Creating institutional memory

Recently I've been working on improving how the CTC VISTA Project stores its files, and thus, how we maintain a memory of what we've done irrespective of who did it. For VISTAs, that's crucial because we're, by definition, here today and gone tomorrow (or a year from today).

To begin, I'm working on implementing a central file-server where we can house all of our documents, both archived and current. We're using the University's Apple XServe and I'm working to make sure that everyone at HQ has a login and just as important, knows how to connect and use it.

In the past, all of our documents have been stored on our local machines and flung at eachother as email attachments. Recently we've been using Google Documents because its collaborative editing makes versioning a breeze (ever tried to merge changes from five different people), but since we're all using our personal Google accounts and sharing documents, I'm scared at what happens when the document creator leaves the VISTA Project. I've played around with Google for Domains, but for most of us, editing with a desktop application, like Microsoft Office or Open Office, is easiest. Workflow optimization is key, and if we're distributing these documents as files, importing and exporting from Google can become a major headache.

I originally got the idea for this from the Benton Foundation's Technology Literacy Benchmarks for Nonprofits.