SAA 2017: records management, the web, and open data

Courtyard of Tranquility, Lan Su Chinese Garden, Portland, Oregon, 26 July 2017.

What follows is a quick stab at outlining a few ideas that came to the fore during two sessions -- one of which I was a participant and one in which I was an audience member -- and during the Government Records Section's annual meeting. Some are my own, and some are other people's, and all of them concern in some way our profession's inability to explain the value of records management programs, and in particular government records management programs, to the broader public:

• Government archivists and records managers have tried for decades to get public officials, policymakers, journalists, and the public at large to understand that government records management and archives programs are essential to ensuring government accountability, efficiency, and transparency. We haven't gotten a lot of traction, and I'm increasingly convinced that our lack of success is because we frame our arguments in ways that make sense to us but not to the vast majority of our fellow citizens. Why do we keep doing the same thing and expecting different results? Why aren't we working with public relations professionals and other people who are adept at crafting simple, resonant messages and communicating them to broad audiences? How would Don Draper sell records management? 
• As one archivist in a session I attended this morning noted, governments that release the data they gather or create as open data -- data that third parties can use, reuse, and redistribute subject only, at most, to the requirement that the source of the data be identified may not pose much of a records management challenge. For example, this archivist's public sector employer, which has begun sharing datasets it has created with the public in an effort to be proactively transparent, treats the versions of the datasets it posts on its open data website as convenience copies. However, as other archivists pointed out during the annual meeting of the Government Records Section, the controversy and wave of "citizen archiving" initiatives that ensued when the new presidential administration removed certain types of information from federal government websites suggests that at least some members of the public have come to expect that information posted online will remain readily accessible in perpetuity. I have the feeling that, in the coming years, we're going to devote a lot of energy to coming to grips with this expectation. Will we give into it and focus on harvesting and preserving web content, or will we ramp up our efforts to explain that managing government records appropriately may mean removing and disposing of data that was once freely available online? Or will we preserve tons of web content and explain that, in some instances, we work with agencies to identify and acquire additional, related records that are not available online and that, in others, we capture only snapshots of web content? 

Freedom of information laws throughout the world

Things are going to be quiet around here this week: my modem abruptly ceased working on Sunday afternoon. Owing to the holiday I expect that the new one won't arrive until Friday at the earliest and that the coffeeshop in which I'm writing this post and all of my other usual wifi hotspots will be closed.

However, I wanted to draw your attention to a recent Associated Press article highlighting the results of its first-ever test of freedom of information laws throughout the world. At present, 105 countries have such laws, but the experience of the AP, which submitted requests for information to all of these nations and to the European Union, reveals that the extent to which these laws are observed varied widely.

• Only 14 countries supplied all the information requested within the time frame specified in their laws, and 38 more eventually complied. More than half ignored the AP's requests altogether.
• Newer democracies often complied more swiftly than mature democracies. Moreover, newer democracies' laws, which tend to reflect the existence of the Internet, are often better suited to today's world than the laws that mature democracies enacted decades ago, when the overwhelming majority of records were created on paper and the Xerox machine was the height of technological sophistication.
  
• Many countries adopted freedom of information laws as a condition of securing foreign assistance, and most of these countries ignore or seek to circumscribe these laws as quickly as possible.
• In some countries, citizens who file freedom of information requests may be targeted for retaliation. In India, where activists are using such requests to expose and combat entrenched governmental corruption, at least a dozen people who have filed freedom of information requests have been killed and dozens more have been violently attacked.
  

It's an interesting, thought-provoking piece, and it bears close reading.

What do you see?

At first glance, there's nothing particularly ominous or significant about the above image. It looks like a random 1980s snapshot of some guy in cheesy 1980s clothes . . . being a tourist? Making fun of tourists? Making fun of himself for being a tourist?

The man depicted in this photograph was actually employed by the East German secret police, commonly known as the Stasi. The photograph itself is one of a series of photographs in the Stasi archives, which are now open to the public, documenting an "art of disguising" course for Stasi employees who spied on their fellow citizens. These images are featured in "Pictures from the Secret Stasi Archives," a new Berlin exhibit by artist Simon Menner.

