One reason digital content is hard to manage and control is because it’s so easy to copy and store it in so many different places. In some cases the format can even be changed making it even more difficult to track and manage. This leads to a number of specific challenges for information professionals.
1. It’s hard to keep content locked down and secure. Even though content may be stored in a secure repository, it’s often still possible for people to download documents onto USB keys, attach them to emails, or print them.
2. Fighting the perception that digital storage is cheap and abundant. While actual storage space is inexpensive, there are lots of hidden costs, such as the cost of maintaining server rooms that are often not factored into the equation. This makes people feel unconcerned about creating tons of digital copies to be stored all over the place. Also, do we really think the trend of doubling digital storage and halving the cost every couple of years is going to last forever? At some point the industry won’t be able to keep up.
3. Convincing organizations and individuals that deletion (destruction) is a healthy and routine part of good information management. It never ceases to amaze me how reticent people are to get rid of their documents, especially when they haven’t made an effort to store things properly and consequently either don’t know what they have or the documents are in bad condition. Sometimes users tell me that they’re fine to destroy the paper because everything is stored electronically. Or it’s ok for backups older than a year to be destroyed because nothing on the shared drive (or in the repository) has ever been deleted. Or that it’s ok to delete this folder because the documents also live in email attachments and on portable media storage (e.g. CDs, USB keys, etc.) and in Dropbox.
To me deletion (or destruction) means the content is gone and shouldn’t be recoverable because that would defeat the purpose of getting rid of it. This idea is always met with resistance, perhaps because it’s so easy and cheap to store content electronically that we don’t feel pressured by space restrictions. Or perhaps because we cling to the fear of needing something in the future and not having it and this gets in the way of good purging practices.
I always maintain that the strategic save is the best way to go forward, especially when digital storage can’t keep the prices down for the amount of volume produced. Even so, keeping digital content under control so that deletions can be successful and complete remains a primary challenge. I’m not even sure how one would even be able to find all the many places a single digital document could live to make sure it was completely deleted.
Any suggestions or strategies? Any success stories to share?