1 Introduction to Electronic Data Management

These are the notes for the course Electronic Document and Records Management, originally prepared for the Australian National University, February 2011 by Tom Worthington. A free open course copy of these notes is available at: http://www.tomw.net.au/emanagement

Meet your fellow students and discuss the legal, social and business context of the use of electronic documents and on-line access to information.

Overview of the Course

The structure of the course follows the chapters in this e-book, with one topics per week. The design of this course draws on the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), Version 4 (SFIA Foundation, 2010). The topics of the first four weeks correspond to skills descriptions in SFIA:

1. Information policy formation
2. Information management
3. Information content publishing
4. Business analysis

The last two weeks cover new topics not catered for in SFIA:

• Electronic Document Formats
• Social Networking/Web 2.0/Gov 2.0

Welcome to Electronic Document and Records Management

When preparing this subject it was assumed that you and your fellow students are self-motivated, disciplined, and determined to succeed. You have extensive prior knowledge and experience relevant to your study; you are open-minded about sharing your work and educational experiences; and you accept critical thinking as part of the learning process. Further, you are comfortable with, and competent in, written communications; and you recognise that effective learning can occur outside a traditional classroom. Most importantly, you want to control how, when, and where you learn.

Critical to your success in this subject is a regular and disciplined study routine. Also important is that you correspond; at least twice every week; with your fellow students and tutor. Your correspondence should be intelligent and investigative. You should answer questions posed by your tutors, and then debate your answers with your classmates.

The readings are designed to provide all the information you need to complete this subject. In this first week the workload is not too great, but read all the documents as soon as you can. Note that you have a deadline of Wednesday evening to complete your first task: which is to make your first submission to this week's discussion forum (see Discussion Questions).

The course material for each week is revealed on-line at the beginning of the week, using the Learning Management System. This is so you are not overloaded with material. However, if you wish to read ahead, you can see the material for all weeks of the course in this e-book. However, do not expect that by simply reading the material you can complete the course. The forums and assignments are essential. Also the material for later weeks will be expanded and change, based on your discussions with fellow students and your tutor.

Introduce Yourself First

Before doing anything else, please introduce yourself to your fellow students and tutor in the Discussion Forum . You do not need to go into great detail, just write a few lines telling us a little about yourself. You are not required to reveal any information about yourself, or your work, which you do not wish to share.

To get us started, I am your tutor (and the course designer) Tom Worthington. As well as being an Adjunct Lecturer at ANU, I am an IT consultant and a Visiting Scientist at the CSIRO ICT Centre. When working for the Defence Department in 1995, I chaired a committee which produced e-Document Guidelines for the Australian Government. When I left Defence, the Australian newspaper published this cartoon.

This week: Information policy formation

In the first week we look at skills which fall under the SFIA skill "Information policy formation":

Drafts and maintains the policy, standards and procedures for compliance with relevant legislation. Reviews information systems for compliance with legislation and specifies any required changes. Ensures that formal information access requests and complaints are dealt with according to approved procedures. Creates and maintains an inventory of data which is subject to data protection legislation. Prepares and reviews the periodic notification of registration details and submits it to the data protection authorities.

From: Information policy formation: Level 5, Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), Version 4, SFIA Foundation, 2010

This week we introduce the topic by looking at what the new Australian government information policy and then a quick overview of e-records. First read the readings, then answer the questions in the discussion forum and then comment on postings by your fellow students.

Principles For Open Public Sector Information

The Australian Parliament established a new Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) to provide advice on government use of information in 2010. Professor John McMillan, the first Australian Information Commissioner issued a discussion paper in November 2010. The paper contained ten "Draft Principles on Open Public Sector Information".

1. Open access to information - a default position

Information held by the Australian Government is a valuable national resource. As recommended by the Government 2.0 Taskforce, unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary, access to that information should be open, that is:

• free
• based on open standards
• easily discoverable
• understandable
• machine-readable, and
• freely reusable and transformable.

This places a proactive and pro-disclosure obligation on agencies to:

• use information technology to disseminate public sector information, particularly by publishing information online
• maximise the amount of information that is published voluntarily, rather than waiting for specific requests under the FOI Act, and
• apply a presumption of openness when deciding whether and how to publish public sector information.

2. Effective information governance

Information held by Australian Government agencies is a core strategic asset that should be managed effectively by:

• a senior executive information champion, such as a Chief Information Officer within the agency, who is responsible for agency information, management and governance, and
• an information governance body with responsibility for:
  • maximising the integrity, security and availability of the agency's information
  • establishing and maintaining strategic planning processes for information resources management
  • providing leadership and direction in the preparation of the agency's plan for complying with Part II of the FOI Act under s 8(1)
  • ensuring the agency's information management policies incorporate open access principles and authorise the routine and proactive disclosure of information, and
  • ensuring that the agency engages appropriately with stakeholders about access to information.

3. Robust information asset management frameworks

Effective management of information throughout its life cycle can be achieved by:

• developing and maintaining inventories or registers of an agency's key information assets
• identifying the custodians of those assets and defining the custodians' responsibilities
• adequately describing information assets using appropriate metadata
• documenting known limitations on data quality and caveats on data use
• deciding in advance whether information is suitable for publication
• preserving the agency's information assets for appropriate periods of time
• training staff in information management, and
• protecting information commensurate with the risk of harm that could result from the loss, misuse, or unauthorised access to or modification of such information.

4. Findable information

In keeping with the principle that public sector information is a valuable national resource, potential users should be readily able to discover the information an agency has published, and identify assets the agency holds but has not published. This can be achieved by:

• ensuring that published information has high quality metadata through implementation of the Australian Government Locator Service (AGLS) Metadata Standard
• applying search engine optimisation strategies to ensure that all published information can be indexed by search engines, and
• publishing the agency's information asset register to enable both internal and external users of information to identify the available information resources from a single source.

5. Sound decision-making processes

Sound agency decision-making in relation to open access to public sector information can be achieved by:

• ensuring clear lines of authority to make information publication decisions
• establishing mechanisms for potential users of information to apply for release of unpublished information outside of the FOI Act
• making timely decisions
• embedding the presumption that agency information should be published free, on open licensing terms, unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary
• identifying where relevant appropriate alternatives to not publishing information, such as publishing subject to caveats or disclaimers, and
• imposing controls to avoid personal information being published inappropriately or inadvertently in a data set.

6. Transparent complaints processes

Agency decision making about information publication should be transparent. This can be supported, within the agency's information governance framework, by an internal complaints procedure to handle complaints from the public about agency publication decisions outside the requirements of the FOI Act. A transparent complaints procedure  will:

• be published
• explain how complaints will be handled
• set timeframes for resolving complaints
• identify possible remedies and outcomes of complaints, and
• require decision makers to provide written reasons for all decisions.

7. Open and accessible formats online

The economic and social value of public sector information is enhanced when it is published online in formats that are human-readable and compatible with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines endorsed by the Australian Government in February 2010. Information should so far as possible be published in a format that is:

• open
• machine-readable, and
• searchable and indexable by commonly used web search applications.

8. Appropriate charging for access

The principle of open access to public sector information requires that the cost of access to individuals is not unreasonably restrictive. Appropriate charging for access to information can be achieved by:

• not charging more than the additional marginal cost of providing access to published information, and in particular excluding from calculation cost associated with producing the information
• using methods of publication, particularly online publication, that minimise the cost to the agency of providing individual access to the information
• not imposing charges except as authorised by law, including the FOI Act, and
• supporting any charges that are imposed for agency publications or information in an agency policy that explains the basis for charges and is published and regularly reviewed.

9. Clear reuse rights

The economic and social value of public sector information is enhanced when it is made available for reuse on open licensing terms. The Statement of Intellectual Property Principles for Australian Government Agencies requires government agencies subject to the Financial and Management Accountability Act 1997 to consider licensing public sector information, upon release, under an open access licence.

