XML marks the future for electronic records: learning about extensible markup language allows RIM professionals an opportunity to determine how electronic records will be stored and searched.

• Author: Winters, Roger
• Position: TechTrends

Thanks to extensible markup language (XML)--and its relatives and derivatives--there are powerful new possibilities for electronic records. Records and information management (RIM) professionals need to learn about XML and what it can do for their organizations. By investing the time in such education, RIM professionals can ensure that records based in XML technology--increasingly the case--are properly managed.

While it is becoming an accepted standard, most RIM managers will never "do" XML although it is something they need to understand if not master technically. In fact, looking at the technical side of XML may quickly turn many RIM professionals off since one risks being overwhelmed by acronyms and jargon. By keeping a clear focus on business issues, however, RIM professionals need not be intimidated by the language and concepts of XML.

Our Electronic (Paper) Records

RIM managers increasingly adopt electronic documents rather than hardcopy records to gain efficiencies. They have embraced digital images, creating electronic graphic copies of paper documents because they are easier to transmit, store, and access than the paper records they represent. This choice accounts for the present challenge to manage the exponential growth of electronic records. In many ways, however, RIM managers have tried to treat e-records like paper records (e.g., printing out e-mail messages and filing them in file cabinets). Most electronic records do, in fact, resemble paper records, whether word-processed documents, database reports, or e-marl messages. Printing and using the Adobe portable document format (PDF) are seen as ways to "lock" electronic documents so they appear safe from unauthorized modification. These items can be managed as records because it is known they could be printed onto paper if need be and handled as hard copies. PDF is widely used because it retains the appearance of the "original" paper document. Many courts and businesses accept or require that electronic filings be provided in PDF.

Humans need to see written information displayed as words on a surface, whether on paper or projected on a screen. Paper usually is the surface of choice for reading. Despite prophecies of a "paperless office," paper is used more than ever before, particularly as a way to present information.

What is XML?

"XML" has a general meaning; its particular uses must be explained. There can be forms of XML for any type of business or activity. There is XML for chemistry, for pharmaceuticals, for webpage building, and there is--or soon will be--XML for contracts, court filings, and insurance. Sellers of many products proudly claim they "have XML" or "use XML" in their "solutions." They do not always explain what that means.

Often a vendor, technologist, or implementer talks about how XML figures in a plan, product, or service, leaving out information really useful to RIM professionals. Saying that a solution uses XML is similar to saying that something uses electricity. In the same way that electricity in a lightning bolt is not the same as that in a cyclotron, or in an MP3 player, a car battery, or a street lamp, what it means when someone says a solution "uses XML" can vary greatly.

Simply put, XML is a markup language. In 1974, Charles F. Goldfarb, a lawyer...