1. Social Media and Recordkeeping
Allegra Huxtable
Manager Government Recordkeeping
Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office
2. Overview
•What is Social media
•Social Media as a record
•How to capture social media records
•Legal risks
•Privacy
•Copyright
•Records Management Policy
3. What is Social Media?
Social media or Web 2.0 is any web-based
environment that allows users to easily create,
publish and share content.
The User is able to control the data, to create
modify, discuss an share internet content.
Its user centred interactive information sharing
design and collaboration.
4. Current Examples
Social Media – Web 2.0 applications
Social media with servers hosted by external
organisations:
•social networking sites including Facebook,
LinkedIn, MySpace, Google+, or Yammer
•video and photo sharing websites including Flickr,
Tumblr, Instagram, or YouTube
•corporate and personal blogs
•blogs hosted by media outlets - ‘have your say‘
feature on themercury.com.au
•micro-blogging including Twitter
•wikis and online collaborations including Wikipedia
• forums, discussion boards and groups including
Google groups, or Whirlpool
5. Current Examples - Social Media – Web 2.0 applications
•vod and podcasting
•online multiplayer gaming platforms including World of Warcraft,
or Second life
•instant messaging, including SMS
•geo-spatial tagging including Foursquare, Google maps, or Pinterest
6. Why are we using social Media?
Provides opportunities to:
•deliver services
•Consult
•Communicate
Social Media is:
•Cost –effective
•Instantaneous
•responsive
7. Does using social medial result in a state
record?
Yes!! When used to conduct government
business!!
Private Use is not a state records
Responses created by agency staff, as a
part of there work, such as a comment on
a blog post or a reply to a tweet, are state
records
8. Monitoring Social Media
If a Tasmanian government action is initiated
from this monitoring then this social media
content should be captured as a state record
Is clicking ‘Like” a record?
If clicking like contributed to the receipt of a
complaint, the offer of a donation, or fed into
policy development it would result in a
record!
-Unlikely, but not impossible
9. Republished Information
Republished Tasmanian government agency
messages, issued by a non- Tasmanian
government agency are not public records
If Tasmanian government agency republishes a
message from elsewhere, this constitutes a
record
Copyright liability should be considered with re-
tweeting
10. What should a record of social media
usage contain?
•The content (i.e., the information that is sent
or received)
•The format (text, visual, sound or video) of
the original content.
•Metadata:
• Who Sent it
• Date and time
• Messages sent - name and recipient
• Message received – recipient and sender
name
• Context – why, authorisation, purpose
• Social media used
11. How should the records be captured?
TAHO does not mandate any specific capture technology, as this
will change depending on the social media used.
•Screen shots to PDF and stored in your recordkeeping system
•New technologies are emerging – e.g. Hyper Alerts
12. When should a record be
captured?
At the time the social media
was used to send or receive the
information
Externally hosted social media
sites have no guarantee of long-
term access
13. Legal Risks
Where are the records stored?
Does sending or storing information outside
of the state or country breach any laws,
legislation or standards?
Will the records be subject to legislation or
other requirements of the storage
jurisdiction?
Is there a likelihood of the evidential nature of
the records being compromised?
14. Privacy
Once a message is sent using social
media it may be irreversibly public.
The Personal Information Protection
Act does not cover content posted on
off shore sites
All agencies should have a statement
regarding data storage and privacy on
social media profile to indemnify the
agency against breaches of the PIP act
when collecting records of social media
15. Copyright
Some sites sate in their terms of usage that
content remains the intellectual property of
individual or entity that posts the content –
Facebook and Twitter
Other sites assert copyright over content
posted on their platform – need to verify
copyright remains with the crown
16. Training staff in recordkeeping
using social media tools
•Different communications tools carry
different levels of risk
•Develop and communicate social media
policy
•Ensure staff understand that some records
are not suited to a social media environment
e.g. records with personal information
•social media usage policy states the purpose
of each application use for the agency
17. Incorporate the capture of social media records
into the Agencies Records Management Policy
•Assess you agency use
•Assess your level of risk
•Identify what records you need to make
•Assess your social media tools
•Work out your recordkeeping options
18. In Summary
Records resulting from social
media use must be captured in
a timely manner and preserve
the context in which the social
media usage was made.
Agencies need to:
•Review business and identify
risk
•Inform staff of obligations
•Provide training support and
standard methods for capture
19. Questions
GRK@education.tas.gov.au
Acknowledgements:
Sources consulted to develop this presentation
include:
•TAHO Guideline 18 Managing Web 2.0 Record
•State Records NSW Future Proof Blog – Various
Articles
•Public Records Office Of Victoria –
Recordkeeping Implications of Social Media -
http://prov.vic.gov.au/blog-news/recordkeeping-
and-social-media-use-a-policy-issues-paper-for-
your-comment
Editor's Notes
It’s a fascinating and occasionally mind-boggling area;
social media sites and their functionalities and communities are emerging at breathtaking speed,
and changing how government does its business and engages with citizens.
