Recording Data and Observations

Study Notes

Recording data involves documenting data and observations in various forms to preserve it for later use.
It promotes the development of written, oral, visual, and digital literacy skills involved in documenting and organizing information.
Skills involved in recording data include sketching, labeling, note-taking, journaling, photographing, and videotaping.

A record is a document that provides objective evidence of activities performed, events occurred, results achieved, or statements made.
Records are created or received by an organization in the routine transaction of its business or in pursuance of its legal obligations.
Records can consist of two or more documents and include accounts, agreements, books, drawings, letters, magnetic/optical disks, memos, micrographics, etc.
Records function as evidence of activities, whereas documents function as evidence of intentions.

The records life-cycle consists of discrete phases covering the life span of a record from its creation to its final disposition.
Records growth is expounded by modern electronic systems, resulting in rapid creation and capture of records by an organization.
Examples of records phases include creation, modification, movement, and destruction of a record.
Records and information management professionals are responsible for controlling and safeguarding information assets throughout the records life cycle.

Records are evidence of actions and transactions.
Records should support accountability, allowing accountability to be traced.
Records are related to processes, i.e. "information that is generated by and linked to work processes".
Records must be preserved, some for a very short time and some permanently.

An input device is any hardware device that sends data to a computer, allowing users to interact with and control it.
Primary input devices on a computer are the keyboard and mouse.
Other devices that can input data into a computer include trackballs, scanners, and microphones.