10. Engaging the community

In keeping with Australian Government policy that agencies embrace online engagement in policy design and service delivery, the community can participate in agency decision making in relation to publication of public sector information. This can be done by:

• consulting with the community in deciding which information an agency will
• prioritise for publication
• encouraging the community to identify errors in published information, to give feedback to the agency about the quality, completeness and usefulness of published information, and to tell the agency about productive reuse of the information, and
• responding, either individually or in a public statement, to any comment received from the community.

From: Towards an Australian Government Information Policy, Australian Information Commissioner, November 2010.

Principles for Records in Electronic Office Environments

The open access principle proposed by the OAIC will need electronic systems to implement them effectively. In 2008 the  International Council on Archives issued a three part set of "Principles and Functional Requirements
for Records in Electronic Office Environments". In the comming weeks we will look at the details of implementation of such systems, but first Module 1 sets down an "Overview and Statement of Principles":

Records-related principles

1. Electronic business information has to be actively managed and reliably maintained as authentic evidence of business activity: As business processes become more completely automated, the electronic information generated by such activities may serve as the only evidence of specific transactions or decisions. Maintenance of this evidence in the form of fixed records is necessary for operational viability and accountability of the organisation. This involves identifying a set of electronic information that will serve as the evidential record.
2. Business information has to be linked to its business context through the use of metadata: In order for information to have the capability of functioning as a record, it is necessary to augment that information with additional data (that is, metadata) that places it in the context of the business operations and computing environment in which it was created. In the case of line-of-business systems accomplishing uniform transactions, this context is derived from the system and its documentation. In other systems, however, such contextual information must be appended to the record as it is necessary to provide the record with sufficient longevity for interpretation and to maximise its value and utility as evidence of business activity.
3. Business information has to be kept and must remain accessible to authorised users for as long as required: Design and deployment of business information software must ensure that records can be searched for, retrieved and rendered in accessible formats and media for as long as is required for business and legal purposes. In this context, organisations should avoid the misuse of digital rights management technology and encryption.
4. Business information has to be able to be disposed of in a managed, systematic and auditable way: A hallmark of appropriate recordkeeping is the retention and appropriate disposition of records generated by business processes according to specified rules. Systems need to be able to dispose of records in a systematic, auditable and accountable way in line with operational and legal requirements.

Systems-related principles

1. Systems should support good business information management as an organic part of the business process: Although it is not necessarily appreciated as such, good recordkeeping practices are an integral part of any business process. When automating any business process, one should always evaluate the advisability of simultaneous integration of recordkeeping software.
2. Systems for capturing and managing business information have to rely on standardised¹ metadata as an active, dynamic and integral part of the recordkeeping process: Automated recordkeeping solutions offer powerful capabilities to access and attach standardised contextual information, via standardised vocabularies and taxonomies, to record content at different times during the life of the record.
3. Systems have to ensure interoperability across platforms and domains and over time: Electronic evidence, in the form of records, often has operational or juridical requirements for persistence over periods of time that may exceed the lifespan of the hardware or software that created it. As such, record information must be able to be presented in a manner that is understood and able to be modified, if necessary, for migration to other technology platforms.
4. Systems should rely as far as possible on open standards and technological neutrality: Many software products that create or manage records are developed using proprietary implementations. Hardware or software dependencies can have adverse effects on access and preservation of record material in the long term. Use of open standards ameliorates these technological dependencies.
5. Systems should have the capacity for bulk import and export using open formats: Electronic records resulting from a business process and managed by recordkeeping software may contain hardware or software dependencies. Recordkeeping software should ideally incorporate capabilities to remove these dependencies via support for bulk re-formatting as part of ingest or export capability or, at a minimum, via non-proprietary encoding of record metadata.
6. Systems must maintain business information in a secure environment: For security purposes, systems automating a business process often incorporate safeguards that limit which actions particular individuals can take with electronic information (for example, viewing, printing, editing, copying or transmitting). Systems must not allow unauthorised modifications to any records (including metadata), and where authorised modifications are performed, they must be fully documented.
7. As much metadata as possible should be system generated: Users are typically unwilling to interrupt their workflow more than three times in the accomplishment of tasks ancillary to executing the primary activity. It may be impractical and/or unnecessary to expect end-users to supply much of the metadata. Systems should be designed and implemented in a manner that allows automatic population of record metadata fields.
8. It should be as easy as possible for users to create/capture records of business activity: It is necessary to design systems/software that automate recordkeeping in a way, ideally, that makes such recordkeeping largely ‘invisible’ to the end- users.

¹ ‘Standardised’ may refer to an agreed organisational metadata schema or to the adoption/ adaptation of a jurisdictional, national or international metadata standard.

From: Principles and Functional Requirements for Records in Electronic Office Environments, Module 1: Overview and Statement of Principles, International Council on Archives, 2008

Freedom of Information Commissioner at ANU

The new Freedom of Information Commissioner, Dr James Popple, is an Adjunct Lecturer at ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science and may join us on-line during the course.

Readings:

1. Towards an Australian Government Information Policy, Australian Information Commissioner, November 2010
2. Principles and Functional Requirements
   for Records in Electronic Office Environments, Module 1: Overview and Statement of Principles, International Council on Archives, 2008

Questions:

1. Introduce yourself to your fellow students and tutor in the Discussion Forum. You do not need to go into great detail, just write a few lines telling us a little about yourself. What do you aim to get from this course? How do see it being applied in your current job or a future role? You are not required to reveal any information about yourself, or your work, which you do not wish to share.
2. Comment on the OAIC Paper: The OAIC has invited comments by 1 March 2011 on Issues Paper 1 via a blog. Select an issue from the paper and comment, from the perspective of your organisation (or one where you would like to work). Reference one or more principles from the ICA.

Note that these weekly questions will be cryptic, assuming you have read the course notes and the readings listed in the ebook. Each answer should be no more than about 50 words. Include full formal references to all sources used (Harvard referencing system preferred).

Full formal references to all sources used are required in the first two weeks of the course, to provide you with practice formatting these for the assignments  (Harvard referencing system preferred). After this hypertext links will be sufficient for forum postings.

2 Information management

This week we look at skills which fall under the SFIA skill "Information management":

The overall management of the control and exploitation of all kinds of information, structured and unstructured, to meet the needs of an organisation. Control encompasses development and promotion of the strategy and policies covering the design of information structures and taxonomies, the setting of policies for the sourcing and maintenance of the data content, the management and storage of information in all its forms and the analysis of information structure (including logical analysis of taxonomies, data and metadata). Includes the overall responsibility for compliance with regulations, standards and codes of good practice relating to information and documentation, records management, information assurance and data protection. Exploitation encompasses the use of information, whether produced internally or externally, to support decision-making and business processes. It includes management and decision making structures to ensure consistency throughout the organisation, information retrieval, combination, analysis, pattern recognition and interpretation. ...