The image above may seem risible, but it's really not: among other things, the Stasi imprisoned and executed dissidents and spied on millions of ordinary people. The "art of disgusing" photographs, a sampling of which Der Spiegel has made available, are accompanied by dozens of photographs that Stasi personnel took while clandestinely searching the homes of their fellow citizens -- so that they would be able to put everything back in place before they left.

In 1992, citizens of the former East Germany were granted the right to view their own files; to date, almost 2.75 million people have done so. At present, 1,800 German government employees are responsible for caring for the archives and reconstituting records that Stasi employees shredded as their world collapsed in 1989.

Look again at the above photograph. Now that you know about the circumstances that led to its creation, what do you see? Do you enjoy looking at it? Are you glad that you can look at it?

Ohio public records controversy

Apologies for the virtually non-existent posting during the past few weeks. I've spent three of the past four weeks attending to family matters, and I've simply had to put this blog and a bunch of other things on the back burner.

At the moment, I'm in Ohio, which is the site of a fascinating court case centering upon management of and access to public records. Ohio's Public Records Law currently allows citizens to receive civil forfeitures from local governments that have improperly destroyed requested records, and late last month the Ohio Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case involving Timothy Rhodes, who originally sought approximately $5 million in damages from the city of New Philadelphia, which destroyed audio recordings of roughly 20 years of 911 calls.

Rhodes initially submitted identical requests to several Ohio communities, all of which had destroyed their recordings. However, New Philadelphia was the only one that did not have an Ohio Historical Society-approved records schedule that gave it the legal right to destroy the recordings after they reached the end of their retention period.

New Philadelphia contends that Rhodes' multiple requests prove that he had no interest in the content of the records themselves and was seeking to exploit the Public Records Law for personal gain. Rhodes asserts that even though he did have a legitimate need for the information in the records -- he was involved in a group that opposed tax increases earmarked for countywide 911 services -- the Ohio Public Records Act states very plainly that records requesters do not need to explain why they want to see records or what they plan to do with the information the records contain.

A lower-court jury determined that Rhodes was seeking financial gain and ruled in favor of the city, an appeals court overturned the verdict on the grounds that Rhodes' motives were irrelevant, and now the matter is in the hands of the Supreme Court. Local governments throughout the state are eagerly awaiting the Supreme Court's ruling. Several other small cities are currently being sued by requesters seeking millions of dollars in civil penalties, and many, many others fear that a ruling in Rhodes' favor will lead to a deluge of requests from citizens seeking to turn bad records management practices into a source of personal income.

For what it's worth, I'm really of two minds about this case. I understand the fear of officials in New Philadelphia -- which is about an hour southeast of my current location -- and other localities about the ramifications of a ruling in Rhodes' favor. I don't have ready access to any statistics regarding open records requests, but my own experience and that of many colleagues at all levels of government suggest that public records requests are increasing in both volume and complexity. My experience also suggests that the local governments that would be most negatively affected by such a ruling are those that are least able to bear the burden: northern cities battered by decades of deindustrialization and southern small towns that struggled even when the rest of the state prospered and now compete to attract minimum-wage jobs.

At the same time, I believe that governments should take their records management responsibilities seriously, that citizens have the right to access public records, and that they shouldn't have to explain why they wish to access records. It's been a while since I've been in contact with anyone at the Ohio Historical Society, which serves as Ohio's state archives and records management agency, but it seems to me that the financial penalties outlined in the Public Records Act is a powerful inducement to get one's records management house in order; of course, one might ask whether the financial penalties for non-compliance might best be directed to a dedicated records management improvement fund or otherwise amended to reduce profiteering.

I have no idea when the Ohio Supreme Court will hand down its ruling, but I'm certainly looking forward to reading it.

MARAC Fall 2010, day one

Market Street Bridge over the Susquehanna River, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 12 November 2010. The Ionic columns at the entrance of the bridge were salvaged from the old State Capitol building, which burned down in 1897.

