Tune in monthly for a curated collection of articles we found interesting on a broad range of topics; some which are directly related to records management and others which might share common themes.
No, we didn’t write these articles —hence the name of this series, “Off the Record”— , but fortunately we didn’t need to in order to share the knowledge with our subscribers.
Let us know in the comments below what topics you are interested in learning more about!
“Portland’s Popular Bike Map Goes Digital” – Government Technology
Where records and public access come together is a win for everyone and the City of Portland, Oregon is well aware. Most recently the Portland Bureau of Transportation is even one-upping Google Maps with its free, online interactive map of bike routes; published and distributed by the bureau since the 1970s, the GIS-backed map is accessible via smartphone.
The innovation has been called “essential” to the city’s cycling infrastructure with nearly 4,000 downloads of the map in the first month.
“Shining a light on Shadow IT”– Information Management
The formidable Shadow IT can wreak havoc on your records management program however, quite often it is not taken seriously. Reader, beware these statistics:
At Microsoft: More than 80 percent of employees admit to using unapproved SaaS apps for corporate purposes.
At Cisco: 15 to 25 times the number of known cloud services are purchased by employees without IT involvement.
Shadow IT is not the latest espionage spy thriller villain; it’s probably happening as you read this sentence…
“NASA’s slow progress in IT governance could put agency at the risk of a security breach: Report” – Firstpost
Time and time again, the RIM field is inundated with the term “Information Governance” and told that it’s the future of the field, with not a lot of information on how to implement or move forward. This is understandable given its relatively young age and recent introduction to practitioners. However not heeding the eventual transition appears to be damaging at least one distinguished institution: NASA.
“Trump Says He Has No Plans to Block Scheduled Release of JFK Records” – Bloomberg
In 1992, Congress mandated that all documents related to the JFK assassination be released within 25 years and the timeframe is nigh ready to expire. NARA has until this Thursday to release the remaining documents unless the president steps in to block the release on grounds that public release “would harm intelligence or military operations, law enforcement or foreign relations”. He has not announced any plans to do so.
Earlier this summer, NARA published more than 440 previously unreleased assassination documents plus thousands of others that previously contained redactions.
