Feds Want to Digitize Records
November 30th, 2011Transparency? Oh sure.
Alternative explanation: It would be nice to be able to disappear documents down the memory hole as easily as it is to print money.
Via: Computer World:
President Obama this week gave government agencies four months to come up with a plan to improve records management by moving to electronic records management systems “where feasable.”
In a memorandum, Obama said one aim of the plan is to improve public access to government records by moving them to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which will “provide the prism through which future generations will understand and learn from our actions and decisions.”
Paul Wester, chief records officer for the U.S. Government, said in an interview with Computerworld that the president’s directive is really about driving a more open government where citizens can access information in a more “Web 2.0” format.
“No one is completely electronic now, and that’s one of the challenges we’re driving toward with the presidential directive,” Wester said. “The wider direction is about open government and transparency, being more responsive to citizens, implementing more open business operations” between agencies who can then interact with one another.
Wester said new laws and regulations may be needed to move the process of creating a more unified electronic records system forward.
But, the U.S. government does not have a good track record when it comes to developing electronic archives. Earlier this year, due to cost overruns and project mismanagement the NARA announced it was ending a 10-year effort to create an electronic records archive.
