Email – a bellwether records system
Abstract
A bellwether is a sheep with a bell around its neck. Since sheep flock together, the shepherd can track the movement of the flock by the sound of the bell on the bellwether. In a similar way, I argue in this note that email is a bellwether records system; the problems that archivists and records managers have in ensuring that email records are captured and managed are indicative of the problems we have (and will have) in managing records from other computer and Internet-based systems. These problems have many causes, but one root cause is that we are still trying to manage records as if they were mid-twentieth-century paper files. We need to move to models of record management that address the strengths of computer and Internet records systems. In this time of transition we need to accept that the resulting records produced now will not be perfect, but systems will get better if we adapt and change our advice.
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