Since we started this paper in 2014, I’ve learned a few things that you just don’t get from a college or university education.
The three of us – me, mom, and dad - are always trying to spread out events and meetings between all of us to get as much ground covered as possible in a reasonable time frame.
It just gets harder when things start happening like a weekend full of events or we’re in the middle of an internet service outage and there are vehicle troubles to account for, too.
With that, we’ve learned through different governmental bodies, organizational leaders, and overall new people in important offices that there’s a little bit of a lag time when those folks get saddled with new duties.
On one hand, it’s all about being part of a learning curve and a willingness to learn or make the position better for everyone involved.
And on the other, there’s also been a bit of a disconnect between the retention of knowledge and transitional talent in important positions.
We’ve noticed a loss of “institutional memory” between members of organizations and groups at large.
Institutional memory is a collective set of facts, concepts, experiences, and know-how held within organizations or corporations.
Now, when it comes to public groups and organizations that take minutes of their meetings, you hope that they retain those documents for a few years.
Especially between new volunteers or elected officials who join and need time to get acclimated to their roles.
But, I’ve come to find out that there are meetings that I have recordings of, or have written about that no longer exist in the public information sphere or online.
I’m sure you’ve heard plenty of people say that information lives online forever thanks to the Internet – but, not all entities are there yet.
Honestly, it’s a bit concerning when you get right down to what is available and what isn’t.
Plus, there are still nostalgic and physical data holdouts that refuse to move forward with information progress.
Especially when you consider that a lot of governing bodies are creeping towards a largely digital-based way of storing records and old paperwork.
Even the Texas Open Meeting Act only states that a governing body is only really required to maintain agendas and recordings of meetings for two years.
After that, it’s up to the governmental body how those records are managed and disposed of per their set guidelines.
Those designated as “governmental bodies” include municipalities, school boards, other committees, and entities that deal with “state business or use of public resources.”
While it’s the newspaper’s job to be archival and factual it’s becoming more apparent that we’re also personally retaining information that gives us insight that the layperson might not have.
We’re also the ones that help break down jargon-riddled notices and press releases into something easier to digest and understand.
Usually, that also means cutting out anything superfluous to get to the main point of the topic at hand.
Newspaper writing largely focuses on who, what, when, where, why, and how – that’s really it.
Anything else are sprinkles on top and often used to add more information that could make understanding the story a little easier or provide some background knowledge that is assumed in some meeting-type settings.
