On a daily basis, an increasing number of new collaborative communication tools and applications are challenging records and information management (RIM) professionals to incorporate their content into a structured records program. Most organizations, however, have not developed a comprehensive approach to manage the use of and the information created by and maintained in wikis, blogs, instant messages, etc. As a result, they may be exposed to substantial risks that will only be recognized when an e-discovery notice arrives.

The objective of this session is to introduce participants to a structured approach to the management of wikis, blogs, instant messages, etc. The session will specifically address how the RIM professional can:

• Identify the specific issues and problems generated by the "new" tools.
• Evaluate the risks, especially from the employment of external collaboration applications or services.
• Employ available resources to control and to manage the information created by these tools.
• Propose procedural approaches so that individual collaborators create "good", documented records.
• Retain the information created through collaboration as an integral component of the overall records management program.