Recordkeeping in the Middle East: Experiences and reflections
This workshop will be divided into two parts.
The first will be largely concerned with discussing the following points:
A position with Dubai Municipality, Records Management Advisor, was advertised on the listservs and, on spec, I sent off my CV. I was lucky enough to be flown to Dubai for an interview.
I was interviewed by two Algerian archivists and an UAE national. I was very impressed by their ideas and was lucky enough to be offered the position. My wife wanted to move to somewhere in the northern hemisphere, so here we are. The whole process took about a year.
This is the second job I have got overseas via the listservs. I think a lot of people don't realize how portable recordkeeping skills are. You need to know your stuff and have some achievements, this is not a gravy train, but recordkeeping has a very good reputation. Essentially, the Algerian archivists and I talk the same language and use the same concepts when we talk professionally. They have excellent English and I have a smattering of Arabic (which I am urgently trying to increase and improve) so language is not a huge barrier, so far. English is widely spoken in the Municipality, but it is definitely a second language. A good example of this is that the keyboard language is Arabic and every morning I have to change it to english.
I want to share my experiences working in Dubai and I would like the workshop to discuss the following question:
- Is recordkeeping portable across cultures and across nations?
I am defining recordkeeping as being:
Making and maintaining complete, accurate and reliable evidence of business transactions in the form of recorded information. (http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/recordkeeping/glossary_of_recordkeeping_terms_p-r_4301.asp#R ) Accessed 09/ 11/ 2008
The second half of the workshop will be the presentation, and discussion, of a short paper I will give entitled:
Records Management, ISO15489 and DIRKS in the Middle East
Based on quantitative and qualitative research, the paper will discuss how Records Management, ISO15489 and DIRKS have impacted on the countries that make up the greater Middle East.
Stephen Macintosh, Dubai MunicipalityStephen Macintosh is a professional recordkeeper with some 11 years experience. He has designed and implemented recordkeeping systems and tools for local, state, federal and international organisations. In particular, Stephen has used DIRKS methodology, and has written several articles outlining... more...
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