Transforming Online Mail with Embedded Semantics (TOMES)

The Transforming Online Mail with Embedded Semantics (TOMES) project, generously funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission seeks to identify email accounts of public officials with enduring value in order to capture, preserve and provide access to important government records.

TOMES is a multi-state partnership that includes Kansas, Utah and North Carolina focused on developing processes for transferring email accounts out of hosted email solution platforms, e.g. Microsoft 365 and Gmail, and converting them into a sustainable open source language. Additionally, the team will build on the work of e-PADD to develop an appraisal tool using  natural language processing and a state government specific dictionary to aid archivists to quickly process and provide access.

Our Performance Objectives include:

• Produce a cross platform .pst to EAXS XML parser
• Process at least ten email accounts designated as containing permanently valuable correspondence based on Capstone rules
• Publish an NLP dictionary designed to flag named entities unique to government at the state and local level
• Deliver both documentary and video training materials via North Carolina's online learning platform, and develop more generic training materials for inclusion in CoSA's PERTTS portal
• Present project materials on the project website and, appropriate social media accounts, as well as contribute to the CoSA Programs for Electronic Records, Training, Tools, and Standards (PERTTS) portal