From: Information management, Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), Version 4, SFIA Foundation, 2010

Key Terms

• Records – information created, received and maintained as evidence and information by an organisation or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in the transaction of business.
• Records management – the control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposal of records in accordance with professional and international standards of practice. Records management is distinct from document management, which is typically concerned with the provision of access, collaborative working and version control of documents, rather than the management of authenticity, reliability, integrity and useability over time.
• Electronic records management systems (commonly referred to as EDRMS or ERMS) – systems specifically designed to manage the maintenance and disposition of records. They maintain the content, context, structure and links between records to enable their accessibility and support their value as evidence. Electronic records management systems are distinguished from business systems, for the purpose of this document, because their primary function is the management of records.
• Business systems – automated systems that create or manage data about an organisation’s activities (for the purpose of this document). They include applications whose primary purpose is to facilitate transactions between an organisational unit and its customers, for example, an e-commerce system, client-relationship management system, purpose-built or customised database, and finance or human resources systems. Business systems typically contain dynamic data that is commonly subject to constant updates (timely), able to be transformed (manipulable) and holds current data (non-redundant). For the purpose of this document, business systems exclude electronic records management systems.
• System – use of the term ’system’ in this document refers to a computer or IT system. This is in contrast to the records management understanding of the term, which encompasses the broader aspects of people, policies, procedures and practices. While the focus of this Module is primarily electronic records management systems software, organisations will need to pay attention to wider aspects of records management frameworks, policies and tools to ensure records can be appropriately managed. For example, fundamental records management tools, such as disposition authorities and information security classifications, must be in place and operate within an established records management culture within the organisation. A system may comprise more than one application and include plug-ins.
• Records management metadata – an inextricable part of records management, serving a variety of functions and purposes. In a records management context, metadata is defined as data describing the context, content and structure of records and their management through time (ISO 15489 – 1: 2001, 3.12). As such, metadata is structured or semi-structured information that enables the creation, registration, classification, access, preservation and disposition of records through time and within and across domains. Records management metadata can be used to identify, authenticate and contextualise records and the people, processes and systems that create, manage, maintain and use them, and the policies that govern them. Initially, metadata defines the record at its point of capture, fixing the record into its business context and establishing management control over it. During the existence of records or their aggregates, new layers of metadata will be added because of new roles in other business or usage contexts. This means that metadata continues to accrue information relating to the context of the records management and the business processes in which the records are used, and to structural changes to the record or its appearance.
  
  Metadata can be sourced or re-used by multiple systems and for multiple purposes. Metadata applied to records during their active life may also continue to apply when the records cease to be required for current business purposes but are retained for ongoing research or other values. The purpose of records management metadata is to ensure authenticity, reliability, usability and integrity over time, and to enable the management and understanding of information objects, whether these are physical, analogue or electronic. However, metadata also needs to be managed as a record or as a component of a record.
  
  Records management has always involved the management of metadata. However, the electronic environment requires a different expression of traditional requirements and different mechanisms for identifying, capturing, attributing and using metadata. In the electronic environment, authoritative records are those accompanied by metadata defining their critical characteristics. These characteristics must be explicitly documented rather than being implicit, as in some paper-based processes.

Terminology from page 8 of Principles and Functional Requirements for Records in Electronic Office Environments:
Module 2 Guidelines and Functional Requirements for Electronic Records Management Systems, International Council on Archives, 2008

Characteristics of electronic records and management systems

Once records have been created, they must be managed and maintained for as long
as required to ensure they have the following characteristics:

• Authenticity – the record can be proven to be what it purports to be, to have been created or sent by the person that created or sent it, and to have been created or sent at the time it is purported to have occurred.
• Reliability – the record can be trusted as a full and accurate representation of the transaction(s) to which they attest, and can be depended on in the course of subsequent transactions.
• Integrity – the record is complete and unaltered, and protected against unauthorised alteration. This characteristic is also referred to as ‘inviolability’.
• Usability – the record can be located, retrieved, preserved and interpreted.

These are taken from ISO 15489.1 Records Management, Section 7.2 Characteristics of records.

Typically, electronic records management systems have the following attributes that
seek to ensure these characteristics are maintained:

• Creating records in context – electronic records management systems enable organisations to capture evidence of their business activity. This involves identifying a set of electronic information to serve as the evidential record comprising both content and context. So, in order for information to have the capability of functioning as a record, it is necessary to augment that content information with additional data (that is, metadata) that places it in the context of the business operations and computing environment in which it was created.
• Managing and maintaining records – electronic records have to be actively managed as evidence of business activity, and to maintain their authenticity, reliability, integrity and usability. Maintenance of this evidence, as records, is necessary for operational viability and accountability of the organisation.
• Maintaining records for as long as they are required – records must be retained for a period of time that is in accordance with authorised legislative and jurisdictional requirements. Decisions about how long records must be retained are defined in disposition/disposal policies and rules. There will be some records that must be retained permanently while others will be required to be retained for varying periods or have a maximum retention period (for example, for privacy or data-protection legislative purposes). Records have to be able to be disposed of in a managed, systematic and auditable way. A hallmark of appropriate records management is the retention and appropriate disposition of records according to specified rules. Systems need to be able to delete records in a systematic, auditable and accountable way in line with operational and juridical requirements. Organisations will need to meet the policies and procedures of their local jurisdictional authority for identifying, retaining and disposing of records.
• Records management metadata can be configured – to be meaningful as evidence of a business process, records must be linked to the context of their creation and use. To do this, the record must be associated with metadata about the business context in a classification structure. In addition to this ‘classification’ metadata, other metadata that should be captured at the point of creation includes:
  • identifier;
  • date of creation;
  • creator/author/person responsible; and
  • the business being conducted.

  Much of this information can be automatically generated. In this Module, integration of metadata for managing records is addressed at a relatively high level. Rather than specifically detailing every metadata element required, the functional requirements set instead provides broad references to the need to have functionality that is capable of creating, capturing and maintaining adequate metadata elements. It is expected that each organisation will capture records management metadata in line with an identified records management metadata standard, in accordance with organisational and/or jurisdictional requirements, and/or be consistent with ISO 23081 – 1: 2006, Information and Documentation – Records Management Processes – Metadata for Records, Part 1 – Principles; and ISO/TS 23081 – 2: 2007, Information and Documentation – Records Management Processes – Metadata for Records, Part 2 – Conceptual and Implementation Issues.

• Records can be reassigned or reclassified, closed and if required, duplicated and extracted – the identification of needs for records should establish at what point in the process a record should be created. Any further processes that happen to the record after this point must result in the creation of a new record or the recorded augmentation/versioning of the existing record, rather than alteration to it. This means that content and metadata that need to be kept to record previous decisions or processes cannot be overwritten, but that new content or metadata can be added.

  It is important to ensure that the system is not ‘locked down’ to such an extent that simple mistakes (such as mistyping a name) cannot be corrected – although permission for changes may be restricted to a system administrator or prevented by the system in exceptional circumstances, such as pending legal action.

  • Reports can be undertaken – on records and the management thereof.
  • Security processes can be put in place – normal systems controls over access
  and security support the maintenance of authenticity, reliability, integrity and usability, and therefore should be appropriately documented. A risk assessment can inform business decisions as to how rigorous the controls need to be. For example, in a high-risk environment, it may be necessary to prove exactly what happened, when and by whom. This links to systems permissions and audit logging, to prove that approved actions areundertaken by authorised users. User requirements should be assigned at appropriate levels of access by an administrator.

From page 13 of of Principles and Functional Requirements for Records in Electronic Office Environments: Module 2 Guidelines and Functional Requirements for Electronic Records Management Systems, International Council on Archives, 2008

Readings:

Principles and Functional Requirements
for Records in Electronic Office Environments:
Module 2 Guidelines and Functional Requirements for Electronic Records Management Systems, International Council on Archives, 2008

Questions:

1. Organisation Records Management Policy: Does your organisation (or one you would like to work for) have a records management policy? If the policy is public, provide a reference to it. Without breeching confidence, briefly describe the policy.
2. e-Records Management Practice: Many organisations have a formal records management policy, but seem to forget to implement it for electronic documents. Are email messages and word processing documents recorded in a records management system in your organisation? Could you delete an important email message or a document, without anyone noticing?

3 Information content publishing

This week we look at skills which fall under the SFIA skill "Information content publishing":

The management and tuning of the processes that collect, assemble and publish information, including in unstructured and semi-structured forms, for delivery to the user at the point at which it is needed. ...

Develops standards and procedures to support content publishing. Designs overall support information structures. Takes responsibility for publishing assignments, including, for example, design of the overall structure and graphical style for substantial, complex or high-profile web sites. Selects appropriate tools, templates and standards for publication in various forms, appropriate to customer expectations (differentiating, for example, between needs such as optimisation and ease of modification). Sets design and coding standards, taking into account bandwidth and compatibility. ...

