Access - Chapter 1 & 7

Hi Team,

Welcome to the new subject, Access.  Hope that everyone is keeping well 

Chapter 1

Fig 1 - Access Denied!

Welcome to the first week in Access.  To kick off the subject I started with an "Access Denied" activity.  Students were locked out of the classroom until they had successfully collected all of the information I was asking for.  It was interesting to see who provided what information and how easy/difficult it was to draw that info from the class.  How would you have responded to the questions asked?

Students questioned "why" the info was required & wondered how this linked into Access.

Q1 - Relates to Archives Search & some of the future assignments require you to access Archives Search

Q2 - Most people provided this info as this info would be fairly easy to "get" in the real world.

Q3 - Most students flatly refused for me to have access to this kind of information.

Q4 - Identified that you are unable to discriminate access to information/records based upon the person’s occupation or visible characteristics.  Further details will be covered in an upcoming FOI session

Q2 & Q3 Tried to identify that in the real world info has different levels of "restriction".  Some info is easily accessible and "open" to view while other info is closed and "access is denied".  This will depend on what the info is and who wants to gain access to the info.

Fig 2 - Access has an impact on all areas of RM

Some things that you need to consider is that access falls into the many categories of a record's life cycle (Fig 1).

•  Creation - How the document has been titled.  If not titled correctly is can be difficult to locate & retrieve

•  Capture - the physical storage of the document for future retrieval.  Is it on an old "floppy disk" or physically locked away in a filing cabinet in the manager's office

• Control (maintenance) - so that the document can be accessed when required.  Easy retrieval, the info is not lost

• Disposal - inappropriate disposal can result in a loss of important info

Group Activity (articles)

Fig 3 ZD Net article

Students were divided into two groups & each group received an article related to RM, Access.  Each group then read the article & answered the question.  Students then presented their article & findings to the greater group & discussions were held.  Read through the attached articles and consider your workplace.  It is interesting that we save records, documents information etc to CD, however how often do you go back to check that the CD is working and the info hasn't been lost.  What migration strategy does your agency have in place . . . . If any!  Don't forget the CDs that you have at home with your precious holiday snaps, or your children's first day of school photos, how often do you pull them out to have a look at?

You will not be able to use any of these three articles for Chapter 7 assignment submission!

Fig 4 Article from IQ 

Chapter 7

For this chapter we looked at the main points involved in writing simple documents.  You may be thinking "How is this linked with Access?"  The answer is that even though there may not be a "direct" connection to access it is something that you are no doubt doing on a daily basis.  It could be writing an email about upcoming casual day, responding to a customer complaint, drafting a report to submit to your manager.  Whatever the reason someone will be viewing the information and assessing it's content.  So in a way write simple documents is linked with access as you are giving someone access to certain information.  Just make sure that you are giving the right person the right access!

As discussed in class, there were examples given when incorrect access to certain information was given.  Ever sent an email to the wrong person in your contact list, or sent an email to a larger than required group of people?  The point is that you need to double check everything before it leaves your desk/computer.  Check out the following link to see how wrong some people can get it   http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/845713/leaked-entertainment-books-email-transcript

Within your assignments you have written a lot of information in various formats.  These documents will all serve a particular purpose.  Be sure that when you are writing a document that you follow the four steps carefully (ref to Fig 5):

1) Plan the document - "Fail to plan is planning to fail!"

2) Drafting the document - Rough copies are necessary to ensure you have included all the key points

3) Review the document - Have fresh eyes read the document to ensure that it is clear for your intended audience

4) Write the final document - And then make sure you proofread the final.  Spell check will not pick everything up!

For this assignment all you will be required to fill in the table on pages 130 & 131.  Dot points are enough.  Consider the following example in relation to the article “Burned CDs Not a Long Term Option”:

An email sent out to staff communicating that official records are not to be stored on CDs.  An official policy is to follow

WHO: Staff within State Records.  No external "customers"

PURPOSE: To advise staff of new policy that will be implemented in relation to official records being burnt on to CDs. 

FORMAT: Email with State Records logo, attach new policy

KEY POINTS: Date when policy is effective, Why policy is being implemented, Appropriate action 

ORGANISATIONAL REQUIREMENTS:  Need to be approved by State Records Director

METHOD OF COMMUNICATION: Email then follow up at next staff meeting (verbal & included in minutes). Formal communication will require approval from manager & director

MEANS OF COMMUNICATION: Discuss at management team meeting, discuss at team meetings, send email to all State Records employees

OTHER: Print & save email to file for record

You will then be required to produce a document (approx 300 words) based upon your article taking into consideration the three dot points on page 129 of the review.

Assignments

You will notice that there are three due dates for your review/assignments.  To help out with Chapter Seven review you will need to find an article related to access.  There are a lot of articles out there on the net & there are some websites solely dedicated to accessing information, or the security relating to the access of information.  Do a Google search & you may be surprised.  However check this article that was recently on ZDNet http://www.zdnet.com/firm-facebooks-shadow-profiles-are-frightening-dossiers-on-everyone-7000017199/?s_cid=e036&ttag=e036

For this unit of study (Access subject) I will want to see only the three assignments as indicated in my 26/06/2013 email.  It will not be necessary to include your "activities" as part of your submission.  Hopefully with the course notes sent to you as a word document it will be easier to fill in the activities and review sections. 

Have a great weekend,
Meilsa Z-G