The Fall 2010 meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference got underway today. I'm offering only a few highlights from a jam-packed and rewarding day:

• Colgate University, the Rockefeller Archive Center, and Syracuse University are investigating the possibility of developing a New York State EAD consortium, with particular emphasis on assisting repositories that have some EAD knowledge and experience but are having problems with publishing their finding aids and securing adequate technical support. If you're interested in seeing how this project proceeds or in contributing your expertise, contact Colgate University Archivist Sarah Keen at skeen - at - colgate.edu

• Kathleen Roe (New York State Archives) delivered a great plenary address on the importance of advocating for archives. Noting that we all need to explain -- to administrators, boards of directors, or local, state, and federal politicians -- the value of archives and what we need to do our jobs as effectively as possible, she offered some practical words of advice:
• Learn the rules of engagement and accept them for what they are. You don't have to compromise yourself or your principles, but you do need to learn how to find your way through established channels. For example, if you're seeking Congressional support for legislation, you simply have to accept that you'll be making your case to the incredibly bright twenty-somethings who run Congressional offices.
• Archival issues are generally poorly understood, and you need to explain, clearly and succinctly, the value of archives: records safeguard rights and benefits, influence major policy decisions, enable people to connect to family and community history, help to document and correct longstanding injustices, and, in some instances, help to save lives. When dealing with legislators, make the story local -- how do records help their constituents? Have records helped constituents secure benefits to which they're entitled? Are archives attracting tourist dollars to their districts?
• Archivists have substantial competencies and qualifications that can be of use to legislators and other stakeholders. We can help legislators manage the ever-increasing volume of records that they create and can help all stakeholders care for electronic materials.
• Don't listen to people who tell you that you can't do what you need to do; just go ahead and do it. You may be pleasantly surprised by the results.
• Don't forget to state plainly what you want. Legislators, administrators, and board members aren't mind readers.

• In "Replevin: Pros and Cons," Joseph Klett discussed the New Jersey State Archives' new Document Recovery and Amnesty Web pages, which encourage holders of alienated state government records to convey them to the State Archives without penalty, lists records known to be missing, and lists records that have been returned to the State Archives. Most of the missing records listed are enrolled laws of the Royal Colony of New Jersey (1703-1775) and the State of New Jersey (1776-1804), which were alienated from state custody a long time ago and which have been sold openly for decades; in fact, the listing on the Web site is based upon auction catalogs from the 1950s onward. Making these lists, which have been shared with law enforcement, readily accessible alerts dealers and members of the public to the fact that the listed records are the property of the State of New Jersey. This is a good thing -- after these Web pages went live, several people contacted the State Archives and voluntarily returned listed records that they held -- and I hope other states follow New Jersey's lead.

• In "Compulsory Candor? Open Records Laws and Recordkeeping," Pennsylvania State Archivist David Haury noted that new ways of doing government business can eliminate documentation of how things are done. For example, press releases, which were once issued and retained in paper format, are now issued electronically -- and even the electronic master copies may be deleted after the releases are posted on the Web. Archivists and records managers have yet to come to grips with the transitory nature of modern recordkeeping.

Louisiana governors records bills defeated

Treme, a young green sea turtle found cold-stunned in December 2009, in her temporary home at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, New Orleans, Louisiana, 21 March 2010. Aquarium staff were planning to release Treme and another rehabilitated green sea turtle into the Gulf of Mexico sometime this summer. Owing to the Gulf oil spill, those plans are on hold and the aquarium has taken in 32 oil-slicked turtles, 3 of which have died.

Earlier today, proposed governors' records legislation sponsored by Representative Wayne Waddell (R-Shreveport) died in the Louisiana State House of Representatives. The legislation would have narrowed (but not eliminated) the gubernatorial exemptions in Louisiana's open records law. In addition, it would have compelled governors to transfer their records to the Louisiana State Archives upon leaving office and to open them to researchers 10 years after doing so. A similar bill sponsored by Senator Robert Adley (R-Benton) perished in the Louisiana State Senate last week.

When compared to the oil spill that is wreaking environmental and economic havoc along the Gulf Coast, public records legislation may seem like a trifling concern. However, it's not. Government records document the rights of citizens to vote, receive benefits for which they are eligible, and hold real and other property, and good management and proper disclosure of these records enables citizens to ensure that their government is acting honestly and responsibly. Gubernatorial records, in particular, document important policy and resource allocation decisions, and states such as Louisiana (and New York) do their citizens a real disservice by not insisting that these records be managed, preserved, and made accessible in a clearly defined and systematic manner.