From: Information content publishing: Level 5, Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), Version 4, SFIA Foundation, 2010

Metadata

Metadata can be described as data about data:

metadata n., a set of data that describes and gives information about other data...

[1968 Proc. IFIP 4th Congr.: Suppl. 10 I. 113/2 There are categories of information about each data set as a unit in a data set of data sets, which must be handled as a special meta data set.] 1987 Philos. Trans. Royal Soc. A. 322 373 The challenge is to accumulate data..from diverse sources, convert it to machine-readable form with a harmonized array of *metadata descriptors and present the resulting database(s) to the user. 1998 New Scientist 30 May 35/2 With XML, attaching metadata to a document is easy, at least in theory.

Oxford English Dictionary, (Online) Draft entry Dec. 2001, URL: http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00307096/00307096se19

<meta name="DC.Publisher" scheme="X500" content="ou=Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) ; o= Commonwealth of Australia ; c=AU">
<meta name="DC.Description" content="The australia.gov.au website is your connection with government in Australia...">
<meta name="DC.Subject" scheme="TAGS" content="Government information; Federal government; Government services; Government publications; Web sites">
<meta name="DC.Type.documentType" scheme="agls-document" content="homepage">

From: "australia.gov.au : your connection with government", Australian Government Information Management Office, 2004-06-30, URL: http://www.australia.gov.au/

Australian Government Recordkeeping Metadata Standard

The Australian Government Recordkeeping Metadata Standard (RKMS) is used to describe internal government documents. RKMS is not a strict super-set of AGLS. Some elements are from AGLS, some extend the meaning of elements and some new elements are added. Most confusingly, RMKS has some elements equivalent to those in ALGS, but with different names:

RKMS Elements From AGLS
SUBJECT
DESCRIPTION
LANGUAGE
COVERAGE
FUNCTION
TYPE

Adapted from: "Recordkeeping Metadata Standard for Commonwealth Agencies", Version 1.0, National Archives of Australia, 1999, URL: http://www.naa.gov.au/recordkeeping/control/rkms/summary.htm

RKMS Elements not in AGLS

Element
USE HISTORY
PRESERVATION HISTORY
LOCATION
DISPOSAL

Guidelines for Websites

The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) issued a new Web Guide on 11 February 2011:

Readings:

1. Metadata AGLS, Web Guide, Australian Government Information Management Office, 11 February 2011

2. Australian Government Recordkeeping Metadata Standard Version 2.0 National Archives of Australia page 13, Chapter 5 "5 FEATURES OF THE METADATA SET"

3. Website lifecycle, Web Guide, Australian Government Information Management Office, 11 February 2011

Questions:

1. Metadata: What metadata standards does your organisation use for internal and published documents? List and describe any elements unique to your organisation, or provide an example (without breaching confidentiality). What should they use?
2. Web Publishing: What web publishing standards does your organisation use? What should they use? Show samples from the code of one of the organisation's web pages, including metadata encoded in the page, a heading, paragraph, image, table and a list.

4 Business analysis

This week we look at skills which fall under the SFIA skill "Business analysis":

The methodical investigation, analysis, review and documentation of all or part of a business in terms of business functions and processes, the information used and the data on which the information is based. The definition of requirements for improving any aspect of the processes and systems and the quantification of potential business benefits. The creation of viable specifications and acceptance criteria in preparation for the construction of information and communication systems. ...

From: Business analysis , Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), Version 4, SFIA Foundation, 2010

Why  records are important

Previously we looked at principles for electronic records. These can be translated into functional requirements for a system. But first of all why are records important?

Records are a valuable business asset. One of the key ways organisations are held accountable for their actions is through evidence of business transactions in the form of records. ... They must be retained for a period of time that is in line with an authorised retention schedule or disposition authority, sometimes referred to as a ‘disposition’.

A record is not just a collection of data, but is the consequence or product of an event and therefore linked to business activities. A distinguishing feature of records is that their content must exist in a fixed form, that is, be a fixed representation of the business transaction.  ...

An appropriately managed record will provide a basis for:
•  transparent, informed and quality decision-making and planning;
•  an information resource that can be used to demonstrate and account for organisational activities; and
•  consistency, continuity and efficiency in administration and management. ...

From: Principles and Functional Requirements
for Records in Electronic Office Environments,
Module 3 Guidelines and Functional Requirements for Records in Business Systems, International Council on Archives, 2008

Functional Requirements

ICA defines the functional requirements for e-records systems grouped into four clusters:

1. Create
2. Maintain
3. Disseminate
4. Administer.

Here are excerpts from the first cluster, "Create":

Capture: Records are created in a diverse range of formats, may comprise multiple individual objects (compound records), and are transmitted by a wide range of communication channels (workflows, email, postal mail). ... ‘point of capture’ metadata and should
in itself be captured as a record; it should not be possible to alter any of these metadata features without changes being tracked and auditable. ...

Aggregate: Aggregations of electronic records are accumulations of related electronic record entities that when combined may exist at a level above that of a singular electronic record object, for example, a file or series. These relationships are reflected in the metadata links and associations that exist between the related electronic records, and between the electronic records and the system. For example, an aggregation of electronic records may collectively constitute a narrative of events (that is, a series of connected business transactions), in which the records may have a sequential
relationship. Any such sequential relationship between electronic records can be determined through the metadata elements associated with the records, such as
titles, dates, author, container number (where applicable), and other attributes. Where these relationships exist between records controlled by the electronic records management system, the system should be capable of identifying, capturing, documenting and maintaining or systematically disposing of them. ...

Bulk import: Records and their metadata may be captured into an electronic records management
system in bulk in a number of ways, for example, from another electronic records management system or as a bulk transfer from an electronic document management
system or workflow application. The electronic records management system must be able to accept these, and must include features to manage the bulk capture process.

Electronic document formats: Electronic records management systems will have to deal with a range of formats, both common applications and often business-specific formats. The electronic records management system must have the functionality to deal with the formats that you commonly use or are common to your business environment. This will vary across systems and organisations. For ease of migration and export, use of open formats and industry standards will increase levels of interoperability and reduce the cost and difficulty of maintaining records effectively.

Compound records: Electronic records will comprise at least one component. An electronic record such as a text document will usually be a discrete record and comprise a single record object. Electronic records that comprise more than one component or multiple record objects, for example, a large technical report with dynamic links to diagrams and spreadsheets, may be referred to as ‘compound records’. ...

Email: Email is used for sending both simple messages and documents (as attachments), within and between organisations. The characteristics of email can make it difficult to track and register. Organisations must provide users with the capability of capturing selected email messages and attachments. ...

Adapted from: Principles and Functional Requirements
for Records in Electronic Office Environments,
Module 3 Guidelines and Functional Requirements for Records in Business Systems, International Council on Archives, 2008

Readings:

1. Principles and Functional Requirements
   for Records in Electronic Office Environments,
   Module 3 Guidelines and Functional Requirements for Records in Business Systems, International Council on Archives, 2008
2. Advice on managing the recordkeeping risks associated with cloud computing, Cassie Findlay, Australasian Digital Recordkeeping Initiative, The Council of Australasian Archives and Records Authorities, 29 July 2010

Questions:

 

1. Meeting Functional Requirements: Describe how your organisation's systems meet the ICA defined functional requirements to: Create, Maintain, Dissiminate and Administer e-records.
2. Electronic document formats: What e-formats does your organisation use? How open are these? How easy will they be to maintain over time?

5 Electronic Document Formats

There are a many electronic document formats in use. Coming to prominence are the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) issues standards for web technology, most notably the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). These formats are now being used not only for web pages, but also for office documents. Later versions of Microsoft Office can store documents in the XML based Office Open XML form

There are a bewildering array of electronic document formats in use. Coming to prominence are the World Wide Web Consortium(W3C) issues standards for web technology, most notably the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). These formats are now being used not only for web pages, but also for office documents. Later versions of Microsoft Office can store documents in the XML based Office Open XMLformat. Use of XML based standards allows easier conversion of documents and long term preservation.

