The Evolution and Management of Email

Ri d F t Riccardo Ferrante Smithsonian Institution Archives

ACDA 2010 – Mundelein, IL

1965 – Electronic mail allows users on a single mainframe t t i t ith h th MIT’ CTSS d computer to communicate with each other. MIT’s CTSS and

SDC’s (System Development Corporation, a spinoff of Rand Corp, that was sold to Unisys in the mid 80’s) Q321966 f tibl t “ il” h th 1966 – users of compatible systems can “email” each other: BITNET, Unix mail, IBM, DEC1969 – first electronic mail sent between disparate systems over ARPANET1971 – “@” address demarcation first used to send email from one DEC system to another DEC system1982 – Email transmission protocol standard SMTP (RFC 821) and ARPA ITM (RFC 822) published.

1980’s – Email applications developed for PCs and LANs. P i t t i l d f t t “d d ” th Proprietary systems include features to “decode” the mail from competitors’ systems. Cc:Mail, Microsoft Mail, Banyan VINES, Lotus Notes, AppleMail, Groupwise(previously WordPerfect Office)(previously WordPerfect Office)Mid 1990’s

– attachments and HTML added as a result of MIME standard (RFC 2045 in 11/1996)standard (RFC 2045 in 11/1996)– web hosted email services

2001 – Email standard RFC 822 superseded by RFC 2822Mid 2000’ E il d id i liti ti Mid 2000’s - Enron emails used as evidence in litigation, posted to the Web2008 – RFC 2822 superseded by RFC 5322

Messages sent within one computer system

Messages sent between systems that are the same

ARPANET

DEC

IBM

DEC

Messages sent between different systems

BITNET

ARPANET

@Person@company.com

BITNET

1982 -- Standard published for message format – RFC 821, RFC 822

PC and LAN’s support proprietary email apps

PC’s & LAN’s

1982 -- Standard published for message format – RFC 821, RFC 822

PC and LAN’s support proprietary email apps

Examples:

Microsoft Mail WordPerfect Office(later Novell Groupwise)

Cc:Mail

Banyan VINES

Lotus Notes

Banyan VINES

1982 -- Standard published for message format – RFC 821, RFC 822

PC and LAN’s support proprietary email apps

Examples:

Microsoft Mail WordPerfect Office(later Novell Groupwise)

Cc:Mail

Banyan VINES

Lotus Notes

Banyan VINES

E ilEmail

SignatureOrganization

DDocs

Web based email servicesWeb-based email services

Email

… and others

Email

SignatureOrganization

Docs

Organization

Email data format standard updated2001 – Email standard RFC 2822 supersedes RFC 822 (1982)2008 RFC 5322 supersedes RFC 2822 (2001)2008 – RFC 5322 supersedes RFC 2822 (2001)

Emails used as evidence in litigation posted to Emails used as evidence in litigation, posted to the WebLegislation passed to include electronic records g pin discoverable documents

Email is ubiquitous

That means email can be is:

Official recordsO i ti dOrganization records

Personal papers

Paper-based recordkeeping systemsElectronic recordkeeping systems

Adequate and reliable? ERMS systems (DoD 5015.2)y ( )http://jitc.fhu.disa.mil/recmgt/register.html

BothBothU.S. GAO reports

Information Management: The Challenge of Managing Electronic Records June 17 2010Electronic Records. June 17, 2010.Federal Records: Agencies Face Challenges in Managing E-mails. April 23, 2008.

NoneNone

Acquiring historic correspondence at very high risk.With records management systems in place, still a hit or miss proposition

Tension between minimized vulnerabilities and keeping historic recordshistoric recordsAlso applicable, policies calling for destruction of email based on non-content criteria (age, number in account, etc.)

Without a companion Record Management System Catch as catch can – which usually means it doesn’t get capturedI di id l il d t di k tt d t d i f ldIndividual emails saved to a diskette and tossed in a folderPrinted and filedNothing

What we get is what we getg g

Proactive acquisitionElectronic record management systemsEmail capture systems

EMCAP a joint project of North Carolina and EMCAP, a joint project of North Carolina and Kentucky

System-configured declaration or user-declared

Under the hoodClassificationRecords Disposition SchedulesWorking with an ERMS implementation

RelationshipsEmail administrationDisaster recovery plansPolicy

Reducing liabilities without losing historyg gThorough application of records management practicesPolicy directives supporting acquisition & retention Policy directives supporting acquisition & retention of historical documentsAbility to constrain access based on litigation or other legal activitiesConsistent, documented procedures and policies

What is the archival object?The lifecycle question

Message by message, or in groups

What about attachments and nested emails (threads)?

Obsolescence

Using ERMS’sUsing ERMS s

Using XML

Individual or consortial systems approach?

Projects to consultProjects to consultEMCAP – Email Capture & PreservationCERP – Collaborative Electronic Records ProjectPEDALS – Persistent Digital Archives & Library SystemsHUL – Harvard University Libraries

Ricc FerranteIT Archivist and Director of Digital Services

Smithsonian Institution Archives 202-633-5906

FerranteR@si.edu