Researching the Researchers: Finding

Out How University Employees Manage

their Digital Materials NHPRC ERR Fellowship Symposium

November 19, 2004

http://www.ils.unc.edu/digitaldesktop

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Thank You to

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission

for funding this project

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Today’s Presentation

Overview and background of the project. Discussion of the methodologies used for

data collection and analysis in this project. FAQs. Preliminary results. Challenges for archiving in distributed

digital environment. Conclusions.

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Managing the Digital Desktop

NHPRC-funded, 7/1/2002-6/30/2005.

Collaboration of SILS, UNC Libraries, and Duke University Libraries.

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Thought for the day….

“The end-user manages e-mail.”

-ARMA Guideline for Managing E-mail

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The team!

Tim Pyatt, co-PI, Duke University UA Kim Chang, Co-Project Manager Megan Winget, Co-Project Manager Paul Conway, Duke Library IT Director Janis Holder, UNC UA Frank Holt, UNC RM David Mitchell, Duke RM Russell Koonts, Duke Medical Archivist

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Project Goals & Overview

Understand how faculty & staff at a public & private universities manage their email & other electronic files.

Create guidelines based on records requirements & observed behaviors for file and email management.

Create learning tools based on guidelines. Consider the place of electronic records

management systems on the campuses. Disseminate findings & training.

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1st Year Methodology

In order to learn how faculty, staff, and administrators manage their electronic materials we– Conducted campus-wide surveys at

UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University.– Interviewed 100 individuals.– Interviewed approximately 20 IT staff.

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2nd Year Work

We coding the data from the interviews using NVIVO software.

We started to analyze filing arrangements we captured from interviewees’ computers.

We began creating guidelines and settled on FAQs.

Held focus group to review initial draft of FAQs.

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3rd Year

We are essentially finished with FAQs for both email and file management.http://ils.unc.edu/digitaldesktop

We are creating web-based and in-class learning tools.

We will more thoroughly analyze filing arrangements we captured from interviewees’ computers.

We will match capabilities of software used with responses to interview questions.

Write articles!

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Best Answer?

Helping people become information management literate.

Moving people toward better practice.

Realizing that telling people to manage electronic files as “paper” has not been effective.

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Who We Surveyed

8,334 addresses at UNC. 17,327 addresses at Duke.About 212 emails bounced at UNC.About 1,115 bounced at Duke.

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Survey Questions

Email application most often usedVolume/time spent on emailAttachmentsStorage practicesImportance to jobSpecific ConcernsWillingness to do further interview

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Top 10 Concerns Regarding Email at UNC

% of Respondents:

23% Unsolicited email

21% Confidentiality

16% Time 15% Usage 14% Software

limitations

14% Retention 13% Security 11%

Management 10% Deletion 10% Viruses

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Top Concerns Regarding Email at Duke

% of Respondents: 21% Unsolicited

email 19% Software

limitations 18%

Confidentiality 17% Security

14% Volume 13% Time 12% Usage 10% Viruses 8%

Retention 7% Lotus

Notes

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Interview Protocol Development

Went back to our original goals.– To understand how individuals manage their digital

desktops, both email messages and digital files.– To devise guidelines, aids, and learning models to

support improved user behavior. What are people doing? How can we improve what they are doing both

for their own work and for the university?

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Designing the Interviews

Started with the concerns that surfaced in the survey returns.

Generated every possible question we could devise, in probably as inappropriate forms as we could.– Pooled our questions.– Used words like, “appraisal,” and

“authenticity.”

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Developing the Conceptual Framework

Categorized our questions.Because we are exploring how

individuals are functioning as their own records managers and archivists, we linked our questions to basic archival functions.

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Framework for Questions

Electronic files must undergo appraisal in order to assess their importance, potential for long-term preservation, and their “recordness.”

In order to ensure authenticity, particular actions must happen and particular information must be created and preserved.

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Interview Framework

In order to preserve electronic records, the digits and their context must be physically secured and preserved.

Arrangement in a logical file structure can be useful in making electronic records accessible.

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Framework for Study

In order for electronic records to be accessible they must be described clearly and adequately. Description can involve indexing, abstracting, and other additional subject analysis or simply file naming and titling.

