digital records
Data stored electronically
Digital records are information stored in electronic format rather than on paper or other physical media.
The term covers everything from scanned documents and databases to emails and spreadsheets.
Organizations increasingly maintain digital records for easier searching, sharing, and preservation: The hospital converted all patient files to digital records.
In legal and archival contexts, digital records raise questions about authenticity, long-term accessibility, and data security.
- FOIA requestsDemands for government documents
- recordkeepingMaintaining organized documentation
- PDFsFixed-layout digital files
- archivesStored historical documents
- audit trailsRecorded history of actions
databases · encryption · metadata · text files · financial reports · cloud storage · cloud backup · backup solutions · hard drives · version control · legal documentation · data retention · e-discovery · paperless · digitized · spreadsheets · servers · document management
- digital contentfiles, blog posts, data, videos, video essays
- digital resourceswebsites, databases, e-books, online archives, e-resources
- digital servicese-signatures, e-billing, e-statements, e-government, e-governance
- digitalizationcomputerization, digitization, data processing, data management, paperless office
- digitizationdigitization, scanning, OCR, scanners, document imaging
- going paperlessPDF, e-signature, e-filing, document scanning, e-billing
digital recordsmicrofilm
Photographically reduced documents
microfiche · filing cabinets · bound volumes · hard copies · film archives
digital recordsancient scrolls
Historical rolled documents
stone tablets · clay tablets · oral tradition · illuminated manuscripts · cuneiform tablets
digital recordspermanent records