TEXT D. The Importance of Standards

Task: skim the text to get the general idea about the role of standards in long-term preservation and use of records.

Standards play a key role in the management of electronic records. Until recently, most computerised systems did not contain records of long-term archival value. However, computerised systems are increasingly replacing paper record-keeping systems in many organisations. As a result, it is critical that the information technology standards being applied today are adequate to ensure the long-term preservation and use of the information contained in the systems.

A standard is a format that has been approved by a recognised standards organisation or is accepted as a de facto standard by the industry. One example is the Windows NT Operating System. Among other things, standards exist for programming languages, operating systems, data formats and communications protocols.

Standardisation reduces costs associated with changing technologies. Records professionals must understand the importance of IT standards as a preventive measure against the potentially devastating effects of hardware and software incompatibility, coupled with the rapid obsolescence of technology.

Problems often occur when one machine needs to work with another or with software meant for another. There may also be problems when information must be migrated to a new system, through a software upgrade or to another storage medium. The information from one source must be framed so it can be understood at the other end.

Records and archives managers need to collaborate with IT professionals to set standards that ensure compatibility and leave the various departments and agencies to make their own choices about hardware, software and data that will comply with these instructions. It is important to evaluate carefully and limit the number of choices of standards because too many choices means no choice at all, just chaos.

Project:

Get ready to speak about the current challenges of your country’s movement towards e-government. Use any sources available.

Section III. LEXICAL-GRAMMAR TESTS

Grammar material to be revised:

1. Verb. Tenses in the Active and Passive Voice.

2. Types of Clauses.

3.Conditionals.

4. Non-finite Forms of the Verb (Infinitive, Participle I, II, Gerund) and their Constructions.

5. Modal Verbs and their Equivalents.

TEST I

I. Read and translate the text into Belarusian/Russian. Do the translation in writing.

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