Records Management Association of Australia (RMAA) - National Convention - Darwin, Northern Territory (NT) - 29 August to 1 September 1999 - theme of convention "Records Management - Whose Territory?"

Invited paper on "Personal Internet working and networking interpersonally: making a personal record" by Andrew R. Freeman FACS

Last updated non-substantially on:
16 June 2011

Location

This paper is located on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.pcug.org.au/~afreeman/rmaa99nc.html

Table of contents

  1. Abstract
  2. Introduction to speaker
  3. Introduction
  4. Internet technologies
  5. Networking options
  6. Personal record keeping
  7. Key URLs
  8. References
  9. Acknowledgements
  10. Disclaimer
  11. Any FEEDBACK relating to this page would be appreciated
  12. Access count

  1. Abstract

    This paper was presented at the Record Management Association of Australia (RMAA) 1999 1999 National Convention (Darwin NT Australia. 29 August till 1 September 1999).

    This paper outlines various ways that Internet related technologies can be utilised for personal and professional networking. The technologies covered include:

    Consideration will also be given to networking options, in particular how professional associations can assist records managers, and other information technology professionals, to network effectively. The work of both the RMAA and the ACS will be considered. It will be argued that for most effective networking, RMAA members who have a strong interest in information technology should consider also joining the ACS, and ACS members with a strong interest in records management issues should consider also joining the RMAA.

  2. Introduction to speaker

    Andrew R. Freeman is the Chair of the Records Management Association of Australia (RMAA) Information Technology Committee (ITC). In early 1998 he initiated the processes which ultimately resulted in the aus.org.rmaa newsgroup being created.

    Andrew Freeman is also the Director of the Community Affairs Board (CAB) of the Australian Computer Society (ACS). He presents this paper in that role.

    In his role as Director of the ACS CAB he oversights the:

    In 1997 Andrew was appointed a Fellow of the ACS (FACS), for making a distinguished contribution to information technology in Australia. His qualifications are in accounting, economics, education, and information technology. His Masters minor thesis dealt with Internet futures, and was published by an ERIC Centre at Syracuse University in the mid-1980s. His other publications and conference contributions have focussed on educational innovation, technological change, and long range planning. He is the Australian national representative to the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Technical Committee 9 (TC9 - Computers and Society). Andrew has worked in teaching, as Head of Research and Planning at a College of Advanced Education, as a policy analyst, as Director of Training and Manpower Development in a statutory authority, and in various roles in the Australian Public Service (APS).

  3. Introduction

    I first became interested in the Internet and related technologies in the early 1980s, when I read The Network Nation. Human Communication via Computer (Hiltz and Turoff 1978). Subsequently, I used this book as a key reference in preparing my Master of Education minor thesis at the University of Melbourne, titled The Network Nation - The relevance of this for possible educational and general public administrative structures and strategies in the 1980s and 90s (Freeman 1983).

  4. Internet technologies

    In this part of my paper, I consider a wide range of Internet related technologies which can assist with networking, storing information, and dissemination of information.

    Internet Service Providers

    Many educational institutions, particularly tertiary educational institutions have had access to Internet related technologies for many years. Other organisations (such as government departments and corporations) are increasingly providing access to these technologies to employees as well.

    For those that do not have access to Internet technologies through the above means, or who wish to use these technologies for personal use, Internet Service Providers (ISP) can provide accounts, for a fee.

    In choosing an ISP one should consider such factors as:

    E-mail

    E-mail is a basic technology for networking. It enables one to write to any other person connected to the Internet, if one has an e-mail address, and if one knows their e-mail address. My e-mail address is:
    afreeman@pcug.org.au

    E-mail has both some similarities, and some key differences, to conventional mail (sometimes termed "snail mail").

    Core features of e-mail

    Low cost
    If you send a letter it costs you 45 cents for a stamp. In contrast, there is no unit cost for sending e-mail. For example, one might send 100 e-mail messages in a day, with no unit charge for these messages. If one sent 100 letters locally, there would be a unit charge for each of these of 45 cents for stamps - and a total cost of $45 for these letters just in terms of postage costs. This lack of a unit charge means that it is often very convenient to use e-mail, in a context where other forms of communication would either be more expensive, and/or less convenient.

