The DPC is pleased to share with members the outline of a new Technology Watch Report which it has commissioned from Gabriela Redwine of Yale University on the topic of Personal Digital Archives.
This report, due for completion in 2015 will provide an overview of the key issues related to personal digital archiving, arguing for the importance of preserving personal files and also acknowledging the complexity of personal archives that include a combination of physical, digitised, and born-digital materials. A short introduction to the history of personal digital archiving, as well as current initiatives, will set the stage for recommendations and resources mentioned later in the report. Each of the main sections will conclude with a range of recommended actions and helpful hints. The goal will be to provide recommendations that range from “quick wins” that require a minimum amount of effort, to more intensive and costly solutions. The target audience will be individual creators and users of personal digital archives and the curators who are responsible for advising them as potential depositors or members of the public. Individual creators may include those who are aware of the challenges presented by digital, those who harbor misconceptions about the ease with which digital files can be permanently stored and accessed, and people who have amassed a large body of digital files but are not technologically savvy. This Technology Watch Report may therefore have a readership of private individuals as well as professionals.
This outline was first circulated as a draft to DPC members in August. This complete outline has adopted many of the ideas and proposals from the lively an diverse response generatied by that consultation.