[Asis-l] A Witness Seminar Conference at St James Park, Newcastle upon Tyne 4 - 5th May 2006

[Joy Davidson]

***Aplogies for cross-posting***

Exploring the Essence of Records Management Engaging with Experts

A Witness Seminar Conference at St James Park, Newcastle upon Tyne 4 – 5th
May 2006

What is the essence of records management and recordkeeping in today’s
dynamic electronic corporate and public sector environment? What are the
issues faced by practitioners, academics and recordkeepers?  How can we rise
to the challenges by developing theory, practice and people?

Join a group of experts in records management and other fields, from the UK
and abroad, as they engage in exploration and critical examination of key
issues. Contribute your own knowledge and experience to the discussion.
Such an opportunity has not been available in the UK before and if you are
really serious about moving records management into the digital age, you
cannot afford to miss this event.

This one and a half-day conference, comprising three ‘witness seminars’,
provides a unique opportunity for anyone interested and/or involved in the
management of their organisation’s records to listen, learn from, discuss
and network with a broad range of experts and other delegates.  Click here
for more on witness seminars (http://icbh.ac.uk/icbh/witness/welcome.html)

Organised by the School of Computing, Engineering & Information Sciences at
Northumbria University, the event is being sponsored by Iron Mountain (UK)
Ltd (www.ironmountain.co.uk), Emerald Publishing
(www.emeraldinsight.com/rmj.htm) and others.

Detailed Programme
The conference begins with registration and a buffet lunch in the Warkworth
Suite, St James Park Football Stadium from 12.30pm Thursday 4 May and ends
at 4pm on Friday 5 May 2006. There will be three witness seminars and one
panel discussion. Each witness seminar will last 75-90 minutes and include
time for delegate participation.

Note: some of the witness details may change between now and May. . Click
here for witness profiles.

Thursday 4 May 2006

Registration and buffet lunch – 12.30-2.00pm
Warkworth Suite, St James Park Football Stadium

Welcome and introductions – 2.00-2.15pm

Welcome by Professor Alistair Sambell, Dean of the School of Computing,
Engineering & Information Sciences, Northumbria University

Introduction by Dr Julie McLeod, Reader in Records Management, Northumbria
University on the aims of the conference and the ‘witness seminar’ format.

Seminar 1: Embedding records management into business processes –
2.15-3.45pm

Chair: Prof Michael Moss, Glasgow University
Witnesses: Steve Bailey, Peter Horsman, Barbara Reed, David Wainwright,
Vicki Wilkinson

This seminar will focus on what managing records has meant in the past and
what it needs to be in the future, exploring:

·What is the role of records management? Why manage records?
·Is a change of approach necessary?  Records managers are information
managers not business managers?
·What is the link between recordkeeping and business processes? Do we need
to be concerned about integration?
·What do we need to do to embed recordkeeping and records management
processes into business processes? Do we need to re-engineer recordkeeping
processes? What will it take to be successful?

The starting point for the debate will be Chris Hurley’s paper ‘What, if
anything, is records management?’
http://www.sims.monash.edu.au/research/rcrg/publications/ch-what.pdf


Refreshments 3.45-4.15

Seminar 1 continued: Discussion with delegates – 4.15-4.45pm

Chair: Prof Michael Moss, Glasgow University
Witnesses: Steve Bailey, Peter Horsman, Barbara Reed, David Wainwright,
Vicki Wilkinson

Witnesses reconvene and conference delegates have the opportunity to
contribute to the discussion, exchanging their viewpoints and raising
questions for further debate.

Evening reception at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Quayside –
6.00-8.00pm

Welcome by the event and conference sponsors.

·‘Capturing Baltic’s memory’ by Gary Malkin, Librarian & Archivist (limited
numbers)
·Visit the Baltic archive and library (limited numbers) or tour the gallery
to view the current exhibitions; engage in informal networking and
discussion.
·Wine and canapés served overlooking the River Tyne with views of the
bridges and the Sage music centre.

Friday 5 May 2006

Early morning refreshments – 8.30-9.15pm
Warkworth Suite, St James Park Football Stadium

Seminar 2: Is records management the management of risk? – 9.15-10.45pm

Chair: Ms Ceri Hughes, Associate Director, Global FAS Knowledge Management,
KPMG
Witnesses include: Dr James Currall, Michael Dunleavy, Alastair Irons, Vicki
Lemieux, lawyer, risk manager

This seminar will focus on the relationship between managing records and
managing risk and discuss:

·What exactly is risk? What relevance does risk have to recordkeeping?
·What is the current context for risk - corporate governance, compliance,
legal discovery etc.
·Should records managers ‘hitch their wagon’ to these issues? Will they be
allowed to? What are the potential benefits and pitfalls?

The starting point for the debate will be Anthony Willis’ paper ‘Corporate
governance and management of information and records.’
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do?contentType=Article
&contentId=1509492

Refreshments 10.45-11.15

Panel Discussion: A view from the bridge. Issues and impressions –
11.15-12.15pm

Chair: Carl Newton, Visiting Professor in Archives, Northumbria University

The chair will facilitate a short discussion between invited guests.

Lunch in the restaurant overlooking the football pitch - 12.15-1.45

Seminar 3: Who are the records managers? – 1.45-3.00pm

Chair: Philip Jones, Visiting Professor in Records Management
Witnesses include: Clare Cowling, Peter McKinney, Frank Rankin, Frank Upward

This seminar will focus on the roles, responsibilities & relationships
between records management stakeholders.

·Who are the players? What are their roles? Who is adding value, who is
valuable?
·Can they work effectively together? Can we share our strategies for mutual
benefit? Where are the turf wars?
·Do we have the necessary knowledge and skills?  Academic and practitioner
partnerships?

The starting point for the debate will be ‘Catalyst or cataclysm?’
Information Management Journal, Sep/Oct 2004. See conference website for pdf
provided by kind permission of ARMA International under ARMA copyright.

Refreshments 3.00-3.20

Summary and conclusions by TBA – 3.20-3.50pm

The rapporteur will give his summary of the discussion and debate witnessed
during the conference. He will draw conclusions about the issues which have
been raised. Do they indicate a paradigm shift or continuous development in
our thinking? Are we witnessing a revolution or evolution? He will also
offer personal observations about the value of witness seminars for the
records profession moving forward.

Conference close –3.50-4.00pm

Closing remarks and thanks by Dr Julie McLeod, Northumbria University


Witness seminars

Witness seminars have been pioneered since the late 1980s by the Institute
of Contemporary British History (now the Centre for Contemporary British
History) and the Wellcome Trust. They have their roots in oral history,
their purpose being to gather together key people (i.e. witnesses) to
discuss and debate a chosen topic. The discussion, usually chaired by a
senior academic, is recorded and transcribed to form a record that documents
the oral history for future research. See
http://icbh.ac.uk/icbh/witness/welcome.html and
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/publications/wellcome-witnesses/witness-seminar
s.html for further information on witness seminars.

The witness seminars in this conference will be a modification of this
format. Their purpose is not to recollect and document contemporary history
but rather to explore issues of current and future significance to the
records profession, by involving a broader range of professions in the
discussion and exchanging a broader range of views and experience.

Each seminar will take as its starting point a pre-selected article.  All
witnesses will have read the article and prepared a response based on its
content and their own views.  The article acts as a vehicle for stimulating
the discussion i.e. a means to an end rather than an end in itself. All
delegates are strongly recommended to read the articles in advance to make
the most of witnessing the seminar and engaging in subsequent discussion.

The aim is for this to be the first of a regular series of witness seminars
in the field involving experts from different fields and in different
locations.