What pineapple farmers can teach records managers, and why African countries are where it's at for records management right now.
One of the really surprising things for me has been the dearth of basic research connecting recordkeeping to improved business outcomes.
It doesn't exist - I've asked around. If I'm wrong - I want to know about it, because I've been very confused by its absence.
Going looking for it was one of the things that led me to create a google alert for "recordkeeping effectiveness."
I'd reccommend it to everyone.
You'll get a lot of guff.
You will also get a string of academic papers out of African nations in which the core questions being asked are -
"Why do people keep records when they don't have to?"
“How does records management improve the performance of businesses?"
The link to the latest one is below - it examines why small scale pineapple farmers in Ghana keep records.
https://www.ajol.info/index.php/gjas/article/view/221801
The lesson that pineapple farmers can teach records management in other nations?
They keep records because they want to see into the future, and manage their businesses effectively.
No historical value.
No accountability.
No "put it in a compliant EDRMS so we can classify it for retention and manage its disposition."
Just a desire to make better business decisions.
Do we know any other people who hunger to make better business decisions?
Karl, yes, we know the answer to that question is business leaders whether in government or private enterprise. One reason for concentrating on retention and destruction that is often used in government, is the necessity to supply information (as long as it is being retained) to satisfy information access requests under FOI. But in reality a counter to that is your argument exactly. If the focus is on future business needs, the information would be findable and accessible anyway, and government should be prepared to always be transparent over time. Some models for isolating historical information should be given consideration but it has to occur before the information is created. The RM/IM Community is losing the war in the information deluge but importantly, also losing relevance as long as already limited resources are not pointing to the front line.
You’re on a roll at the moment Karl, I look out for your posts!