[IARA - State Agency Records Managers] March 2024 Monthly Bulletin and Chat Invitation

Indiana Archives and Records Administration sent this bulletin at 03/20/2024 05:21 PM EDT
Indiana Archives and Records Administration logo  

Records and Information Management
402 W. Washington St. Rm W472
Indianapolis, IN 46204
e-mail: rmd@iara.in.gov
phone: 317-232-3285
web: http://www.in.gov/iara

 

☘️ Terrible Shamrock Pun Redacted (You're Welcome) ☘️

Happy March, Records Managers!

I hope those of you working in downtown Indianapolis found some time this month to enjoy your favorite bright green malt beverage (drink responsibly and not while managing public records) or bright green soft serve ice cream beverage (drink slowly so you don't get brain-freeze) and take a leisurely walk along the bright green White River Canal (DO NOT DRINK AT ALL EVER).

If your stroll brought you southward under Ohio Street (hang a left just past that bridge in the photo and keep walking), you may even have watched that bright green water (SERIOUSLY DO NOT DRINK AT ALL EVER) flow past the slowly but steadily growing piles of earth construction on the future site of the Indiana State Archives!

 The White River Canal dyed green for St. Patrick's Day 2024, shared by the White River State Park Commission
Last Month on As The Record Turns... 

On MS Teams, we had our February State Records Managers Chat on the 29th. 

We met with 24 Records Managers from 23 agencies.  Attending from IARA were Amy Robinson (State Records Analyst),  Amy Christiansen (County/Local Records Liaison), Anna Lucas (Electronic Records Archivist), Kalita López (Electronic Records Archivist) and Madison Young (Records Analyst 3).

 Spinning record on a turntable. They're like big CDs but you read them with a needle instead of a laser.
We discussed February's bulletin topics, which were
  • The not at all sexist Leap Day traditions of (some of) our Irish ancestors. (I like the green beer better, and I don't even like beer.)
  • OCPR: Tentative agenda contents for the February  meeting (that didn't end up happening).
  • We're going to NAGARA in July! (Anna Lucas, Madison Young, our new teammate Kalita López, and yours truly.)
  • Congress has ordered the National Archives to start up a UFO records collection; no, we're not even  kidding.
  • Format-agnostic retention schedule language.

I've posted a link to the YouTube video of the February chat in our RM Bulletins and Chat Archive, where you can also find all of the previous bulletins we've sent out.

News You Can Use

Oversight Committee on Public Records Update

There is no OCPR meeting scheduled for March this year; the April meeting is scheduled for the 24th, and at this point, the agenda includes the Department of Correction Ombudsman, the Comptroller's Office, the Secretary of State's Indiana Election Division, and two County/Local retention schedules. However, we're nowhere near the cutoff date, and I'm expecting that list to grow!

April is Records and Information Management Month!

Records & Information Management Month (RIMM) is once again almost upon us, and among other activities, this year IARA will be hosting an online workshop on

Responsible Records Destruction for State of Indiana Agencies!

Featuring speakers from State RIM, Electronic Records, and the State Records Center, this live webinar will discuss the rules, methods, and options for legally and responsibly disposing of state agency records in both physical and electronic formats --  including changes to the process of requesting confidential shredding -- with plenty of time reserved for answers to any additional questions you might have.

When: Tuesday, April 23, 10:00-11:30 a.m. eastern on Microsoft Teams

How:   Register here! 

 

RIM Topic of the Month: AI Technology

Have you heard of a Teams add-on called Read.ai? We hadn't, until we noticed that it had joined one of our recent meetings!

Read.ai is an Artificial Intelligence tool that joins virtual meetings as a bot, takes notes, creates a "report" after the meeting, and emails that "report" to a selection of attendees. "Report" is in quotes because Read.ai is not a skilled minute taker that can create notes which would ever be considered a trustworthy public record. 		 Image: Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers series making finger-quotes, with the text

Please note that Read.ai is not a sanctioned State of Indiana add-on for Teams, and may pose a security risk. So please do not use it during IARA Teams meetings.

If you do use Read.ai during a Teams meeting, you may be asked to temporarily leave the meeting in order to remove the bot. If you would like a recording of the meeting, please just let us know!

For additional context, here is a list of records and information management concerns when it comes to AI systems creating meeting minutes, official notes, or any public records without oversight.

The without oversight part of that is crucial - AI can be a wonderful tool, when used with transparency and guardrails in mind. Unimpeded though, it may lead to unintended consequences. This list may change over time, but for now, IARA hopes this helps if you are thinking through your own potential uses of AI with records and information management.