Louisiana has suffered more than its fair share of disasters in recent years, and it seems all but certain that recovering from the oil spill will be slow, difficult, and painful. Ensuring that the records of the state's governors are managed properly and made accessible won't save the state's wetlands, wildlife, or economy, but it will enable the people of Louisiana to assess the words and deeds of their leaders, determine what worked and what didn't, and plan for the future.

Here's hoping that in 2011, Louisiana gets the gubernatorial records legislation its citizens deserve.

"Removing the Shroud of Secrecy": records management and open government

Last Tuesday (23 March), the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security held a hearing on "Removing the Shroud of Secrecy: Making Government More Transparent and Accountable." Members of the subcommittee, which is chaired by Senator Thomas R. Carper (D-DE) heard testimony from, among others, Archivist of the United States David Ferriero and Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra.

In his written testimony and in the Webcast of the hearing, Ferriero stressed the centrality of records management to good government: "the government cannot be accountable if it does not preserve -- and cannot find -- its records." He went on to assert that heads of federal agencies and other senior agency personnel "need to understand that the records and information they and their organizations are creating are national assets that must be effectively managed and secured so that the public can be assured of the authenticity of the record [emphasis added]."

Well said. It's all too easy to forget that government records and information are, fundamentally, public property and that they warrant the same careful stewardship as other public assets, and we archivists and records managers need to keep reminding others of this essential fact.

Open Government in the Digital Age Summit: videos, slideshow, and other resources

On 19 March, the New York State Chief Information Officer/Office for Technology (CIO/OFT)and the New York State Archives jointly hosted the Open Government in the Digital Age Summit in Albany. Speakers included Archivist of the United States Ferriero, U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Open Government Beth Noveck, and e-Republic Inc. Chief Content Officer Paul Taylor.

CIO/OFT's Web site now features video recordings of all Summit speeches and panel discussions, Paul Taylor's PowerPoint presentation, and the final Summit agenda. It has also prepared a news release that captures many of the day's highlights and posted photos of the Summit on its Facebook page.

Over 150 people attended the Summit, which brought together information technology professionals, archivists and records managers, public policy experts, journalists, and others interested in the relationship between information technology, recordkeeping, and government accountability and transparency. If you're interested in these issues, be sure to check out the resources above.

Open Government in the Digital Age Summit: David Ferriero

Approximately 150 people -- IT professionals, archivists and records managers, public policy experts, and journalists -- attended the Open Government in the Digital Age Summit jointly sponsored by the New York State Office of the Chief Information Officer/Office for Technology and the New York State Archives.

In lieu of a lengthy recap, I’m going to put up two or three shorter posts -- one centering on the keynote address delivered by David Ferriero, the 10th Archivist of the United States, and at least one other post highlighting the key threads of the day’s discussion. I have several reasons for doing so:

• I expect that all you archivists out there are at least a little curious about the new Archivist.
  
• Certain points and themes kept coming to the fore throughout the day, and it makes more sense to take a little time and tease them out than to do a session-by-session summary.
• I’m on vacation. I have some pretty intense sightseeing plans for the next few days -- which means that I need to break things up a bit and that posts about the Summit are likely going to alternate with posts about my travels. (Where am I? Come back tomorrow, and you’ll find out.)

First, however, a few words about “open government.” As a number of speakers and panelists pointed out, “openness” is commonly seen as being synonymous with transparency of operations and decision-making processes, accountability to citizens, and promotion of citizen participation in the creation of policy and development of services. Moreover, as several Summit participants noted as the day went on, open government requires an ongoing commitment to transparency and accountability -- and to ensuring that essential government information remains uncorrupted and accessible over the long term.

David Ferriero really helped to bring into focus the relationship between records and openness by stressing that if open government is your goal, you should focus on records management. In many respects, his point is obvious, but it’s all too often overlooked: how can you promise transparency and accountability if you can’t find the records that provide insight into government operations or policy development or can’t guarantee their completeness, accuracy, or integrity?

