Cultivating capability. The socio-technical challenges of integrating approaches to records and knowledge management
| Date | 21 November 2016 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/RMJ-11-2015-0035 |
| Published date | 21 November 2016 |
| Pages | 242-258 |
| Author | Michael Jones,Richard Vines |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance |
Cultivating capability
The socio-technical challenges of
integrating approaches to records and
knowledge management
Michael Jones
The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and
Richard Vines
Department of Economic Development, Jobs,
Transport and Resources – Farm Services Branch:
Agricultural and Rural Division Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to advocate that signicant human and systems-based capabilities
(termed “socio-technical capabilities”) need to be developed in government departments and other
public sector organisations to support more effective description of information resources, collections
and their context in online environments.
Design/methodology/approach – The ideas in this paper draw upon the ndings of several action
research interventions undertaken within a government department in Victoria in Australia since 2011
as part of a knowledge management initiative. Specic focus is given to the design and development of
a new record-centric knowledge curation tool (KCT).
Findings – Effective functioning of KCT relies upon the input of well-structured, standards-based
metadata used to describe collections, information resources and their context. The central claim is that
the move towards standards-based descriptions will fundamentally change the capabilities required to
manage, search for and disseminate knowledge and records.
Research limitations/implications – In addition to the capabilities discussed, management of
records and knowledge through time requires commitments to stable repository, workow and
administrative systems, and working with contemporary systems involves technical knowledge such
as the use of application programming interfaces. These aspects are not discussed here.
Practical implications – The capabilities discussed in this paper are socio-technical in nature. This
means there is a requirement to shift current perspectives about who is responsible for managing
organisational information as collections.
Originality/value – While some of the concepts discussed will be familiar to information
professionals, the paper provides a unique description of how existing archival and recordkeeping
practices are being integrated in innovative ways within organisations outside the information
management professions.
Keywords Archives, Knowledge management, Records management, Standards, Capability,
Metadata
Paper type Case study
Introduction
In the rst half of 2015, the agricultural section of the Victorian Government’s
Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (DEDJTR,
hereafter referred to as “the Department”) initiated a technology development project.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0956-5698.htm
RMJ
26,3
242
Received 2 November 2015
Revised 4 March 2016
Accepted 2 July 2016
RecordsManagement Journal
Vol.26 No. 3, 2016
pp.242-258
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0956-5698
DOI 10.1108/RMJ-11-2015-0035
This built upon scoping studies and proof-of-concept work in 2014 in the Department of
Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI), which in turn emerged from a number of
years of work with the Department and its predecessors by knowledge management
staff and external consultants, including the authors of this paper.
The technology system developed included two major components: EMMA
(Enhanced Metadata Management Application), a custom-built backend database with
an interconnected metadata registry and metadata repository for managing
standards-based content through time; and KCT (knowledge curation tool), a series of
user interfaces for the capture and curation of structured metadata for storage in
EMMA. The initial development was also designed to support a small number of sample
dissemination modules (“widgets”) to demonstrate some of the advantages of
well-curated metadata to the business. KCT/EMMA has been developed by combining
Australian Government and international standards for records and archives with
theories of contextual information management drawn from archival science and
complex network theory. In this paper, we will examine the capabilities required to
effectively implement a system of this type, as well as some of the signicant challenges
that exist when developing these capabilities in an organisation which is not directly
part of the information management sector.
There are clear drivers for developing such skills and resources. The Department has
inherited signicant information management challenges from its predecessors,
compounded by two major machinery of government changes in the past three years.
These challenges affect the Department’s ability to comply with contemporary
information management policies at state and national levels, as well as its capacity to
effectively meet the needs of a wide range of audiences. However, the skills needed to
address these challenges are both specic and complex. It is our contention here that the
capabilities required for knowledge curation work of this type are socio-technical
(requiring more than just the introduction of a new tool) and are more akin to those found
in information management professions – archival science, librarianship, metadata
management and records management – than those usually found or expected in
organisations where these professions and their functions are not perceived to be “core
business”.
EMMA and KCT
The origins of the EMMA/KCT initiative within the Victorian Government can be traced
back to a “proof of concept” project in the Department of Primary Industries (DPI –
subsequently the Department of Environment and Primary Industries, DEPI, and
DEDJTR after that) in late 2011. The project was related to the design and development
of knowledge hubs for the dairy and grains industry sectors. The Farm Services
Division of DPI funded the University of Melbourne’s eScholarship Research Centre
(ESRC) to demonstrate how a more structured, sustainable approach to managing
knowledge resources and their context could contribute to DPI’s aim of becoming a
provider of authoritative knowledge, advice and information to farmers and the
industry (Jones et al., 2011, pp. 3-5).
As part of this project, archivists from the ESRC reviewed the management of
knowledge and information in DPI, and found the following:
They currently have no digital library capability, no true publication management system, no
established links to emerging national information infrastructure, and rely primarily on
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Cultivating
capability
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