National Archives of Australia Digital Preservation Software Platform

The National Archives of Australia, developed the Digital Preservation Software Platform (DPSP) as a suite of free open source software for digital preservation of electronic documents.

The DPSP comprises:

• Xena - Xena stands for XML Electronic Normalising for Archives. Xena converts digital files to standards based, open formats.

• Digital Preservation Recorder (DPR)- DPR handles bulk preservation of digital files via an automated workflow.

• Checksum Checker- Checksum Checker is a piece of software that is used to monitor the contents of a digital archive for data loss or corruption.

• Manifest Maker- Manifest Maker produces a tab-separated list of digital files in a specified location. The manifest includes the checksum, path and filename of each digital file.

From: Digital Preservation Software Platform, National Archives of Australia, 2010

Xena (Xml Electronic Normalising for Archives) is the component the DPSP which converts digital objects into open formats for preservation. This requires the difficult decision of what are the Supported formats formats and what to convert them to.

National Archives of Australia selected, in the main, formats developed or endorsed by W3C for preservation. XML files can be examined with a simple text editor as well as being interpreted by a web browser or other software to display the document.

Xena decompresses formats such as Zip and separates files which have been packed into archives. It will then convert the individual files to the format selected for long term storage and wrap them in XML. Audio files are converted to FLAC. Microsoft Office and Rich Text Format documents are converted to the Open Document Format. HTML files are converted to XHTML. Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) image files are converted to PNG. JPEG images are preserved.

Xena will also optional create a plain text version of converted files, where appropriate (such as for word processing documents and PDF).

Web Documents

Web documents can be thought of at three layers:

1. Structural: mark-up using a version of HTML: National Archives of Australia uses XHTML Version 1, but XHTML 5 is becoming popular for mobile devices.
2. Presentation: with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS): CSS Level 1 controls the display of text, margins, borders and is supported by current browsers. CSS Level 2.1 adds more positioning of page elements but only partly supported. CSS 3 adds support for paged media, to provide PDF type formatting, but still in development.
3. Behavioural: scripting with JavaScript and update of document content dynamically, to add interactivity for Web 2.0.

Web pages do not need to have interactive Web 2.0 features to be useful. The traditional layout of government reports, familiar from paper documents can be implemented as static web pages.

To quickly turn a conventional book or report into a web site:

1. Obtain an electronic copy of the document.
2. Save the document in web format: Open the document with a desktop publishing tool (or word processor) and select "save as web".
3. Replace presentational mark-up: Replace explicit font sizes and colours with standard heading level codes (such as <H3> for a level 3 heading) and styles. The HTML Tidyprogram assists with this. Resize or delete excessively large graphics.
4. Separate content into web pages : The cover page becomes the web "splash page", table of contents to home page, chapters to web pages.
5. Add extra navigation : Provide a search function as a replacement for the paper index. Coalesce some pages and edit some content. For example condense part of the introduction onto the home page.
6. Check the document: After approval publish it on-line.

Design for a Range of Screen Sizes

Typical computer screens used for web page display are from just under 4" (about the size of a business card) for an advanced feature "smart-phone", through 10" netbooks to 24" desktops. By default web pages will re-size to fit the size and shape of the display screen (called flexible, liquid or fluid design). Some web designers deliberately fix the web page size to suit a particular screen, but in general this should be avoided.

Consider Accessibility for the Disabled

Assistive technology, including virtual keyboards, refreshable Braille displays and text-to-speech systems can be used by people with vision, mobility, auditory and cognitive impairments to access the web. Web pages can be designed to improve accessibility and this is required by law for many web sites in Australia and other countries.

Use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

The W3C have issued Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which are widely cited. Use of Version 2 of the guidelines is now mandatoryfor Australian Government websites. Test tools are available, such as TAW, to assist.

The guidelines have a series of checkpoints at three priority levels. Web pages are assessed to three conformance levels, from lowest to highest:

• A: all Priority 1 checkpoints are satisfied;
• Double-A: all Priority 1 and 2 checkpoints are satisfied;
• Triple-A: all Priority 1, 2, and 3 checkpoints are satisfied;

The guidelines for WCAG 2 are grouped into four categories:

1. Perceivable
   • 1.1 Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language.
   • 1.2 Provide alternatives for time-based media.
   • 1.3 Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.
   • 1.4 Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background.
2. Operable
   • 2.1 Make all functionality available from a keyboard.
   • 2.2 Provide users enough time to read and use content.
   • 2.3 Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures.
   • 2.4 Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.
3. Understandable
   • 3.1 Make text content readable and understandable.
   • 3.2 Make Web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.
   • 3.3 Help users avoid and correct mistakes.
4. Robust
   • 4.1 Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies.

Introduction to HTML

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the most common mark-up language used for web pages. XHTML is based on HTML, but using the a stricter syntax.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has released several versions of HTML and XHTML. Newer versions supported by current web browsers include HTML 4.01 (1999) and XHTML 1.0 (2000). HTML 5 is under development for mobile phones and tablet computers as well as desktop computers and is intended to replace the other versions.

HTML Structure

A HTML document has:

1. declaration of the version of HTML: document type (DOCTYPE) declaration
2. header about the document: head element must include a title .
3. body containing the content to display.

Text Elements

Text elements are used to structure text in the web page. Block elementsmake up the main document structure: headings, paragraphs, block quotes, pre-formatted text, lists and div.

HTML has six levels of headings to introduce sections of text. By default headings are rendered bold in decreasing size, from h1 to h6. Later versions of HTML require headings to be in order (h1, h2, h3 ...):

<h1>Main heading</h1>

<h2>Sub heading</h2>

Paragraphs are indicated by the <p> element. Paragraphs cannot contain block elements, such as headings or paragraphs. Early versions of HTML allowed the end </p>tag to be omitted, but XHTML does not.

Inline Elements

Inline elements span characters within the flow of text, by default they do not add line breaks. Commonly used logical elements in later versions of HTML are:

1. em: for emphasised text, usually rendered in italics: <em>emphasised text</em>
2. strong: for strongly emphasised text, usually rendered in bold: <strong>strong text</strong></li>

Div and Span

div and span elements provide a way to mark-up the document with no default rendering:

1. div element identifies a block-level division of text:
   

   <div id="header" ><p>Heading for the top of the page.</p></div>
   

2. spanelement identifies an inline element:
   

   <p>Identify <span id="key">a key point</span>.</p>
   

Element Identifiers

id and class attributes are used to provide specific meaning for div and span elements. They can also be used with other elements.

1. id attribute gives a unique name to an element. These are usually used to select a style sheet, or as a target anchor for links.
2. class attribute groups similar elements. These are usually used to select a style sheet.

Lists

Unordered lists use the ul element and Ordered lists the ol element. Both use the li element for each item of the list. By default each entry displays on a new line, prefixed by a bullet for unordered lists and number for ordered lists.

<ul>
<li>Item</li>
<li>Another item</li>
&</ul>

Hypertext Links

A link can be created from HTML to any web resource, including another HTML document, or an element within the document. The anchor element a identifies text or an image that links to another document. The hrefattribute provides the pathname (URL) to link to. Linked text is usually rendered in blue underlined and images with a blue border. This can be changed with style sheets.

<a href="http://wattlecourses.anu.edu.au/">ANU Wattle</a>

Absolute URLshave a protocol identifier, a hostname, and path to the specific file name. Usually HyperText Transfer Protocol (http) is used for web pages.

Relative URLs are relative to the location of the current document and usually used for links within the same document or web site.