Yet there are enduring recordkeeping principles that apply to transactions made in these online environments.
Like other recordkeeping authorities in Australia and overseas TAHO is keen to tease out the issues that matter and provide guidance for records managers and public servants about using social media
Today we will discuss:
What is social media
How it is different from traditional web pages
Why are government using social media
Does using social media result in a state record
Checklist to identify whether it’s a record
What should a record of social media usage contain
How should the record be captured –
Privacy, Copyright, and Legal risks
Incorporating the capture of social media application into your records management policy
Social media or Web 2.0 is any web-based environment that allows users to easily create, publish and share content.
Traditional Media – advertising, print, radio, TV and static web pages deliver content to users, where as
Social media websites allow the user to control the data, to create modify, discuss and share internet content.
Its user centred, interactive, information sharing design and collaboration
Current examples of Social Media or Web 2.0 applications include:
•Social media with servers hosted by external organisations, such as:
social networking sites including Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Google+, or Yammer
video and photo sharing websites including Flickr, Tumblr, Instagram, or YouTube
blogs, including corporate blogs and personal blogs
blogs hosted by media outlets including 'comments' or ‘have your say‘ feature on themercury.com.au
micro-blogging including Twitter
wikis and online collaborations including Wikipedia
forums, discussion boards and groups including Google groups, or Whirlpool
vod and podcasting
online multiplayer gaming platforms including World of Warcraft, or Second life
instant messaging, including SMS
geo-spatial tagging including Foursquare, Google maps, or Pinterest
Social media hosted by your agency
Social media built into agency business systems, such as agency Wiki for distributing corporate information
Remember this is not an exhaustive list and new and wonderful social media sites are popping up all the time.
Social Media tools provide agenises with the opportunity to:
deliver services
Consult
communicate with government stakeholders
Social media is:
Cost-effective
Instantaneous
Responsive
Although social media may not be suitable for all agencies some will use it to get feedback from stakeholders
A great example of a good use of social media was the use by various government agencies during major disasters floods, bush fires. Where other traditional forms of media may not be available social media can be used well to alert the public to danger.
Does using social media result in a state records
Yes - when its used for government business
Private use of social media by agency staff is not a state record.
Responses to social media content created by agency staff, as a part of there work such as a comment on a blog post or a reply to a tweet, are state records
Any response received by a agency staff – particularly where the responses feed into government policy or decision making is a record
Irrelevant, off-topic responses can be culled under normal administrative practice
Monitoring social media
If a Tasmanian Government Employee is monitoring social media sources in the course of their work, they may wish to keep working documents of the social medial they have accessed.
If a Tasmanian government action is initiated from this monitoring then this social media content should be captured as a state record
Is clicking ‘Like” a record?
If clicking like contributed to the receipt of a complaint, the offer of a donation, or fed into policy development it would result in a record!
Unlikely, but not impossible
Republished information
Republished Tasmanian government agency messages, issued by a non- Tasmanian government agency are not public records
If Tasmanian government agency republishes a message from elsewhere, this constitutes a record
Obviously if it is a document we have already published like an annual report then it does not need to be managed as a record
Copyright liability should be considered with re-tweeting
What should a record of social media usage contain?
A record should contain the content (i.e., the information that is sent or received)
The record should appropriately represent the format (text, visual, sound or video) of the original content.
The record should also include the following metadata:
• Who sent it (user pseudonyms are acceptable for received social media – agencies should not try to de-anoymise communications)
• The date and time it was sent or received by the public officer
• For messages sent: the name of the public officer that sent the message, and to whom it was sent (a group address is sufficient)
• For messages received: the public officer that received the message, and to whom it was sent
• The context of the transmission (a link to why it was sent or received, who authorised the transmission, the purpose of the transmission, what transmission this response was in response to)
• The name of the social media that it was created on
Linking the message to the context is vital to creating a narrative in which the record may be properly understood. A person viewing the social media record must be able to follow the story of why the social media was used, and how it linked into the work of the organisation.
How should the records be captured?
TAHO does not mandate any specific capture technology, as this will change depending on the social media used.
Screen shots to PDF and stored in your recordkeeping system
New technologies are emerging – e.g. Hyper Alerts which is email reports of posts and comments on a Facebook Page.
New tools are emerging all the time to make the capture of social media records easer.
Any automated process for capturing social media records must be able to store the metadata required to contextualise the message appropriately. The metadata must communicate the relationship between the record, the context that the social media was used in (e.g. a statement or a reply), and any other related documents that help make the social media usage understandable.
