Chapel Hill Technology Advisory Committee

[Terri Buckner <tbuckner AT ibiblio.org>]

According to the UNC technician assigned to the data recovery question, 
"The ch-tech-advisory list is set to keep archives for only one day.
Since messages older than one day would automatically be purged each
night, there are no messages past that one day archive we'd have."

This report is consistent with my own investigation of the UNC list 
archiving capabilities prior to making the decision, in full 
collaboration with Gregg, back in June. Before deciding to move the 
list, Gregg asked that we make sure a full archive would be available on 
ibiblio before finalizing the decision to move. If Steve found a full 
archive of the UNC list, I applaud his technical skills and feel sure 
the UNC staff would be interested in knowing where their archiving 
process is faulty.

I agree with Gregg's earlier message (copied below for the record) that 
advisory board email communications should be addressed in the Town's 
public records policy. Only staff are covered by the Town's current 
policy. There is no Town policy on the email communications of elected 
and appointed officials.

Until the Town decides to install its own email list application, I'd 
suggest that committee members truly concerned about open meetings and 
the public records aspect of the committees communications should be 
subscribed to the list and use it so that all communications are fully 
recorded for public inspection. As it stands now, there is much more 
private communication than in the past.

To subscribe to this list, please go to:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm

A full archive of communications through the ibiblio list (established 
June 2005) can be reviewed at:
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/chtechcomm/

Terri


Gregg Gerdau wrote:

> Hi Steve,
>  
> Thanks for sharing the link.  Archives of the Ibiblio listserv Terri set 
> up in July, in addition to archives of the UNC listserv used previously, 
> are linked on www.techcommittee.org <http://www.techcommittee.org>.  You 
> may want to read my post there, noting that UNC's messaging people have 
> been trying all day to restore those archives.
>  
> I, like you, fully regret they were capriciously destroyed without 
> regard for the value they may have to past, present and future members 
> of the TC.  Or their ownership.  I notified the Town early this morning 
> that a problem may have occurred.  The listserv records, as well as all 
> individual emails where deliberation of any TC issue took place, are 
> public records.  You may have noted that the proposal in front of the 
> Town Manager and Attorney for Electronic Meetings contains a provision 
> to coordinate backups of these archives with the Town's archival 
> practices, as required by the referenced NC statutes.   All members of 
> the TC received a copy of the proposal draft submitted, via either hand 
> delivery or as part of their August agenda, that specified the 
> compliance requirements.
>  
> The Electronics Meeting Proposal can be a key resource for a 
> relationship with the Town staff and Council, as well as demonstrating 
> civic technical leadership to any other state entity subject to the Open 
> Meetings Law.  Although a time consuming and detailed effort was 
> required to produce it, Evelyn, David Lawrence and I are looking forward 
> to putting it into practice with the requested trial implementation.  A 
> trial can only begin after three sequential events occur:  first, the 
> Town Attorney reviews (and possibly modifies) the proposal; second, the 
> Town Manager approves a final version of the proposal; third, a public 
> body, such as a Chapel Hill Board or Commission, agrees to adopt the 
> proposal to test it. 
>  
> First choice would naturally, I believe, be to the Technology 
> Committee.  The initial effort was undertaken because the group had 
> become exceptionally reliant on the listserv for communication long 
> before we joined or the Town Manager brought his policy to our 
> attention.  It seems that some members of the TC tried, at the last 
> meeting, to vote on the proposal.  Although not called for on the 
> agenda, the show of interest and support was welcomed.  But it was 
> premature.
>  
> Keep your fingers crossed for the UNC techies to effect a clean recovery!
>  
> Gregg
>  
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> *From:* Steve Irving [mailto:wsirving AT morgancreek.net]
> *Sent:* Thursday, August 25, 2005 8:36 PM
> *To:* chtechcomm AT lists.ibiblio.org
> *Cc:* ggerdau AT intelor.com
> *Subject:* Archive of UNC Listserve
>
>     Terri and all,
>
>      
>
>     To see where the archive of old messages used to be, go to
>     http://mail.unc.edu/lists, type ch-tech-advisory in the text box
>     beneath “Visit or Manage a Single List” and click the visit button
>     beneath the text box.
>
>      
>
>     This will take you to http://lists.unc.edu/read/?forum=ch-tech-advisory.
>
>      
>
>     This feature is available for any of the public lists and for any of
>     the private lists to which you belong. Try, for instance,
>     http://lists.unc.edu/read/?forum=alphaphiomega.
>
>      
>
>     Steve
>
>      
>
>      
>
>      
>
>      
>
>     -----Original Message-----
>     From: chtechcomm-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
>     [mailto:chtechcomm-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Terri Buckner
>     Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2005 3:37 PM
>     To: Chapel Hill Information Technology Advisory Committee
>     Subject: Re: [Chtechcomm] [Fwd: FW: New Town Web Site] - goes live
>
>      
>
>     Steve,
>
>      
>
>     The old listserv is still available. I've never seen where the old
>
>     messages can be viewed over the web. Would you please share the URL
>     with
>
>     the group?
>
>      
>
>     Terri
>
>      
>
>     Steve Irving wrote:
>
> >  Terri,
>
> >
>
> >  Has any consideration been given to migrating, copying or otherwise
>
> >  retaining and archiving the messages on the UNC listserv?? I can see
>
> >  archived messages there going back to January 2001, as well as
>     Will's post
>
> >  earlier today regarding the new web site.
>
> >
>
> >  I have used this archive as a resource in the past to explore
>     historical
>
> >  issues and background and I would like to have the option of
>     continuing to
>
> >  do so.
>
> >
>
> >  Also, there may be public record issues associated with these
>     messages.
>
> >
>
> >  Please advise.
>
> >
>
> >  Thanks,
>
> >
>
> >  Steve
>
> >
>
>