<a href="wattle.html">ANU Wattle</a>

The id attribute on any element provides a target for a document for a link. These identifiers are placed after a hash (#) symbol appended to the URL to make the link:

<a id="details" href="wattle.html#timetable">ANU Wattle Timetable</a>

Images and Objects

Web pages can include images and media objects, such as video, Java applets and other HTML documents. Inline images occur in the normal flow of the document's content, with the imgelement. Web images are usually in GIF, JPEG, or PNG format, named .gif, .jpeg or .jpg, or .png. Inline images can be used as an alternative to text links.

<img src="http://anu.edu.au/logo.gif" alt="ANU" />

The img element requires the src attribute to provide the URL of the image file, and alt to provide alternative text if the image cannot be displayed (or the user cannot see images). An alt attribute with an empty string (alt="") should be used for decorative images which do not convey any information.

By default, the bottom of an image aligns with the baseline of surrounding text. This can be changed with style sheets, or with the width and height attributes. The browser will resize the image to match the specified dimensions. However, resizing the image larger results in a poor quality pixelated, image and resizing it smaller results in unnecessarily large file download.

Embedded Media

Embedded media files, such as video, Flash and Java applets can be included in web pages. The browser renders using provided code or by taking advantage of a plug-in application. The object element is recommended for later versions of HTML but applet may be needed for earlier versions. The non-standard embed may be needed for some implementations.

Object can be used for applets, movie and interactive objects (Flash). It may contain param elements to pass parameters to the object. Three types of information may be needed by the object:

1. classid attribute: to identify the executable code, or player, such as the QuickTime plug-in for .mov file).
2. data attribute: to give the URL of the data file
3. paramelements: Additional setting, such as an "AutoStart" feature.

The noembed element provides alternative content if the browser cannot display the media file. As an example text and a still image could be displayed if a movie cannot be played.

Tables

Table elements present rows and columns of tabular data. The tableelement defines a table, with tr for table rows and td for creating table cells. A table cell can contain formatted text, images, multimedia elements, and other tables.

<table><tbody> 
<tr> <td>row 1 column 1</td> <td>row 1 column 2</td> <td>row 1 column 3</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>row 2 column 1</td> <td>row 2 column 2</td> <td>row 2 column 3</td> </tr>
</tbody> </table> 

Colspan and rowspan allow a table cell to occupy more than one cell space. Table header cells th provide descriptions of the cells in the row or column that they precede. The caption element gives a caption for the table. Table headers and captions are important for accessibility.

Rows to the table can be optionally organised into header (thead), footer (tfoot), and a table body (tbody). The tfoot element should be before tbodyin the mark-up, although it will be normally rendered after the content of the tbody.

Accessible Tables

Sight-impaired users have difficulty reading tables. Tables can be made more accessible by providing a short descriptive caption element and a longer summary attribute. The summary attribute is not usually rendered by visual browsers.

Table headers (th) provide a description for a column or row. The abbr attribute can be used to provide an alternate short version of the header title. The scope attribute can be used to declare associations between table headers and rows or columns in complex tables.

Forms

Forms provide for data entry and user interaction with the web page. The form element defines a form. The form may contain text, images and tables. The action attribute in the form element provides the URL of the program to be used for processing the form. The name attributes of form control elements provide the variable names.

The method attribute specifies either get or post, for submitting the form information to the server. The simpler get method transfers the data appended to the action URL with a question mark. The post method transmits the data separately and allows for encryption and for more data to be sent.

Cascading Style Sheets

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are a series of W3C standards for defining the presentation of web pages. CSS is applied to HTML to change the way the content appears. The same HTML content can be made to render differently to suit the display device's capabilities (such as a mobile phone) and the user's requirements (such as spoken text for a for the vision impaired).

CSS works best with a logically structured web page. Style rules are then written using CSS for each element which is required to have other than its default appearance (no need to specify black text, as black is the default). Each rule identifies an element by name and lists the required properties (such as font and colour of text).

Style rules can be inline in the HTML, collected together in the head of the document, or as external files linked to the document (so they can be shared by several documents).

A style sheet rule consists of a selector which identifies the element and the declaration which has the properties of how the element will appear. Example: h1 {color:red; font-size: 160%}

The media attribute in the style element can be used to specify styles for a particular medium. Most commonly used for:

• handheld: for smart phones
• print: for printed documents

Comments can be included in style sheets:

 /* Media release style */ 

The link element in the head of the document is used to reference an external style sheet. Example:

 <link rel="stylesheet" href="releases.css" type="text/css" />

Inheritance and Cascading

HTML documents have a hierarchy. The html element contains a head and a body. The bodycontains block-level elements, such as paragraphs, which in turn contain inline elements.

HTML elements inherent CSS properties applied at a higher level in the hierarchy. For example, if a style rule applies a text colour to a blockquote, that colour will be applied to all paragraphs in the blockquote, unless overridden by a style applied specifically to the paragraph.

Style sheets are applied in the order given ("cascade"). CSS 2 allows style declarations to be marked as !important to override the cascade.

The Box Model

CSS uses a box model to describe the layout of content. Every element has a rectangular box defined around it for calculating borders and margins. The box has an invisible outer edge, a margin area within this, a border (which can be invisible or visible), a padding area within the border and the inner edge of the content.

Measurements for CSS are commonly expressed in:

• Pixels (px) relative to a typical resolution display screen.
• Points (pt) 1/72 of an inch.
• Ems (em) approximately the width of the capital letter M.
• Percentage (%) relative to other values in the document.
• Keyword Values, such as "normal"

Positioning Elements with CSS

By default text elements are laid out from left to right, top to bottom, for languages such as English. Inline elements fill the available space. Block-level elements stack on top of one another. When the window is resized, block elements adjust and the inline content reflows to fit the space. The normal flow can be overridden to float and positioning elements.

Floating

The float property allows elements to be placed next to each other (with left or right attributes). While most commonly used for placing images alongside text, they can also be used for other elements. Positioning is done with the four offset properties: top, right, bottom, left. The values can be with a length measure (such as px or em) or a percentage (24%) of the containing block

Lists

The list-style-type property selects the type of marker for each list item. Values: disc, circle, square, decimal, decimal-leading-zero, lower-roman, upper-roman, lower-greek, lower-latin, upper-latin, lower-alpha, upper-alpha, none, or inherit. By default a disk is provided. It should be noted that this property can be sued to replace the numbers of an ordered list with bullets.

Printing from the Web

An additional style sheet can be applied using the media attribute or @media rule to customise the web page content for printing. Typically the print style will omit background colors and images and use the display property with the value of "none" to hide navigation features. Supporting browsers will automatically apply the additional styles when printing, with the media type of "print".

CSS 3 has more advanced features for printed documents, such as page headers, footers and page numbering. However these features anre not yet supported by most browsers. Where the features of CSS 2.1 are not sufficient, a PDF (Portable Document Format) version of the content can be offered.

Web Page Layout

Web pages are traditionally formatted in a similar way to printed text, in a rectangular grid. For English language readers more general information is placed at the top left and detail toward the bottom right of the page.

A typical layout for a web page is to divide the page into a header, body and footer area and then divide the body further into a number of columns. An attempt is made to make the layout symmetrical. The header will have a logo, the title of the web page and links to other important pages. The footer will have a copyright notice and links to legal notices. The left column in the body will have a menu, the centre column the main content and the right column a subsidiary menu, additional information, such as classified advertisements.

Typical web page layout

Header: logo, page title and top level menu

Menu items Item Item Item Main content: Text, images and further divided into sections. Advertisements, additional content, or menus

Footer: copyright and legal notices.

The layout should, as far as is possible, allow for screen of different resolutions. In particular a screen which cannot display as many columns of text should be considered. CSS can be used for positioning the elements on the a web page. However, tables may need to be used in some cases.

Text styled with CSS

Text should be sized relative to the default size set by the browser and styled using CSS based on the structural elements of the document:

H1, H2{ font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-size: medium; color: #000000 }

H3{ font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-size: medium; color: #000000 }...