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Framework

How individuals view ownership of electronic materials and issues of privacy and security will influence how they handle the items. Thus, we need to ask individuals to whom they believe the messages belong, what rights they have to privacy of the message content, and how secure the messages/email system is.

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Appraisal questions

What criteria do you use to decide to keep an email message? To delete one?

What criteria do you use to decide to keep an electronic document? To delete one?

Do you think any of the email messages or documents that you receive or produce in the course of your daily work should be preserved for years to come by the university? Why?/Why not?

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Authenticity Questions

How do you save attachments? When you save an attachment, do you

save the email message along with it? If you store important messages

electronically outside of your email application, does the header information stay with the messages?

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Arrangement

Tell me about your email/file folder structure that we see here.

Get print-out of folder structure. Would you say that you use a similar

structure in email and file directories? Paper file structure? Tell us about the file structure on your

hard drive. How have you organized materials?

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Description

How do you determine subject lines you attach to work-related email messages you send?

How do you retrieve stored messages if you need them at a later time?

How do you name electronic files? How do you retrieve your electronic

files?

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Physical Preservation

Are your email messages being backed up automatically?

Do you explicitly back up your email messages?

Are your electronic files (documents, images, etc.) automatically backed up?

Do you keep copies of all the messages you send? If so, where/how do you keep these?

How do you store important messages?

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Privacy & Security

Is your email yours or the university’s? Other files on your UNC computer?

Who owns your email? (Ownership vs. intellectual property issues with this question)

Who can [has the ability] to read your email without your permission? Your electronic files?

Do you distinguish between "official" and personal email? Do you manage and store them differently?

UNC ONLY: Have you heard of the Public Records law in North Carolina?

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Interview Participants

Goal was to interview a wide cross-section of faculty, staff, and administrators at both campuses.

Only selected people who indicated they wished further involvement after the survey.

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Interviews

We conducted 100 interview during spring and summer of 2003.

Most averaged 45 minutes in length with some over an hour, some briefer.

One person interviewed; another took notes in a spreadsheet.

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Life After Coding

Next step was to make charts and tables for as many quantifiable questions as possible.

Highlight useful and telling quotations within notes.

Explore data topically.

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Preliminary Conclusions

People do not, in large part, manage their electronic files as their print files, at least not at universities.

Telling folks to manage digital assets as they do their paper files appears to have little effect.

We have lost the largest cadre of records professionals – many, many secretaries.

Unlikely most universities will have enterprise-wide ERMS or that there would be a high degree of compliance.

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Management for Now, Not Later

People have little problem finding their own materials, although this situation may be deteriorating.

Archival theory has been built on existing information retrieval systems and naturally occurring metadata.

Computer searching, in large part, negates the need for folders, whether archivist like it or not.

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Challenges

Distributed document creation.“Capture” important material

before it dies.– A “living” archive where records go

from the moment of their creation? ERMS? Training creators?Combination?

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Challenges

Preservation of context and authenticity.– Metadata, metadata, metadata.– Distributed metadata creation (or

automated) with centralized control of records.

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Challenges

Need for people to be information management literate.– If not ubiquitous archiving then– Ubiquitous pre-archiving.– Distributed implementation of

organizational policy.Need for responsible appraisal.

– If we don’t need it don’t ask someone to take the time to curate it.

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Challenges

Recognition that record creators are partners in this enterprise– Not the enemy– Generally not evildoers– Frequently overworked– Smart enough not to want to waste

their time.

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Archival Response

Archivists, in conjunction with the IT community – researchers and software developers – must devise mechanisms to preserve context over time when creators don’t provide it.

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Triangulated Solution

A digital archiving “solution” must involve:– An understanding of how individuals manage

electronic records in various settings.– Inexpensive, ubiquitous software that factors

in human information behaviors and the needs inherent in the archiving process, i.e., preserving the bits over time; maintaining context; and preserving authenticity.

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Triangulated Solution

A focus on dealing with the most important and most risky records and materials, i.e., a 90/10 rule where individuals are taught – to carefully maintain the most important

evidential/historical/mission critical materials and

– to delete (within legal and regulatory requirements) the most risky materials.

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Project URL

http://ils.unc.edu/digitaldesktop

Thank you!