  • Storage: Where are the "reports" being stored and what security controls are in place on this storage?
  • Access: Who receives a link to the "report" via email? Who has access to them and what happens with the data that the company is collecting?
  • Privacy: Read.ai joining a meeting could violate attorney client privilege. It could also violate other types of confidentiality, as could the act of it creating a "report."
  • Privacy: How is Read.ai protecting confidential information?
  • Opting Out: Does opting out just opt that one user out, or does it opt out everyone on the meeting? If you opt out 10 minutes after the meeting has started, does the tool keep any data it has collected about you?
  • Veracity: Meeting minute and note taking skills can take years to hone, and there is a reason committees and boards assign a secretary role for this purpose. Tools like Read.ai are not qualified to take official notes for the public record.
  • Veracity: The "report" differs from a video or audio recording and a transcript due to the interpretation Read.ai adds to it. Read.ai takes information, interprets it, and generates new information in the form of notes and action items. 
  • Veracity: To rely on the "report" as a record, someone would need to vet it. This is possible, but not until people better understand how these tools work, what companies are doing with them, and improve transparency as to how it is generating "reports", particularly portions like the action items.
  • Veracity: Is the company using audio and visual data for something else? For example, there are systems that can be used to voice over videos. Could the company be using the audio information it obtains to "teach" other AI systems how to sound more human, or something similar?
  • Disposition: Can we be 100% confident that Read.ai, or any other similar tool, actually destroys "reports" when a user requests destruction? Can "reports" be reconstituted from whatever data Read.ai is saving? How long does Read.ai save that data? If ordered by a court, would Read.ai 1) be able to reconstitute it and 2) do they have any policies regarding this?

At this point, with AI exploding onto the scene, IARA has more questions than answers. But we will continue to watch and learn and share with all of you! Is your office using artificial intelligence to create records? Would you like to talk about it at a future meeting? We'd love to hear from you! Just let us know at rmd@iara.in.gov.

March Records Managers Chat

Meeting Information

Date: 2024-3-28
Time: 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. EST
Place: Microsoft Teams

This 30-minute meetup is an informal setting in which to ask questions or talk about records management concerns; normally I'll begin by introducing any IARA colleagues attending, talk a bit about the topic of the monthly bulletin and make any announcements, then open things up for questions and discussion.

I've included an agenda to help keep me us all on topic, so there'll be plenty of time for your questions and records management discussion once Amy (the me one, not the other Amy) remembers to click Mute!

Adding Yourself to the Meeting Invite List

✉ Desktop Outlook

Save the attached Monthly State Records Managers Chat.ics file to your desktop.

Make sure Outlook is open.

Double-click the .ics file.

Outlook will open it up as a traditional meeting invitation.

Click "Accept" to add it to your calendar.

Because this meeting is recurring, you should never have to add yourself again.

✉ Outlook on the Web

Save the attached Monthly State Records Managers Chat.ics file to your desktop.

In your web version of Outlook, go to the Calendar page.

Choose "Add Calendar," then in the left pane, "Upload from file."

Click "Browse" and find the .ics file, then click "Open."

Choose a preferred calendar from the dropdown list. (Even if you only have one.)

Click "Import."

Outlook will add the meeting to your calendar.

Because this meeting is recurring, you should never have to add yourself again.

Are you new to using Microsoft Teams? No worries, IARA can help you navigate.

MS Teams is a collaboration app that many state agencies are now using to stay organized and have conversations with colleagues inside and outside of the agency.

But if your agency doesn't use Teams? No worries. You don't need to have the software installed on your computer to participate in a Teams call.

 

To Join the Meeting By Phone

  1. Dial 1-317-552-1674 at the designated meeting time, then enter this PIN when prompted:
    707 553 068#

  2. We'll let you into the meeting.

 

To Join the Meeting by Computer

  1. Click here at the designated meeting time.

  2. A new tab or window will open in your default web browser. From there:

    • Choose the option to join on the web if you don't normally use Teams, then click "Join now."

    • Join through your desktop or mobile application if you're familiar with using Teams and would prefer that to the web version.

 

If you have other questions about how to use Teams, or about the meetup, just contact me and we'll figure things out together!

. . .

Looking forward to seeing you,

Amy A. Robinson (CIP) | (she/her)
State Government Records Analyst
Indiana Archives and Records Administration

o: 317-232-3285 | f: 317-233-1713
e: arobinson@iara.in.gov w: www.in.gov/iara
a: 402 W. Washington St., Room W472, Indianapolis, IN 46204