TBODY, BODY, TABLE, TD, BLOCKQUOTE, FORM, LI, OL, UL, DD { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-size: small; color: #000000 }

P, p{ font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-size: small; color: #000000 }...

From: ANU standard style sheet, URL: http://www.anu.edu.au/templates/anustyle.css

Referencing the CSS

The CSS is referenced in the web page:

...

<HEAD>

...

<LINK href="/templates/anustyle.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">

From: Discover The Australian National, 22 May 2001, URL: http://www.anu.edu.au/discover.html

A style defined in the web page

Later in the HEAD an additional style of tinylink is defined for use anywhere on the web page:

<STYLE> .tinylink{ font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt} </STYLE>

</HEAD>

Font commands in the web page

In the body of the document some font commands are used:

<BODY ...

<FONT SIZE="-2" face="arial, verdana, helvetica,
sans-serif"> <center> Please direct ...

As well as the additional style:

<A HREF="/comments.php" class="tinylink">...

The effect of the styles cascade, that is the local style overrides the definition in the header and that overrides the external definition. In this case the font size will be changed, while the font color will be unchanged.

Fixing text at, 12 points, for example will cause difficulties if the user's screen is significantly smaller or larger than that the page was designed on. Web browsers have a default font size which should have been set to be readable on the particular screen. Most text on the web page should be set at the default size and other text, such as headings, should be set relative to default size. Serif fonts (such as Times Roman) are generally considered easier to read for main text, but sans serif(such as Helvetica) are better for low resolution screens and headings. As with text size specific fonts should be avoided and style commands used to suggest fonts for specific elements of the text. As an example a heading should be marked as a heading <h1> and then styles added for text size and font.

In this way if the browser does not have the specific font (or the user can't see it), another can be substituted in a systematic way. Utility programs, such as Tidy, can be used to extract collect text definitions from a web page into a CSS style sheet. An example of a web page using individual definitions is "Links on the World Wide Web". An example of a web page using an internal CSS style sheet is "The Federal Government 30% Rebate". An example of a complex style sheet is that for the W3C's documents: <http://www.w3.org/Style/main.css>. This includes comments indicating some style commands cause difficulties with some web browsers.

Layout with CSS

Early web pages (around 1994) used a simple single column of text, with HTML headings (H1, H2...), to structure the text. CSS provides a separation of the content from style and allow fluid column layout. One example using CSS for layout is The Sydney Morning Herald Technology site. This has a default CSS file and one specifically for print:

... <head>
<title>smh.com.au - The Sydney Morning Herald Technology</title>
... <meta name="author" content="Andrew Coffey" />
<style type="text/css" media="screen" title="default">@import url("/technology/css/smh_tech.css");</style>
<link href="/technology/css/smh_tech_print.css" rel="stylesheet" rev="alternate" type="text/css" media="print" />
</head>

From: The Sydney Morning Herald Technology, Head section XHTML code (emphasis added), f2 Limited, 2004, URL: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/index.html

Default style sheet, f2 Limited

The default CSS positions the masthead, columns and footer on the page:

/* ::::::::::::: PAGE LAYOUT ::::::::::::: */
.standardsNote {display:none} ...
#masthead {position:relative;height:70px; ...
#trail {position:relative;height:23px; ...
#nav {position:absolute;top:122px; left:0;width:112px; ...
#content {position:relative;margin:0 170px 0 113px;padding:15px}
#columns {position:relative;margin:1em 0 0 0}
#col1 {position:relative;float:left; width:220px;margin:0;z-index:1}
#col2 {position:relative;float:right; ...
#rhc {position:relative;float:right; ...
#footer {clear:both;text-align:center; ... ...

From: Default style sheet, f2 Limited, 2004, URL: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/css/smh_tech.css

Print style sheet, f2 Limited

The print CSS removes some of the graphics and turns off some of the formatting to suit a non-interactive, printed page:

body {background: white ...
/* ::::::::::::: TURNED OFF ::::::::::::: */
.standardsNote, #nav, #subnav, #rhc, #trail, #title, #masthead .banner, #masthead .textad, .articletools-top, .articletools-bot, .rhclinks, .rhbox, .newsstore, .sort1, .sort2 {display: none !important}
iframe, #footerads, .islandad, .islandad small, .megaiwos, .domcol, .ad1, .ad2,.adwof, .rhad {display:none !important}
...

From: Print style sheet, f2 Limited, 2004, URL: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/css/smh_tech_print.css

Web Multimedia

Two commonly supported image formats for the web are:

1. PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
2. JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)

Unlike audio and video, there is a specific HTML tag for images. Note the use of the ALT attribute providing a text alternative if the image can't be seen:

<img src="http://styles.anu.edu.au/_images/ANULogo.gif" width="150" height="70" border="0" alt="The Australian National University">

From: ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science, ANU, 2009

GIF and PNG are loss-less compression, indexed color formats. These suit graphics with areas of flat colour, such as logos, icons and line art. The number of colours used can be reduced to reduce the file size. GIF and PNG are less suited for photographs.

JPEG is a lossy 24-bit format, suited to photographic images and drawings with gradations of colour. The level of compression used for JPEG can be set to reduce the file size.

As not all devices can display images and not all users can see them, any important information conveyed by an image should also be described in an alternative format, such as text, in the web document.

Bit Mapped Images

GIF, PNG and JPEG are all bitmapped image formats. The images are made of a grid of square coloured pixels. Image resolution is measured in pixels per inch (ppi). Computer monitors typically have a resolution of 72 ppi (the px measure of CSS), or less. Low cost printers have a resolution of 300 to 1,000 ppi.

To reduce the size of files downloaded, images should be provided at the minimum resolution usable. A common mistake is to provide images to suit very high resolution printing at many thousands of pixels per inch, when few users of the web site will have such a printer.

Colour Images

Computer monitors combine red, green, and blue light (RGB) in to create a range of colours. The range of colours available differs between monitors, operating systems and versions of HTML. Colour can be expressed as a numerical value or a name. name and by numerical value. All the following are blue:

p {color : blue;} p {color: rgb(0,0,255);} p {color : #0000FF;} 

While the computer screen may be able to display millions of different colours, the web designer needs to keep in mind that the user may not be able to perceive this range of colours. Where colours can be perceived, the use of too many may be confusing.

Pictograms

Images can be used as pictorial representations of an objects: pictograms. Some disabilities, such as Aphasia, involve problems reading text and graphics can improve access. Pictograms also are useful for international communication.

Pictograms are commonly used for transport (United States Department of Transportation DOT pictograms) and for the Olympic Games.

Pictograms with hypertext links can be used in web pages as computer icons. For touch screen devices, such as smartphones, the icons can be made large enough to act as press buttons.

Audio

As with graphics, different audio file formats allow different levels of fidelity and compression techniques.

As not all devices can play audio and not all users can hear, any important information conveyed by audio should also be described in an alternative format, such as text, in the web document.

Audio files, such as MP3 format, can be linked in the same way as other file types:

<a href="http://rait.anu.edu.au/FOO/AUDIO/00-KevinRudd.mp3">http://rait.anu.edu.au/FOO/AUDIO/00-KevinRudd.mp3</a>">00-KevinRudd.mp3</a>

From: Video and Audio of the Open 2020 Summit Presentations, address from Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia (audio), 2008

The <object> tag can be used to provide more control over the video in the browser, with controls for starting, stopping and fast forwarding included.

Video

As with audio, video can be linked to web pages. However, video requires much larger files than audio. Some file formats allow for audio or video and audio and it may be useful to provide both options for users with limited bandwidth.