He then focused on the management of electronic records and the immense amount of work awaiting the federal government: a recent U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) survey of federal agencies revealed that agency records management and information technology staff, who really need to work together in order to manage electronic records appropriately, rarely do so. Moreover, almost every agency surveyed had records subject to a moderate or high risk of loss.

(Sadly, this situation isn’t unique to the federal government: the records management-IT disconnect is a big problem in New York State government and, judging from what I’ve heard from colleagues elsewhere, most other state and local governments are in the same boat. We’re all falling far short of the mark.)

Ferriero then discussed NARA’s own efforts to become more open and citizen-centered. Its Open Government Working Group, which is responsible for enhancing NARA’s ability to interact and collaborate with agency personnel and the general public, will post a formal plan for doing so on NARA’s Web site on 7 April. However, Ferriero gave us a preview of some of the recommendations that may appear in it:

• Establish an ongoing group charged with figuring out new ways of doing business and increasing openness
• Retool NARA’s strategic plan to include open government
• Create staff-only Web 2.0 tools that will enable NARA personnel to share ideas and collaborate more effectively
• Seek to engage the public via Facebook and other popular social media sites -- in essence, go where users are instead of waiting for users to come to NARA’s site
• Redesign NARA’s Web site with end users in mind, update the records management section, incorporate an “Ask an Archivist” interactive feature, and set up a wiki so that researchers can share the results of their research
• Sponsor an Apps for Archives competition (akin to the Apps for Army and other federal competitions) competition for development of applications that will improve access to NARA’s holdings
• Realign digitization priorities and give users ability to see what’s in the digitization queue
• Continue publishing high-value datasets in open formats on www.data.gov -- in essence, move from providing services to providing a platform for others to develop services
• Investigate the possibility of developing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Web dashboard on FOIA services and responsiveness
• Actively declassify records and streamline declassification protocols
• Create an open government Web portal

Ferriero also took questions from the audience and offered up a number of fascinating tidbits:

• NARA is working with the secretaries of the Senate and the House of Representatives to ensure that draft versions of bills are captured and preserved appropriately
• NARA holds about 1 million e-mails from the Reagan administration, 250 million e-mails from the administration of George H.W. Bush, and anticipates getting approximately 1 billion e-mails from the Obama administration. Several of the people sitting around me gasped audibly.
• In an effort to breach the records management-IT divide, he’s convening the first-ever joint meeting of the federal CIO Council and the federal Records Management ??
• Like everyone else, NARA is still trying to figure out how to preserve Web sites, which change constantly; however, it’s plain that sporadic crawls such as those performed by the Internet Archive aren’t sufficient. (I agree; however, it’s just about the only practical approach available to most archivists at this time.)
• When developing new online tools and services, you really need to focus on users’ circumstances and preferences, not your own internal uses of technology; if you don't, you're not really committed to openness. For example, only fifty percent of New York City residents have home Internet connections, but most of them have cell phones -- and want mobile services and applications.
  

The last couple of questions centered on e-mail, BlackBerries, and cell phones, all of which pose particular challenges for archivists and records managers.

• Even the most conscientious employees occasionally use them to send and receive personal messages. Ferriero noted that, in the absence of automated tools that can pick out personal messages, it’s probably easier to keep everything than to conduct a manual review of messages. As an archivist who works with a small but growing volume of e-mail “archives,” I agree wholeheartedly: weeding these archives would be a time-consuming, soul-sucking task, and the resulting reduction in storage costs simply wouldn’t justify the investment of staff time.
• Determining which messages to keep is a particular challenge. I disagree with the approach that Ferriero advocated -- keeping everything -- but I understand why someone charged with upholding the Presidential Records Act and acutely cognizant of the research potential of routine correspondence would advance this argument. There has to be a way to preserve an adequate historical record -- sampling (by individual or by agency), targeting the accounts of key personnel -- without committing to saving every message that passes through an agency’s e-mail servers.

Ferriero’s speech was really well received, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how NARA evolves under his direction. The next few years ought to be really interesting.

