Primacy of paper: The importance of the medium in records management

Abstract

This poster presents findings from a group ethnographic study of records managers at four different sites. At the site that is the focus of this analysis, research participants' tasks primarily consisted of examining individual case files to determine if the files should be kept or destroyed under the relevant rules set by records managers. Close observation of work practices showed that application of records management rules varied depending on the medium of the records. This study begins the work of bridging a gap between archival and records management policies for interactions with records across varying media, and empirical research on how people interact with objects on varying media.