As with audio, video files, such as MP4 format, can be linked in the same way as other file types:

<a href="http://rait.anu.edu.au/FOO/SMALL/00-KevinRudd.mp4">Kevin Rudd</a>

From: Video and Audio of the Open 2020 Summit Presentations, address from Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia (video), 2008

As with audio, the <object> tag can be used to provide more control over the video in the browser, with controls for starting, stopping and fast forwarding included.

As not all devices can play video and not all users can see, any important information conveyed by video should also be described in an alternative format, such as text, in the web document. Some video formats include provision for "closed captions", with synchronised text overlaid on the images.

Animation

Low resolution limited colour moving images (animation) with audio can be used to good effect for communication on the web. This reduces the resource requirements and can make for an easier to understand multi-lingual message. An example of animation is Airport by Iain Anderson (2005), made using the DOT pictograms.

Readings:

1. Digital Preservation Software Platform, National Archives of Australia, 7th May 2010
2. Whole-of-Government Common Operating Environment Policy, Department of Finance and Deregulation, 26 November 2010. Page 9, mandating PDF file format ISO/IEC 32000-1:2008 and page 10, mandating of the Office Open XML
3. Portable Document Format, Wikipedia, 8 February 2011 at 04:44
4. Open Document Format, Wikipedia, 9 February 2011 at 14:13
5. HTML5, Wikipedia, 11 February 2011 at 01:39.

Questions:

1. Archive Formats for FOI: Australian Freedom of Information reforms promote a pro-disclosure approach, treating government information as a national resource. Discuss how the National Archives of Australia's Digital Preservation Software Platform could be used to provide information in a standardised way for all agencies.
2. HTML for Publishing:The Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) publishes Decisions made under the Freedom of Information Act, in PDF and RTF formats. Download the RTF version of a recent decision, open it using a word processor, such as Microsoft Word or Open Office.org and then save it in HTML format. Open the HTML file with a text editor and examine the source code. Which version of HTML is used? Show examples of a heading, paragraph and list. Why do you think the OAIC don't publish their decisions in HTML format?

6 Citizen-centric services: Social Networking/Web 2.0/Gov 2.0

Citizen-centric services

In coming to grips with the use of Internet technology, organisations have used a confusing array of terms and technologies.

Social media or social networking in this context is the use of an online service which provides communication and information storage for people to interact socially. As the name implies, these systems were originally developed for social purposes, but the same software and techniques are now used for business and government. The Government 2.0 - Best Practices Wiki has tabulated Social Media use by Australian government. One example is CSIRO staff using Yammer, to have relatively informal work related discussions:

Yammer is revolutionizing internal corporate communications by bringing together all of a company’s employees inside a private and secure enterprise social network. Although Yammer is as easy to use as consumer products like Facebook or Twitter, it’s enterprise-grade software is built from the ground up to drive business objectives.

Yammer is free for your whole company, enabling users to communicate, collaborate, and share more easily and efficiently than ever before. It reduces the need for meetings, increases communication across silos, surfaces pockets of expertise and connects remote workers.

From: "What Is Yammer?", Yammer, 2011

The AGIMO Government 2.0 Primer discusses legal issues and cost effectiveness, before specific tools:

• Establishing Government 2.0 tools: legal and other best practice compliance issues
• Assessing the cost-effectiveness of Government 2.0 tools
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Social networking sites
• Automated tools and techniques for evaluating online submissions
• data.gov.au

At a more accessible level, John Sheridan (2011) has outlined some principles for the use of social networking in an organisational context:

Locate: to be successful in social media, you need to go where your audience is, not expect them to come to you ...

Engage: people expect you to be involved, not just a tourist. Social media is two way communication.

Follow: ... Following people who are interesting or involved in the issues in which you are interested (hopefully both!) will encourage them to follow you ...

Trust [your staff]: one person can’t engage with the social media universe on behalf of an organisation by themselves. We trust all manner of public servants to engage with the public every day, over counters and over the phone. We can trust them on social media too.

Share: collaborate not just communicate. Social media isn’t about broadcasting (mostly – there’s clearly a valid case for public interest social networking broadcasting for emergencies, etc). ...

Risks: all activities have risks and social media is no different. Here are some considerations:

• Context: social media comments are made in a context but can be quoted out of it. Make sure your public comments can’t easily be maliciously reused. Use links to provide the context so others can follow what you really meant.
• Media: when media people ‘friend’ you they may not really be your friends! Nevertheless, social media tools do provide a useful mechanism for establishing the facts for readers. ...
• Profile confusion: be careful to distinguish between speaking in an official, professional or personal capacity. If you aren’t commenting officially for your organisation but people could think you are, make your status clear. ...

Incremental: you don’t have to start your social media engagement with a major campaign. Start small, manage expectations, build your profile over time. Test things out, be prepared to deal with dead ends and occasional failures. ...

Groups and Lists: public servants know about organisation and so does social media. On Twitter you can create lists of followers to make following easier. This is particularly useful if you have varied interests and follow people in each of them. ...

Hierarchy: don’t forget your day job. Although it can be really interesting, it’s unlikely you’re being paid just to do social media. Before you make a career of it, make sure your boss is happy about it. ...

Trolls: don’t feed them. Trolls make comments to attract attention, stir up controversy or just to be difficult. They are easy to recognise but hard to resist. ...

Yammer: Yammer is a social media tool like Twitter but only people on the same email domain as you can see what you send. It’s like an internal Twitter account. There are other similar tools – Microsoft’s SharePoint has one you can pay for (basic Yammer is free). AGIMO is also considering options to add more social media functionality into future versions of our govdex internal collaboration service. These provide a safe environment in which people can experiment with social media without some of the risks of the mainstream varieties. It can be a good place to start.

Educate: social media is a new skill. Not everyone knows what to do yet. Help others. Share ideas. Ask questions. There aren’t that many experts in this field and there’s nothing to feel overawed about.

Some simple steps (the four ‘Rs’): register (get a log on to Twitter or Facebook or both), read (statistics suggest that for every one person who writes a blog post, 10 people comment  and 100 read it – just reading social media on line is a good start), retweet (retweeting is just like repeating a joke you heard from someone else – something most of us do every day), finally – really get stuck in, you’ll be surprised how easy it is ...

Readings:

• Public Sphere, Senator Kate Lundy, 2010
• The AGIMO Government 2.0 Primer, Australian Government Information Management Office, 2 Dec 2010
• Online Consultation Guidelines, Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), 2010
• Tweeting for your Country: a personal view of some principles for social networking, John Sheridan,  AGIMO Blog, Australian Government Information Management Office, 4:00pm 24 Mar 2011

Questions:

1. Technical Standards for PM's Blog: How much should the strict guidelines which apply to formal government electronic documents apply to blog postings? As an example, the Australian Prime Minister's Blog is entitled "Blog feed" *(which appears to be the default from the software), the description field is blank and the "creator" field has invalid HTML code. Does this matter, or is it enough for the content of the postings to be timely and accurate?

   ?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
   <rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
   <channel>
   <title>Blog feed</title>
   <description></description>
   <link>http://www.pm.gov.au</link>
   <item>
   <title>Getting small businesses online in WA</title>
   <description>
   Getting small businesses online and taking part in the digital economy is crucial.
   ....
   </description>

   link>http://www.pm.gov.au/blog/getting-small-businesses-online-wa</link>
   <dc:creator><p class=&quot;author&quot;&gt;Stephen Conroy</p&gt;</dc:creator>
   <pubDate>Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:06:10 +1100</pubDate>
   </item>
   
   From: Getting small businesses online in WA, Stephen Conroy, Blog Feed, Prime Minister of Australia, 29/03/11 01:06

2. Content for PM's Blog: How frequent and how personal should the blog by the Australian Prime Minister be? Currently there appears to be one posting every few days with some postings in the first person ("I am very pleased that next week ..."), some are in the third person and som attributed to cabinet ministers. Should the postings be written as if they all come from the PM, should they be written as if they are from cabinet ministers or should it be clear they are actually written by staff?

7 Workload

8 Assessment