Records Managers need to form good relationships with there IT Managers as they can help you to identify these tools
When should a record be captured?
At the time the social media was used to send or receive the information or as soon as possible afterwards.
Externally hosted social media sites have no guarantee of long-term access to the message once it is sent, and therefore records should be captured at (or as close as possible to) the point of creation.
This is where it is really important to have the tools you will use for capture identified and process established.
Legal Risks
You need to ask yourself where the records of the third party provider are stored. Does sending or storing information outside of the state or country breach any laws, legislation or standards? (For example few countries have legislation governing the protection & management of personal information).
Will the records be subject to legislation or other requirements of the storage jurisdiction? (There is a possibility that, if an overseas law enforcement agency
subpoenas a service provider for access to your organisation’s records, you may not be consulted or even notified of this).
Is there a likelihood of the evidential nature of the records being compromised? If an agency is not able to prove that records could not have been altered in any way, this will negate their value as evidence.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner advises that individuals using social media should carefully consider what kind of information they post online, stating that once a message is sent using social media it may be irreversibly public.
It may also be created as a private message and become public at a later point through a change in the social media site’s usage policy. The Personal Information Protection Act does not extend to cover content posted on off-shore sites . It does not extend to state records under the control of TAHO that are available for public inspection in accordance with the Archives Act 1983
A statement regarding data storage and privacy is a prudent inclusion on a Tasmanian government agency social media profile to indemnify the agency against litigation for breaches of the Personal Information Protection Act when collecting records of social media
If a person has chosen to share content with a Tasmanian government agency using a pseudonym or anonymous account, no attempt should be made to de-anonymise the messages. This includes attempting to match data from other sources against the details of a social media account to reveal the origin of social media messages.
If unlawful, threatening or defamatory messages are received by public officers using social media to carry out their duties, the officer in question should report this activity to the relevant Police jurisdiction.
Some sites sate in their terms of usage that content remains the intellectual property of individual or entity that posts the content – Facebook and Twitter
Other sites assert copyright over content posted on their platform – need to check that copyright remains with the crown
Information management is all about risk management. Different communications tools carry different levels of risk.
Staff need to be made aware your agencies policies around recordkeeping using social media tools particularly in regard to confidentiality and security.
Staff need to be made aware that some records would never be suited to a social media environment, such as records containing personal information, commercial-in-confidence and records of original research.
Be sure that your social media usage policy states the purpose of each application use for the agency and staff use them responsibility
Lastly make sure you incorporate the capture of social media records into your agencies records management policy and procedures.
1 Assess your agencies use of social media technologies
2 Assess your level of risk
You will need to determine whether the business performed in your web 2.0 applications is a high risk or strategically important for your organization. Much of the work performed in this environment could be high risk but there does need to be a balance.
Excessive identification of risk might lead to a fear that a record of every Web 2.0 interaction should be captured and this may not be appropriate. Remember, be strategic!
3 , identify what records you need to make and keep to account for your organization's actions and decisions.
If the business is high risk, identify what records you need to make and keep to account for your organization's actions and decisions.
You may need to keep records about:• the content you make available via web 2.0• records of public comments, consultation and feedback• business processes where web 2.0 feedback has been used as input• process metadata about dates of content upload, user names, permissions etc.
4. Assess your web 2.0 tools.
Look at what the systems you are using are capable of and ask:• can your tools enable all records identified in Step 3 be kept?• can your web 2.0 tools meet the recordkeeping requirements in the Standard (i.e. creation, read-only, applying metadata for security, disposal etc.)• if not (most can’t) what are other strategies for making and keeping the information you need?
5.Work out recordkeeping options
How can you export the records you need from your web 2.0 applications? Can you integrate your applications with an internal business system in order to protect and manage your information? What are other options you could consider?
ConclusionSo, in summary, when using web 2.0:
Records resulting from social media use must be captured in a timely manner, as it is not guaranteed that they will remain available, even in the short term. Records must also preserve the context in which the social media usage was made.
Agencies that use social media need to –
consider your business• consider your levels of risk
• inform staff of their obligation to keep records of their social media usage
• provide training and information to support a standard method for capturing the social media usage and associated metadata
• safely retain social media records for the minimum period of time required by disposal authorities.
Acknowledgements:
Sources consulted to develop this presentation include:
TAHO Guideline 18 Managing Web 2.0 Records
State Records NSW Future Proof Blog – Various Articles
Public Records Office Of Victoria – Recordkeeping Implications of Social Media - http://prov.vic.gov.au/blog-news/recordkeeping-and-social-media-use-a-policy-issues-paper-for-your-comment