Last call: Open Government in the Digital Age Summit

If you're interested in electronic records, open government, and the relationship between the two and will be in (or can arrange to be in) New York State's Capital District this Friday, you'll definitely want to attend the Open Government in the Digital Age Summit jointly sponsored by the New York State Chief Information Officer/Office for Technology and the New York State Archives.

We've got a first-rate group of speakers. David Ferriero, the 10th Archivist of the United States, will deliver the opening address, and Cal Lee of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's School of Information and Library Science will take part in the discussion on the archival implications of government openness. Panelists representing state government, the news media, software companies, and the open source community will explore the meaning of government openness in the digital age and citizen expectations for access to government records. Beth Simone Noveck, the U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Open Government, will discuss the federal government's openness efforts, and Paul Taylor of e.Republic, Inc. will deliver the closing address. I'm really looking forward to hearing each and every one of them.

The Summit agenda, registration information, parking information, and directions to the Empire State Plaza and a map showing the location of the Cultural Education Center, where the Summit will be held, are all available online.

If you can join us in Albany this Friday, we would love to see you! If you can't, recordings of all of the speeches and panel discussions should be available via the Web shortly after the Summit takes place; once the links are up, I'll be sure to post them. I'm also planning to blog about the Summit, but I may be a little tardy in doing so: for reasons I'll explain later, the end of this week is going to be really, really hectic -- but in a good way!

Vancouver Archives, UK Web crawling, Preserving Virtual Worlds, Yamasaki Associates records

Just a few things that have flown over the transom as of late:

• The City of Vancouver Archives is soon going to have a fully functioning digital archive that makes use of the open source Archivematica digital archiving system. It's also actively reaching out to the open source/hacker community, which it sees as an emerging user group for its datasets and other electronic records. This is pretty cool -- to the best of my knowledge, no one in the American archival community is really seeking to find out how the coding community wants to make use of archival data. (If I'm overlooking someone, please let me know!)

• The online UK edition of Wired recently posted a great article outlining the copyright and other legal challenges that the British Library faces as it attempts to capture and preserve the nation's Web presence -- a daunting challenge in and of itself. (h/t: Resource Shelf)

• The Atlantic recently highlighted (online and in print) the fascinating work being done by the Preserving Virtual Worlds project, which seeks to preserve video games and virtual environments such as Second Life. It's really heartening to see this project, which is funded by the Library of Congress's National Digital Information Infrastructure Preservation Program, get this sort of media attention.
  

• This (probably) doesn't have much to do with electronic records, but I really want to commend my colleagues at the Archives of Michigan for taking quick, decisive action to save the records of the now-defunct architectural firm of Yamasaki Associates. The firm was founded by Minoru Yamasaki, who designed, among many other important buildings, the World Trade Center complex in New York City and the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration's National Personnel Records Center (Military Personnel Records) in St. Louis, Missouri, which suffered a devastating fire in 1973. Kudos Michigan State Archivist Dave Harvey and all of the Michigan state government personnel and Society of Architectural Historians administrators who helped to save the firm's records. They were given less than a day to do so, and they rose to the challenge spectacularly well.
  

Open Government in the Digital Age Summit: tentative agenda

Last week, I posted registration information for the Open Government in the Digital Age Summit, which the New York State Chief Information Officer/Office for Technology and the New York State Archives are hosting in Albany on Friday, 19 March 2010 in Albany.

If you're interested in electronic records, government openness, and the relationship between the two and can arrange to be in New York State's Capital District on 19 March, I strongly encourage you to attend this free event. We're still confirming a couple of speakers, but those we have lined up really are first-rate. Archivists and records managers will be particularly pleased to note that David Ferriero, the 10th Archivist of the United States, will deliver the opening address and that Cal Lee of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's School of Information and Library Science will take part in the discussion on the archival implications of government openness. Moreover, I've heard several of the other confirmed speakers at other events and can promise that they'll have interesting things to say on 19 March.

Here's the tentative agenda for the Summit, which is also available online:

8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

• Registration

9:00 a.m. – 9:20 a.m.

