IIM Newsletter May 2020 Articles

Dear fellow Information Professionals,
As we are slowly getting back to our normality, having access to the right and timely information has a new meaning and significance.  The Information Awareness Month (IAM) 2020 is in a full swing, bringing many interesting topics related to the theme "Informed about Your Changing Environment". 
This year's IAM started with a launch that had a record number of attendees.  It featured great panellists and sparked a lot of interesting discussions (recording of the IAM 2020 Launch webinar is available). One of these dialogues will continue on Wednesday 20 May, with a seminar featuring Mr David Fricker, Director-General of National Archives of Australia, who will share with us his views on the "Preservation of Information and Misinformation in Critical Situations".
As part of our contribution to the IAM calendar, IIM and DAMA jointly organised two sessions of the "Artificial Intelligence @ Work"seminars:

• Can Technology Help Us Discover and Manage Biological Threats?" on 12 May with Maurizio Mencarini from Expert System in Italy (recording of this webinar is available)
  
• "Hybrid Models to Create Contextual Intelligence" scheduled for 28 May, featuring speakers from the World Economic Forum, who will provide an overview of the Strategic Intelligence platform, presenting the key features that enable the community of diverse stakeholders to better inform their decision making process, by highlighting the key factors of transformational changes
  

Following the overall IAM 2020 theme, in this issue of your IIM e-newsletter you will find several articles and resources that shed light on risks, concerns and good practices related to the public information, record-keeping and countering misinformation in situations like pandemic or natural disaster.
In closing, I would like to remind you that IAM 2020 is focused on the importance of the right information in critical situations. The IAM 2020 participating organisations prepared a range of interesting webinars and online events, which explored this theme from various perspectives.  For details about upcoming events please visit www.informationawarenessmonth.org.
The IAM Organising Committee plans to finish this IAM in the same spirit.  The IAM 2020 Finale scheduled for 29 May will feature the representatives from IAM affiliated organisations that will share their viewpoints on this theme, their IAM experience and how they see the future of the information management after COVID-19.  The IAM 2020 Finale will include a Q&A session blended with a virtual networking End-of-IAM cocktail party with BYO food and drinks.  I sincerely hope that you will be able to join us at this celebration.
Wishing you to stay healthy, COVID-smart and well-informed.

Vladimir Videnovic
National President

Countering misinformation about COVID-19 
“Stop The Spread” is a global campaign which aims to raise awareness about the risks of misinformation around COVID-19, and encourages them to double check information with trusted sources such as WHO and national health authorities.
The UK government will offer a toolkit of the campaign assets to partner governments to translate and use in their countries, so there is a unified message across governments on this very important topic.

Recordkeeping during COVID-19
Queensland State Archives (QSA) recognises that usual business practices will likely be disrupted and that recordkeeping may not always be front of mind.
QSA would like to remind public authorities that their recordkeeping responsibilities under the Public Records Act 2002 remain as important as ever.
There is an ongoing need for records related to the pandemic AND as part of BAU to be created, managed and maintained.
Records created during this crisis will:

• help support the success of the response
• enable you to continue business as usual
• ensure that there is evidence of the decisions made to support and enable this critical work
• become key records for future generations to refer back to on how we all dealt with this event.
  

UNESCO and the International Council of Archives have released a joint statement regarding the importance of creating documentary heritage both now and for the future.