September 18, 2002
Dear Everyone:
Alas, still no movies to report on.
It’s been quite a dry spell.
Hopefully, there will be something worth seeing by the time I
return from
That’s right, I’m off on another fun-filled
business trip, this time to attend the MER (Managing
Electronic Records) Conference hosted by
Cohasset Associates, Inc.
How is this different from the electronic records conference I
attended three weeks ago?
Simple: That one was in
“Hobby”. This one is in
Also, MER is much more prestigious.
Or so they tell me.
Whatever. This time,
however, I will check to make
sure my luggage doesn’t take an unscheduled side-trip to
When I got back from “Hobby” the last time, my bags did not appear on the carousel. Ever. I finally realized that my bags had gotten the routing tags of another passenger (and he, presumably, got mine). Luckily, it was on the return leg, so I didn’t have to deal with the whole “nothing clean to wear” situation.
The problem was that there were so many people rushing through check in at the same time that morning and the people at the counter just assumed they’d grabbed the correct computer-generated baggage tags. And I should have looked at the tags more closely; and will do so from now on.
(On the plus side, I didn’t have to drag the luggage through the airport and onto the shuttle and into the house. It was delivered right to my front door the following (Saturday) afternoon.)
In other news…
Taxonomy. You remember taxonomy. In high school biology class, you had to memorize (just long enough to pass the test, of course) the taxonomy classification of animals and plants. Phylum (or Division), Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. It’s all coming back to you, isn’t it?
Well forget all that (actually, you forgot it all a long time ago, didn’t you?). Taxonomy is the latest buzzword in Records Management. Everyone is into Taxonomy and, even better, Auto-Taxonomy. What does Taxonomy really mean? “The classification of files.”
In other words, the file structure, or file plan, usually a hierarchical listing of folders in a file room. Mention that and people’s eyes glaze over in instant boredom. “Taxonomy” sounds so much more important. It’s way more cool and sexy than “filing system”.
So now, instead of saying, “I’m in Records Management” (translation: file clerk), you say, “I’m in Records Management and Taxonomy”. And people think, “Oh, great. A file clerk who stuffs dead animals as a sideline.”
As for Auto-Taxonomy, no it doesn’t mean dead animals that stuff themselves. It means an artificial intelligence that classifies electronic records according to the content of the documents. This is the Holy Grail of electronic records management.
Let’s face it, people don’t want to classify their records. It’s boring and they could do it wrong. One man’s keyword is another man’s “who cares?”. But big corporations have a need to locate company records, even if they are Word documents on someone’s C:\ drive. And more and more, the records are all electronic. There’s no physical “file copy” anymore. Somebody has to get all these people organized (preferably without their even knowing it’s happening).
So a few companies have dipped their corporate toes in the water, while others have jumped in, splashing everyone else. Auto-Taxonomy: Growth industry or backwater? Only time, and lawsuits won, or lost, because somebody could, or couldn’t, find the right document at the right time, will tell.
In the meantime, keep your eyes open for EDM
(electronic document management) systems that all
claim to have an
“auto-taxonomy” solution.
I’ll be watching for them in
Love, as always,
Pete
PS.
Remember, no Letter next week.
I get back from Chicago on Wednesday, but it will be late.
P.
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