• Susan E. Beaudoin, Counsel, CIO/OFT: Introduction of the State CIO
• Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, New York State Chief Information Officer/Director of Office for Technology: Introduction of U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer

9:20 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

• Guest Speaker, U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer

10:00 a.m. – 10:10 a.m.

• Break
  

10:10 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

• Geof Huth, Director of Government Record Services, New York State Archives: Introduction of the State Archivist
• Christine Ward, New York State Archivist: Remarks and Introduction of David S. Ferriero

10:30 a.m. - 11:10 a.m

• Guest Speaker, David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States

David S. Ferriero was confirmed as 10th Archivist of the United States on November 6, 2009. Previously, Mr. Ferriero served as the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Libraries (NYPL) where he developed the library’s digital strategy. Before joining the NYPL, Mr. Ferriero served in top positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Duke University libraries.

11:10 a.m.– 11:20 a.m.

• Break

11:20 a.m.– 12:30 p.m.

• Panel Discussion: "Meaning of Open Government in the Digital Age"

• Susan E. Beaudoin, Counsel, CIO/OFT, moderator
  
• Andrew Hoppin, CIO, New York State Senate
• Sam Litt, Deputy CTO, New York City DoITT
• Stuart McKee, National Technology Officer, Microsoft Corporation
• Patrick Toole, CIO, IBM (invited)

12:30 p.m.– 1:30 p.m.

• Lunch on your own

1:30 p.m. – 2:40 p.m.

• Panel Discussion: "Citizen Expectations for Access in the Digital Age"

• Michael Ridley, Director of High Performance Computing, NYSTAR, moderator
• John Wonderlich, Policy Director, Sunlight Foundation
• Dr. Steve Sawyer, Associate Professor, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University
• Dr. Jerry Mechling, Vice President, Gartner Research (invited)

2:40 p.m. – 2:50 p.m.

• Break

2:50 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

• Panel Discussion: "Open Government Implications of Sunshine Laws and Archival Responsibilities"

• Robert Freeman, Executive Director, New York State Committee on Open Government, moderator
  
• Dr. Cailin Brown, Assistant Professor Communications Department, College of St. Rose
• Dr. Cal Lee, Assistant Professor, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Robert Port, Senior Editor for Investigations, Albany Times Union

4:00 p.m. – 4:10 p.m.

• Break

4:10 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

• Closing Address, Paul Taylor, Chief Content Officer, e.Republic, Inc.

Paul W. Taylor, Ph.D., is the Chief Content Officer for e.Republic, Inc. Previously, Dr. Taylor served as the Chief Strategy Officer for the Center for Digital Government. Prior to joining the Center, Dr. Taylor served as Deputy State CIO in Washington State.

5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

• Reception - State Museum

Open Government in the Digital Age Summit, Albany, New York, 19 March 2010

If you're interested in electronic records, digital preservation, and government accountability and transparency, you'll want to attend this event if at all possible. I'll post the full agenda as soon as possible (we're awaiting final confirmation from a couple of speakers), but if you know you can make it to Albany, New York on 19 March 2010, by all means register now! NB: although registration is required, this event is free.

In support of Governor David A. Paterson’s commitment to increased transparency and openness in government, the New York State Chief Information Officer/Office for Technology and the New York State Archives cordially invite you to attend the . . .

Friday, March 19, 2010
8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
New York State Cultural Education Center – Clark Auditorium
Reception to Follow

This Summit, which is free and open to the public, will feature an opening address by David S. Ferriero, the Archivist of the United States.

Paul Taylor, Chief Content Officer, e. Republic, Inc., will present the closing address.

Panel discussions will focus on “hot-button” issues in “open government” including:

• The Meaning of “Open Government” in the Digital Age
  
• Citizen Expectations for Access in the Digital Age
  
• Open Government Implications of Sunshine Laws and Archival Responsibilities

The summit includes additional speakers and panelists of national stature as well as representatives from the highest levels of government, academia, research and industry.

Please visit http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/245446/open-government-registration to register for this exciting event!

Please register by March 12, 2010 as space is limited. An email confirming your registration will be sent to you.

If you have any questions regarding this event, please contact Terry Jovanovic at (518) 473-5115 or terry.jovanovic[at]cio.ny.gov.