[Offtopic] Digital Storage

[Cameron Bell]

Hi,
I am cross-posting this as I need to try and capture a cross-section of 
responses and each of these groups probably has the relevant 
school-based person reading it.

Could you please do me a favour and give me an indication of if your 
school has a policy in place for dealing with the long term storage of 
digital artifacts. I am most concerned that many of my students and 
staff have no thought to the long term retrieval of digital work. As we 
move into digital portfolios, I want to be sure that students in Yr 7 
are still able to read their work in Yr 12, even if it is just for 
novelty value, but hopefully to enable reflection and to be able to map 
out the journey they have taken at school. I am also wanting to try and 
get an indication of the particular file formats that schools have 
settled upon for the variety of applications/uses in their curriculum 
and admin.
E.g Written Docs, music files, graphics files etc

Does your school have rules that govern the types of file formats that 
will be used?
At what level (or in what course) do you deal with this issue with your 
students?
Does your staff have a good understanding of the implications of using 
particular file formats for future retrieval?

I would very much also like it if you are prepared to admit that it is 
not being dealt with at your school, particularly if you can give me 
reasons why you think it is not an issue or why your school does not 
think it needs to be addressed.

I understand that if you do not wish to comment publicly on this, or 
clutter the list, so I welcome off-list replies to my email address.

Thanks in advance
Cameron Bell
bell.cameron.p at edumail.vic.gov.au





Important - This email and any attachments may be confidential. If received in error, please contact us and delete all copies. Before opening or using attachments check them for viruses and defects. Regardless of any loss, damage or consequence, whether caused by the negligence of the sender or not, resulting directly or indirectly from the use of any attached files our liability is limited to resupplying any affected attachments. Any representations or opinions expressed are those of the individual sender, and not necessarily those of the Department of Education.