive fields also to designate a records series, document recipient, media format, or many of the other important aspects of records description. In addition, these fields can be filled out by any user or not filled out, as suits their purposes. The metadata is not required by the software before the record is saved to computer disk or tape. Most individuals using computers today simply ignore the available fields of data that could be used to start an organized approach to filing electronic records. And if they do develop an approach to organizing their computer-based records, they are probably the only individuals that understand their system of description.