    Often high speed
    A key convenience factor with e-mail is its speed. E-mail can often take a matter of seconds to go half way around the world. The time it takes is not always this fast - and the speed it takes to get to its ultimate recipient is unpredictable. The key thing is that it enables new forms of interaction and collaboration between people who are widely distant, at very little cost.

    Finger

    Some servers allow fingering. If you finger an e-mail address, you are told such things as when the user last logged on, how long mail has been waiting for them, their name, and in some cases, should they choose to include these, details about themselves. However, these details will not always be useful if the e-mail address forwards to another address. Just as one can have mail forwarded from one address to another, ISP often allow on to forward e-mail from one e-mail address to another.

    Forwarding

    One may use a range of ISP over one's lifetime, with a range of e-mail addresses. However, to make it simple for people to contact oneself, it is helpful if one has a key e-mail address which remains constant throughout ones life, and forwards to whatever ISP e-mail address one is using at the time. Ideally, the key address will either be free, or low cost. For example, I currently forward mail from various e-mail addresses I have to afreeman@pcug.org.au in a context where my 'lifetime' address is afreeman@pcug.org.au

    Receipt option

    In many e-mail packages, there is a feature whereby one can request an automated receipt be sent back to oneself when the recipient of e-mail opens the e-mail. This feature is useful if one wants to be aware of when a particular message has been received by an intended recipient. Recipients can however often over-ride this feature, if they wish.

    E-mail lists

    E-mail lists are technologies which enable a group of people to send mail to an address, which then distributes the mail to all members of the group. A list of records management might have 500 members. Each member can write to list message address, and his/her message will be sent to all 500 members. There is a separate commands address one writes to to subscribe, and unsubscribe to the list, and to send other list commands (such as a HELP command, which may result in one getting back a message with all the list commands in it).

    Lists can be very helpful in facilitating networking and discussion amongst a group. They may be small, or large. The larger they are, other things being equal, the more messages one will receive from them. I tend to only subscribe to small lists, and/or ones with low activity. This is because it is relatively time consuming to process e-mail one receives via lists, even if one utilises mail sorting options in e-mail software such as Eudora to, for example, put all mail from particular lists in particular folders, for reading at ones convenience.

    File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

    File Transfer Protocol (FTP) software allows one to transfer files between computers. This often involves downloading software. It may also involve such things as uploading an updated Web page one maintains to another computer.

    Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and Chat sites

    Internet Relay Chat (IRC) software enables one to join in group discussions on the Internet. These are undertaken in real time. That is, they simulate a group discussion being undertaken face-to-face, because as participants type words, they are displayed almost immediately to other participants in the discussion, who can also have their responses displayed almost immediately to all other participants in the IRC session.

    I have included a sample of the log (record) of an IRC meeting held to provide a briefing on the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Technical Committee 9 (TC9 - Computers and Society) meeting held in Corfu, Greece in 1997 at:
    http://www.pcug.org.au/~afreeman/acsr9706.html
    My Web report on the IFIP TC9 meeting is at:
    http://www.pcug.org.au/~afreeman/tc9gm97.html

    Chat sites can provide an excellent venue for global meetings of persons who have access to the World Wide Web. Private meeting rooms can normally be set up by users of these sites, with the option to invite specific persons into the room for a meeting, or to allow all persons with an interest in the meeting topic to join the meeting. An excellent chat site is Yahoo! Chat, at:
    http://chat.yahoo.com

    Newsgroups

    Newsgroups facilitate discussion between those with similar interests. Messages to them are propagated around the world, to ISP that choose to receive them. Not all newsgroups are received by all ISP.

    Newsgroups are named to assist one to find them. For example, the RMAA newsgroup is called:
    aus.org.rmaa
    - with the most general element being to left, and most specific to right. The above name tells you that the group relates to AUSTRALIA, more specifically an ORGANISATION within AUSTRALIA, and more specifically still it is for discussion of matters relating to the RMAA.

