Email may have decreased the use of paper, but it hasn't cut back on the paper trail. Federal rules that took effect in December of 2006 mandate that schools, along with businesses and other organizations, keep track of email, IM, and other digital communications produced by employees.

Specifically, the ruling states that any party involved in litigation must be able to produce electronically stored information during the discovery process. This rule clearly places the burden of archiving email on school technology departments and staff, which is no small job if you consider the amount of email used today.

Today's schools have plenty on their technology plates. From Internet security issues to software and hardware updates, adding digital archiving to the mix is just one more task for the already maxed out ed-tech department.

Fortunately technology also offers solutions. The editor s of eSchool News have put together a collection of their best stories from the eSN collection, as well as a selection of additional resources, to help you determine how best to archive your digital communications.

Source: eSchool News.com

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