Conference Call Minutes: March 2015

DAS Subcommittee

Conference Call Minutes

March 24, 2015

9:00 am PT, 10:00 am MT, 11:00 am CT, and Noon ET.

Present:  Lori Lindberg, Glen McAninch, Liz Bishoff, Cynthia Ghering, Veronica Martzahl, Sybil Schaefer, Tom Rosko, Solveig De Sutter, Ania Jaroszek.

Absent: Mahnaz Ghaznavi.

We are going to address the exam questions; specifically identify items that were performing unusually in the last exam.

LL: The next exam is going to be offered in August, at the annual meeting

SD: Yes, but we need to complete this one quickly because we haven’t given people the scores yet

LL: Everyone should have the Key Validation Report- March 2015 open and Veronica’s last email. We had 37 test takers last time. Let’s look at the Table 1, 2, and 3 (pages 2 & 3). We should look at the items that repeat on table 1, 2, 3; check the answer key and/or other characters that caused people not to get the answer correctly. Today, we need to decide which questions we should keep, remove or look at the question. Also, the summary of 37 measured people is on page 7.

VM: The statistics are close to how people are scoring.

LB: The numbers on what’s an easy question are surprised because the overall score is low.

LL: We had 9 hard questions out of 100. That is pretty good.

GM: Can we look at the questions? The ones that are both hard  and  unusual .

SD: We eliminate the questions that have possible two answers.

LL: The unusual question #28 from the last exam (I0038). People, who should have got it right, got it wrong. 16 people chose D, 19 –C, 1-A, 1-B.

1. When an organization reaches the institutionalization stage of digital curation

1.  
   1. it has implemented the technical solution.
   2. digital resources are available through the curation program.
   3. the curation program is part of the organization's core competencies.
   4. there is an organization wide digital curation program.

GM: Looking the question, what standard are we talking about, what model? We should label them, which theory the question comes from.

LL: For that question majority of people chose C or D and there is a significant difference in it.

TR: We should put the quote “in the institutionalization stage.” We need to revise that.

LL: Another one is #14 (I0019)

1. Which core principle of records remains the same regardless of electronic or physical records?

1.  
   1. The definition of records remains the same.
   2. The original record remains the same.
   3. The storage media remains the same.
   4. The rights remain the same.

VM: We looked at this one in Chicago and we wanted to change it.

GM I think this is very poor question. I would vote for throwing it out. 28 people answered A, 1-B, 8-D. 

Question #14 – voted out. Everyone agreed.

LB: Can we change the score sheet?

SD: Yes

LB: We can change the score sheet to A.

VM: It is not fair to change the answer sheet now.

LL: Let’s rewrite it and see if people are able to answer accurately.

LB: We can rewrite it for the August exam.

SD: it will be become a pilot question

GM We are still throwing this one out for now.

LL: Question #25 (I0117)

1. When describing an individual's personal electronic records, which of the following MUST be recorded for the description to be considered compliant with the DACS standard for minimal description?

1.  
   1. Information identifying temporal characteristics.
   2. Information characterizing the relationship of parts to the whole.
   3. Information describing how to render the files.
   4. Information on fixity.

Only 4 people got it correctly.

LL & GM I thought the correct answer was B.

LL: We marked the answer sheet incorrectly. We have to throw the question out.

LB: Why can’t we change the answer sheet?

VM: I need to change the transcript.

LB: The score sheet shows C as the correct answer on question #25.

SD: Should we throw this one out and correct it for the next exam?

LL: Question #65 (I0094)

1. Complete descriptive information for an OAIS AIP is comprised of what types of information?

1.  
   1. Preservation Description Information, Packaging Information.
   2. Content Data Object, Provenance Information, Packaging Information.
   3. Representation Information, Context Information, Provenance Information.
   4. Representation Information, Preservation Description Information.

GM I think the key here is the “descriptive information” and people need to read it more carefully.

VM: We can keep it for now and maybe revise it for later. 6 people got it right.

GM That is a bad question that we can leave for now.

LL: That is all for the hard one. The reminders are 5 under the Unusual Responses table. Question #4 (I0004)

1. The purpose of running a checksum when a file is first brought into your organization is to

1.  
   1. check for viruses.
   2. insure that the file you have is the file you were sent.
   3. create a manifest.
   4. determine the format of the file you are working with.

GM It is a good question; I am not sure why people missed it. People who did well on the test missed it.

LL: I don’t see a problem with it. Let move to question #40 (I0057)

1. According to the NISO Framework for Building Good Digital Collections metadata

1.  
   1. depends on the skill of the metadata creator.
   2. conforms to community standards.
   3. requires a content management system dedicated to digital collections.
   4. is expensive to create and maintain.

Most people got it right. Some people were probably overthinking it.

LB: This was the first time I proctored the exam and I was amazed how long it took for people to complete it.

LL: Question # 5 (I0005) this one is good.

1. Lossy compression of files is an operation performed to

1.  
   1. prepare material for a preservation environment.
   2. save space on a storage device.
   3. produce a standard file format.
   4. weed the collection.

Question #24 (I0033) 36 people got it correct, why is it in, maybe it’s too easy one.

1. Repository managers are individuals who

1.  
   1. are entrusted with content, collections, and resource management.
   2. have an extensive technical background.
   3. know how to create digital content.
   4. understand institutional politics and culture.

Question #88 (I0129)

1. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

1.  
   1. created a "right to know" standard for access to government records.
   2. permits access to personal and health records.
   3. governs non-US agencies.
   4. overrides the Privacy Act when both come into issue.

GM This question deals with general knowledge. I wouldn’t throw it out. Let’s leave it and revise it later.

LL: To summarize it, we decide to throw questions #25 and 14. We have a few that we are not changing at all and a few that need to be revised. We throw out two questions and get people the scoring.

After the revision we will have the exam ready for August. The next conference call we will work on the Strategic Plan.

GM Everyone, look at the first eight easy questions and write the suggestions how to revise them. Get the write up to Mahnaz and we’ll talk about this next time.

LB: Next conference call is on April 23, 2015 same time. Let do it before April 15^th.