    Newsgroups can be read in any browser, using the format in the Location:
    news:
    for example:
    news:aus.org.rmaa
    - and if the ISP one uses receives that newsgroup, recent messages posted to it can then be read. Once can also post to the newsgroup once one is in the window that displays the newsgroup messages.

    There are a range of advantages in using newsgroup software, such as FreeAgent (which is freeware - that is, no charge to use this software) or Agent (there is a charge to use Agent) to organise messages from newsgroups one subscribes to. Such software enables one to readily ignore topics one is not interested in, and to watch for messages about topics one is interested in. Also, it enables one to organise ones reading of newsgroup threads (that is, lists of messages about the same subject, in date order) off line, which is advantageous if one reads a lot of newsgroups, and pays for ones' ISP access on a time basis.

    World Wide Web

    There are millions of World Wide Web (WWW) sites. These are accessed using browser software such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.

    For networking, it is helpful to have a homepage on the WWW. This is relevant for both organisations and individuals. Homepages can include information, and access to a range of relevant tools (for example, search tools). My own homepage is at:
    http://www.pcug.org.au/~afreeman

    The RMAA has a homepage at:
    http://www.rmaa.com.au
    This site includes a range of information of interest to RMAA members, including details on RMAA conference, and Branches.

  5. Networking options

    In another part of this paper I have considered Internet technologies as an aid for storing and communicating information. In this part I consider other networking options of a non-technological nature.

    Professional Associations

    To be effective in one's professional role, one needs to keep up with developments in that profession. Internet technologies can clearly play a key role in this. Membership of relevant professional associations can also play a key role.

    I encourage those who are working in records management, who are not already members of the RMAA, to seriously consider joining.

    Those working in records management who are particularly interested in Information Technology aspects of records management, I would encourage to also consider seeking to become members of the Australian Computer Society (ACS).

  6. Personal record keeping

    It is as important that one's personal record keeping be efficient and effective as it is in relation to the record keeping one undertakes for one's organisation.

    One's personal computer should be kept in a physically secure environment, so that it cannot readily be stolen.

    It is important that one does back-ups of ones personal computer records, ideally in a secure place away from where one's personal computer is stored.

    Virus protection should be installed on your personal computer.

    Your personal electronic records should be organised in well organised electronic folders, and with logical names for file names that facilitate retrieval, so that you can readily access them even years after first creating them.

    It is useful to have a homepage on the World Wide Web, so that others with an interest in your work can readily access details about yourself (generally it is best to not include information on this that can make you vulnerable to harrassment - for example, it is generally best not to include ones physical home address or phone number on one's homepage :-).

    My own homepage is at:
    http://www.pcug.org.au/~afreeman

  7. Key URLs

    To assist those who are reading this presentation on paper, I include a list below of the key WWW URLs referred to in this paper.

  8. References

    Freeman, Andrew 1983, The Network Nation - The relevance of this for possible educational and general public administrative structures and strategies in the 1980s and 90s. - ISBN: 0 949385 00 X - available on microfiche via inter-library loan from the National Library of Australia and ERIC. Master of Education minor thesis at University of Melbourne. Presented as a paper at the ;Silver Jubilee Conference of the Australian College of Education (Canberra, ACT. May 1994) and subsequently published by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information Resources, Syracuse University, New York, USA (in January 1985) - ERIC Reference ED 247 936. This minor thesis is also available from URL:
    http://www.pcug.org.au/~afreeman/med.html

    Hiltz, Starr Roxanne and Turoff, Murray 1978, The Network Nation. Human Communication via Computer, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.

  9. Acknowledgements

    I would like thank all those who assisted with the development of this paper, in particular, Barry Garside and Ray Holswich.

  10. Disclaimer

    The opinions expressed in this Web page do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation I am a member of. I disclaim any and all liability for the accuracy and/or completeness of the information presented on this, and pointed to, Web pages. I will accept no responsibility for loss occasioned as a direct or indirect result of the use of information obtained thereby. I suggest you confirm the accuracy of the information provided, before using it for any purpose.

  11. Any FEEDBACK relating to this paper would be appreciated

    If you have any comments to make on this paper, please e-mail them to afreeman@pcug.org.au

  12. Access count

Various versions/edition of this page have been accessed a total of:
  times since 22 July 1998.