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Posts from March 2012

16
Fri Mar
2012
9

Open data and archiving datasets

Posted by Simon Demissie in Technology and innovation

Considering the word ‘digital’ makes up one third of my job title, you might consider it an oversight to have not used it once in my last blog entry. That may be an indication of variety in work – or perhaps forgetfulness – but I will make up for that today when I consider the union and mutually-beneficial relationship between open data and the archiving of datasets.dataTube

A colleague recently asked me what a dataset is. This is not necessarily as simple a question as it may appear: I side-stepped. I think the answer really lies in the term ‘structured data’; namely that the text of an email could not necessarily be termed a dataset, but a table in a PDF, a CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file, or an XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) file could. Also, a dataset can be analysed quantitatively, and is not a collection of different electronic files, like a database. However, the discussion rages and the terminology is so uncertain that the Government has even consulted on the word itself.

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14
Wed Mar
2012
4

Something old, something new… What’s new in UK archive collections?

Posted by Melinda Haunton in Behind the scenes, Managing information

The first few months of every calendar year mean one thing to colleagues in my department: it’s “Accessions” time!

Willes collection as first accessioned at Warwickshire Country Record Office

Newly accessioned records: this is where the archivists' work begins (image courtesy of Warwickshire County Record Office)

Accessions to Repositories is an annual survey we run to map and record what archives all over the country have collected in the previous calendar year. We survey over 300 archives which are actively building their collections, so it’s a major piece of work.

At the end of each year’s project, we publish survey highlights on the website, including themed digests for different subjects, from modern politics to garden history and the history of London. But most of the work goes on behind the scenes, using this information to update the National Register of Archives, and that’s happening right now. The Register already contains information on the surviving archives of 221,140 different families, organisations, people and businesses*. It’s the headline information source for where archives are held across the UK. Where possible it gives you links to more detailed information about archive holdings.

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12
Mon Mar
2012

Textured backgrounds, animated clipart and many, many colours – UK Central Government websites in the late 1990s

Posted by Claire Newing in Managing information, Technology and innovation

In this post I plan to take you on a trip back through history to a time when Tony Blair had been Prime Minister for just six months, Gordon Brown was Chancellor of the Exchequer and ‘The Teletubbies say “Eh-Oh”‘ was at the top of the UK singles chart. Yes, I am describing the year 1997. I’m aware that 1997 is not long ago in relation to some of the records held at The National Archives, but as my colleague Mark Merifield explained in his recent post, the last few decades have seen drastic changes in the way that public records are produced. A majority of records are now digital and many are made available through the internet.

I work as part of the Web Continuity Team and we are responsible for archiving the websites of UK Central Government departments. The first departmental websites were launched in the mid-1990s just as general use of the internet began to take off. As government use of the internet increased, The National Archives recognised that valuable information was at risk of being lost and in 2003 we began a programme of archiving websites. We worked with the Internet Archive, a US based non-profit organisation which had started archiving websites from around the world as early as 1996. Fortunately for us the Internet Archive had archived several early UK Central Government websites. Some of these early archived versions are now available through the UK Government Web Archive.

One of my favourite examples is this instance of the HM Treasury website which was archived in December 1997.

Viewing the earliest captures in the archive is like a step down memory lane for me. I’m transported back to the dark days of dial up and having to wait through 10 minutes of strange noises while the modem dialled several phone numbers before finally connecting to the web. Then after all that having to disconnect a few minutes later because someone else in the house needed to use the phone!

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9
Fri Mar
2012
4

‘Traitor to the British working man’

Posted by Audrey Collins in Records and research

Census returns are full of useful information for genealogists, local historians and other researchers. But some of the most interesting entries are the ones where the householders supplied more information than was asked for, or made comments of some kind.

In 1911 the suffragettes all over Britain organised a boycott of the census, with varying degrees of success. Many of them refused to fill in the census schedule, or wrote messages of protest on the paper. When this census was released, these comments naturally attracted a great deal of attention, but the suffragettes were not the only people who used the census schedule to make their views known.

One of my colleagues came across this wonderful example of a political protest in 1911, but not from a sufragette. It came from James Casey, marine store dealer, who lived with his wife and four children in three rooms in Battenberg Road, Richmond. He filled in all the information required of him, but added ‘and to hell with John Burns the traitor to the British working man’.

RG 14/3593 Schedule 111

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7
Wed Mar
2012
17

Information Management in the movies

Posted by Rob Johnson in Managing information

Welcome to my blog! Let’s begin by setting the scene…

In December 2011 the Cabinet Office published the Information Principles for the UK Public Sector as part of the wider UK Government ICT Strategy. The National Archives both helped in the development of these Principles, and continues to support the public sector in implementing them.

How do you write an accessible blog about this piece of guidance, I hear you ask? Well, whilst watching The Shawshank Redemption last night I had an idea: Could I explain how the seven Information Principles work using examples taken from the movies?

So here they are, the Information Principles at the movies. (Caution: spoiler alert!)

1. Information is a valued asset: Blair Witch Project (1999)

Three hapless American teens are trying to escape the woods and the elusive ‘Blair Witch’. Their only reliable means of navigation is a map, which is thrown into a river by one of the characters, leaving them lost in the woods to be killed by the witch.

This low budget horror flick is a simple analogy for valuing information. The map is an information asset; it holds the key to achieving their requirements (namely, survival). Having failed to value it, they end up doomed to waste time and resources, and are ultimately killed off by the Blair Witch.

2. Information is managed: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

The Jedi Temple is home to the Jedi archives – seen as the definitive resource for information about the galaxy. When Obi-Wan Kenobi questions the omission of a particular planet, the archivist replies “if an item doesn’t appear in our records, it does not exist…”

In the movie, the archives have been altered by a rogue Jedi looking to hide the existence of a Clone army. Good information management means that we know when records are moved or deleted through authorised and auditable processes. If we don’t protect our information and understand where it is, then our information can’t protect us.

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5
Mon Mar
2012

Let there be lighting policy

Posted by Sarah VanSnick in Behind the scenes

Perhaps, like me, you are enjoying the return of light to your life as Spring arrives and brings with it more hours of daylight. Every year, it always takes me by surprise how much I miss arriving and leaving work during daylight hours during the winter months.

Thinking about light and lighting is one of the aspects of my role here at The National Archives. As one of the 10 agents of deterioration, light is something that anyone concerned with conservation and preservation needs to keep an eye on. To keep the explanation simple, light causes damage by instigating chemical changes in materials.  You only have to think of the faded colours of something that has been left out in the sun to get an idea of what I am talking about.

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1
Thu Mar
2012
2

Locating the Past

Posted by Ruth Roberts in Records and research

My first post is very timely – the day after this year’s hugely successful Gerald Aylmer seminar.

Everything is associated with a place: people, events, objects, even emotions, so this year we settled on the theme of ‘Locating the Past’. Speakers were asked to consider the changing interface between history and geography and how their field of expertise is being transformed by new approaches and technologies. We heard about everything from the mapping of teddy bears to the mapping of rural land in the South Downs, all in all, a very wide ranging subject.

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