Australasian Digital
Recordkeeping
Initiative – Adrian
Cunningham
SESSION OUTLINE
• Challenge – Making, Keeping and Using
Digital Records over long term
• Australasian Digital Recordkeeping
Initiative (ADRI) – objectives, principles
• Uniform Australasian approach
• ADRI projects
• Outstanding issues
CHANGES IN THE RECORD
KEEPING ENVIRONMENT
• Devolution of responsibilities to
individual agencies
• Changes in work processes
• Internet & data exchange
• New public records laws
THE PRESERVATION PROBLEM
• Rapid obsolescence of
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Data formats
Digital media, densities etc.
Hardware
Software – operating systems &
applications
• Physical instability of digital media
CONVERGENCE TO XML?
• International standardisation vs
proprietary formats
• Extensibility = adaptability
• Platform neutral
AUSTRALIA’S TRACK RECORD
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The Records Continuum/AS 4390 (1996)
E-Permanence/DIRKS/Functional analysis
Metadata standards
Work Process Analysis for Records, AS 5090
Victorian Electronic Records Strategy
National Archives of Australia’s Digital
Preservation Program – Xena, etc
• History of cross-jurisdictional cooperation
within a federal system of government
Members since 2004
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National Archives of Australia
Archives New Zealand
Public Record Office Victoria
State Records NSW
ACT Territory Records
Archives Office of Tasmania
Northern Territory Archives Service
Queensland State Archives
State Records South Australia
State Records Office Western Australia
ADRI Vision
• All governments in Australia and New
Zealand implement a uniform approach to
making, keeping and using digital records to
ensure accountability and the long-term
protection of vital cultural heritage.
– This uniformity leads to efficiency, economy
and interoperability across participating
communities.
ADRI Objectives (1)
1. That all ADRI members are committed to agreed
principles for digital recordkeeping.
2. That ADRI supports members in advocating for
appropriate digital recordkeeping to support
government in their jurisdictions.
3. That each government in Australia and New
Zealand has an e-governance regime which is
supported by sound strategies for making,
keeping and using digital records.
4. That vendors provide implementations of
standards developed by ADRI.
ADRI Objectives (2)
5. That the evidence of e-government of Australia
and NZ is captured, preserved and accessible for
the benefit of current and future generations.
6. That professional leadership and development is
provided in digital recordkeeping for Australia
and New Zealand.
7. That, in a digital environment, agencies can
meet their legal and functional responsibilities
effectively and economically.
8. That the best possible strategic use of limited
collective resources is made.
ADRI Guiding Principles (1)
1. Advocacy and assistance responsibilities of
government archives.
2. Primary importance of the design and
implementation of recordkeeping systems.
3. Shared rights and responsibilities and the
need for adequate support and training.
4. Commitment to common standards.
5. Importance of identifying recordkeeping
requirements.
6. Importance of standardised recordkeeping
metadata.
ADRI Guiding Principles (2)
7. Records that are made in digital form should
be retained in digital form.
8. Digital records need to be actively managed
and maintained.
9. Preservation formats should not be
constrained by proprietary rights.
10. Need for trusted digital repositories.
11. Public access should be maximised by full
use of available networked technologies.
Uniform Australasian Approach
• Making & Managing Digital
Records
• Keeping Digital Records (both in
agencies and in the archives)
• Transferring Digital Records to
Archives
• Using Digital Records
Making & Managing Digital Records
• Guidelines and tools for:
· Creating accurate & reliable records
· Classification and control metadata for records
· Technology-specific issues for records (eg.,
email; encryption; web-based resources)
· Functional requirements for r/k systems
· Model software procurement specifications
· Compliance assessment and/or self-diagnosis
· Schemas for record genres
• Standards for:
· Recordkeeping metadata
· Methodologies for recordkeeping system
design and implementation
Keeping Digital Records (both in
agencies and in the archives)
Guidelines on:
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Preferred long term data formats
XML–based approaches to digital preservation
Migration paths for long-term digital records
Preservation treatment of specific data formats
(e.g. database-derived records; web records)
· Process models for preservation of digital records
in agency custody
· Dealing with changes in the machinery of
government over time
· Process models & recommendations for retrieval
of records from defunct systems or media
Keeping Digital Records (both
in agencies and in the archives)
Standards for
· describing digital records
· minimum requirements for preservable data
formats
· trustworthy digital repositories
· maintenance of provenance and authenticity
for digital records
Transferring Digital Records to
Archives
Guidelines on:
· Preferred data formats & methods for transferring
records to archival custody
· Methods for automatic transfer of recordkeeping
metadata
· Maintenance of provenance and authenticity
Standards for
· Transfer between government agencies and from
agencies to archival custody
· Minimum authenticity requirements
· Transfer media
Using Digital Records
Guidelines on:
· Legal provisions re access to digital archives
· Expunging sensitive data from public access copies
· Storage & presentation of preserved data formats
· Certification of provenance & authenticity
· Fraud prevention
· Data re-formatting and presentation (e.g. databases)
· Searching & discovery mechanisms
Standards for
· Uniform resource discovery based on metadata sets
(e.g. AGLS)
· Thesaurus-based searching
Uniform Australasian Approach
• Public standards
– ISO 14721:2003 (OAIS Blue Book)
– ISO15489 – Records Management
– XML rfc
• Managing the entire continuum
– Recordkeeping standards
– Metadata standards
– Genre schemas
• Implementation approaches
Uniform Australasian Approach
Public standards
Des criptive
Info
Data
Management
Des criptive
Info
4-1.1
• ISO 14721:2003 Reference Model for an Open Archival
Information System
queries
P
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Ingest
Access
SIP
AIP
Archival
Storage
Administration
MANAGEMENT
AIP
result se ts
orde rs
DIP
C
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N
S
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M
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R
Uniform Australasian Approach
Implementation-level approaches
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XML package wrapping
Industry commodity platforms
Open, documented formats
Minimise migration requirements
Provenance & authenticity
mechanisms (e.g. checksums)
Uniform Australasian Approach
What is not uniform?
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Legislative regimes
Access regimes
Implementation details
State of play
ADRI: Projects/Products
• Common transfer/ingest format and/or standard for
a Submission Information Package (Exposure Draft)
• Generic business cases for digital recordkeeping
• Generic specifications for digital archive hardware
and software functionality
• Staff training workshops/modules
• Generic specs for digital archive hardware/software
• Generic specs for records management software
• Advice on Digital Rights Management Technology
Issues to be resolved?
• Whole of archives reinvention for
end to end digital archiving
• Capacity planning/scalability
• Metadata encapsulated objects vs
distributed metadata management?
• Digital Rights Management
technology
ADRI Website
– http://www.adri.gov.au
– http://www.adri.govt.nz