Digital Document - There's More to It Than You May Think

By Bill Thomas
From my “DocuBLOG” column
Bill works for USA-ONE Interactive

When you refer to a paper document, we all know what you mean. It’s something you can hold in your hands, or at any rate, physically touch that is made out of paper. Easy. And, at first blush, it probably seems just as obvious what a digital document is, right? It’s a written piece that’s not paper, but a file on your computer. Well, yes, that’s true, but it can also be a whole lot more.

A digital document is truly a product of the computer age. It can be anything that can be stored as a file on your computer. Anything. That means a digital document can be an architect’s schematic drawing that’s committed to a computer file, a photograph, even an application can be considered a digital document. While it’s not a rock you find in the park, a digital document can be a photo you take of the rock in the park. While an idea you have in your head isn’t a digital document, a verbalized recording of your idea can be. The definition of “digital document” seems to expand all the time.

The advent of the digital document is ultimately a move toward a paperless society. That’s a good thing for Mother Earth and also, when you think about it, for business too.

The file-stored digital document, whatever it consists of, is actually far more enduring and better preserved than a papyrus or paper document could ever be. Think about the condition of the Dead Sea Scrolls and imagine how much better our understanding of those texts would be today if they had been stored as digital documents through the ages. The truth is, our society might be doing certain things a whole lot differently today!

Amazingly, the advent of the computer age and digital documents has led to the creation of software that effectively “shreds” the digital document, removing it forever from your computer. This is important because even after you have deleted a digital document from your system, it remains in the memory recesses of your computer. This can be critically important if the digital document you thought you deleted contained a sensitive corporate information, “trade secrets,” meant only for select eyes.

Managing digital documents through their creation, use, sharing, storing, archiving and even deletion has become an essential part of business today. Because you have so much riding on the security of your digital documents, it makes sense to consult with information management experts as you set up your system for handling your precious and valuable digital document resources. It’s just good business.