Email Management Thought for the day. is not a Natural Act The - PDF document

Email Management Thought for the day…. is not a Natural Act “ The end-user manages e-mail.” Managing the Digital University Desktop: Introduction and Preliminary - ARMA Guideline for Managing E- Findings mail Megan Winget - Co-Project Manager Project Goals - 1 Project Goals - 2 • Based on the analysis of user needs • Document how faculty, and practices, as well as the North administrators, and staff use and Carolina Public Records Act, develop manage files and records from optimized e-mail and desktop electronic mail and other desktop management "best practice" applications at UNC-CH, Duke guidelines to serve both public and University, throughout the 16- private higher education in North campus UNC system, and by Carolina and provide an adaptable extension, across academia.. model of practice for other states. Project Goals - 3 Project Goals - 4 • Develop educational opportunities • Develop user profiles necessary for a (workshops, FAQs, exercises, web- strategic consideration of electronic based courses, etc.) to optimize records management systems and use faculty, administrator, and staff use these to evaluate the potential and management of desktop appropriateness of ERMSs for the electronic documents. UNC-CH and Duke campuses. 1

And…Dissemination First Year • Disseminate information about the • To learn how faculty, staff, and best practices guidelines and administrators manage their instructional units at UNC, Duke, electronic materials we: and across the 16-campus UNC – Conducted campus-wide web surveys at system via a statewide conference UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University. and to other universities via the – Interviewed 100 individuals. records management/ archival – Interviewed approximately 25 IT staff. literatures and conferences and the project website. Second Year Best Answer? • Developed coding schema for interview • Helping people become information data management literate. • Coded each of the 100 in-depth interviews • Moving people toward better looking for consensus on relevant issues. practice. • Transformed most prevalent concerns into “Frequently Asked Questions” • Realizing that telling people to • Met with users to review the questions manage electronic files as “paper” and answers, seeing if our work was has not been effective. helpful. Web Survey Survey Questions •8,334 addresses at UNC. • Email application most often used • Volume/time spent on email •17,327 addresses at Duke. • Attachments •1076 Valid responses at UNC. • Storage practices About 212 emails bounced. • Importance to job •1899 Valid Responses from • Specific Concerns Duke: About 1,115 bounced. • Willingness to do further interview 2

Interview Protocol Designing the Interviews Development • Went back to our original goals. • Started with the concerns that surfaced in the survey returns. – To understand how individuals manage their digital desktops, both email messages and • Generated every possible question we digital files. could devise, in probably as inappropriate – To devise guidelines, aids, and learning models to support improved user behavior. forms as we could. • What are people doing? – Pooled our questions. • How can we improve what they are doing – Used words like, “appraisal,” and both for their own work and for the “authenticity.” university? Developing the Conceptual Framework for Questions Framework • Categorized our questions. • Electronic files must undergo appraisal in order to assess their • Because we are exploring how importance, potential for long-term individuals are functioning as their preservation, and their “recordness.” own records managers and archivists, we linked our questions • In order to ensure authenticity , to basic archival functions. particular actions must happen and particular information must be created and preserved. Interview Framework Framework for Study • In order to preserve electronic • In order for electronic records to be accessible they must be described records, the digits and their context must be physically secured and clearly and adequately. Description preserved. can involve indexing, abstracting, and other additional subject analysis • Arrangement in a logical file or simply file naming and titling. structure can be useful in making electronic records accessible . 3

Framework Appraisal questions • How individuals view ownership of • What criteria do you use to decide to keep an email message? To delete one? electronic materials and issues of privacy and security will influence • What criteria do you use to decide to keep an electronic document? To delete how they handle the items. Thus, we one? need to ask individuals to whom they • Do you think any of the email messages believe the messages belong, what or documents that you receive or rights they have to privacy of the produce in the course of your daily work message content, and how secure the should be preserved for years to come by messages/email system is. the university? Why?/Why not? Authenticity Questions Arrangement • How do you save attachments? • Tell me about your email/file folder structure that we see here. • When you save an attachment, do you • Get print-out of folder structure. save the email message along with it? • Would you say that you use a similar • If you store important messages structure in email and file directories? electronically outside of your email • Paper file structure? application, does the header information • Tell us about the file structure on your stay with the messages? hard drive. How have you organized materials? Description Physical Preservation • How do you determine subject lines you • Are your email messages being backed up automatically? attach to work-related email messages • Do you explicitly back up your email messages? you send? • Are your electronic files (documents, images, • How do you retrieve stored messages if etc.) automatically backed up? you need them at a later time? • Do you keep copies of all the messages you send? • How do you name electronic files? If so, where/how do you keep these? • How do you retrieve your electronic files? • How do you store important messages? 4

Privacy & Security Interview Participants • Is your email yours or the university’s? Other • Goal was to interview a wide cross- files on your UNC computer? section of faculty, staff, and • Who owns your email? (Ownership vs. administrators at both campuses. intellectual property issues with this question) • Who can [has the ability] to read your email • Only selected people who indicated without your permission? Your electronic files? they wished further involvement • Do you distinguish between "official" and personal email? Do you manage and store after the survey. them differently? • UNC ONLY: Have you heard of the Public Records law in North Carolina? Samuels’ Model Did Not Selection Framework Work • Tried to apply Samuels’ Varsity Letters • We could not break all the individuals we model: had from the survey into Samuels’ 7 categories. – Confer credentials – Convey knowledge • Job titles did not reflect job functions. – Foster socialization • We decided we didn’t know enough about – Conduct research our population to apply a model blindly. – Sustain the institution • We would select from faculty and staff – Provide public service from various departments and – Promote culture administrative units. Interviews Coding • We conducted 100 interview during • Took each interview note session spring and summer of 2003. and coded using NVIVO software. • Most averaged 45 minutes in length • Developed codes for each question with some over an hour, some and reconciled over entire set of briefer. questions. • One person interviewed; another • Two people coded all the questions. took notes in a spreadsheet. • Reconciled disparate codes and coding. 5

Exploring the Coded Data • Next step was to make charts and tables for as many quantifiable questions as possible. • Highlight useful and telling quotations within notes. • Explore data topically. Building the Frequently Findings & Education Asked Questions • Looked at Email handling guidelines. • Looked at FAQs. • Looked at our data. • Designed preliminary FAQs. • Held focus group of UNC & Duke interview participants. 6