Now that more and more material is electronic -- e-mail, scanned photos, databases -- have you struggled with the idea of how to maintain and store all of your information? You are not alone. I know I become frustrated every time one of my programs tells me it needs to be updated to the newest and greatest version. Plus I try to keep up with the current preferred formats for saving media, such as mp4 versus flv. And then you have to worry about your files being lost, whether it's due to an outdated program, damage to your computer, or even something as simple as not being able to find a file.
Well, someone at the
Library of Congress apparently has considered those same problems, because they have created a new free electronic publication,
Perspectives on Personal Digital Archiving. The publication's content covers three general areas: guidance (e.g., tips on preservation and organization), personal reflections (stories on saving and losing data), and outreach (presentations, events, etc.). The e-book grew out of the many posts on the
Digital Preservation blog.
The
e-book is available online as a downloadable PDF.
This is very cool - thanks! Since no one really knows how long the current storage technologies are going to last (akin to film, photos and slides fading and/or breaking down), it's good to have a few ideas on how to preserve what is most important.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! And we have to continually re-educate ourselves because the technologies constantly change. If you wait too long, you may end up with data stored on magnetic media you no longer have machines or programs to read.
ReplyDelete