Digital Records Pose New Challenges

Digital records are presenting new challenges for state governments across the country.

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers last week released a report exploring emerging trends in electronic records management, such as new Web 2.0 collaboration tools that create e-records in transitory forms yet still document the business of government. The research brief, “Ready for the Challenge? State CIOS and Electronic Records,” also explores the vulnerability of essential e-records during disasters and a growing emphasis on transparency and accountability in state government.

Also in regard to digital records, secretaries of state are facing the challenge of posting information online while protecting personal information of citizens. Secretaries of state in more than 20 states are redacting such personal information from Uniform Commercial Code filings as part of the process. Read about that effort in the 2008 Book of the States.