In my last post, I wrote about the changes unfolding this spring in the realm of research funding and access to scholarly output. Today?s post is also spring-themed, although it takes its inspiration from a different source and has a more personal bent. I am distracted this week by some important milestones in my near and dear one?s lives: my parents? anniversary; a best friend?s wedding; a cousin?s new baby on the way; and my own birthday on the horizon.
As we mark these moments, the archivist–or archivist-to-be–in me wonders how technology is changing not only what and how we document our personal lives, but also how this documentation will be preserved, accessed, and interpreted?both now and by generations to come.
Digital tools allow us to attain proximity to people and events far away. They make it possible to be at once everywhere and nowhere. They provide a sense of both immediacy and permanence in our fast-paced society, and they help us to achieve a sense of order and control over complexities in everyday life.
These ideas are not new. But the conversation is not yet finished when it comes to the question of what is being lost or sacrificed as more and more of our lives are lived online. Will the ease of documenting today come back to haunt us tomorrow? Does the mobility that technology affords make us more vulnerable as we become more dependent on digital tools and platforms whose technical infrastructure and intellectual properties are beyond our control?
I am thankful to be able to use these tools to stay connected to people and to keep my personal life in order. But I want to emphasize here that I do not fully understand the scope of archival tasks ahead of me, on a personal as well as professional level. For the archivists, there are looming questions about preservation technologies, about copyright, and about the context of creation, among other issues. For all of us, the question might be boiled down to what we can do to retain some degree of control over our digital lives? now as well as in the future.
As a recent Library of Congress blog post put it, ?personal digital archiving is easy to put off, easy to forget, and easy to make excuses for avoiding,? much like mundane household organization tasks that are so frequently postponed until later. What might make this work easier? A good starting point is the Library of Congress?s website offering a comprehensive overview of basic tips and resources for personal digital archiving. In preparation for upcoming events around personal archiving, the American Library Association has announced a couple of webinars that will be held in the next month to help libraries promote better awareness of the issues at stake and also educate individuals on how to care for their digital assets. Last year, in a New York Times ?Room for Debate? forum, Smithsonian electronic records archivist Lynda Schmitz Fuhrig recommended a ?spring cleaning? for personal digital archives. This month, I will be paying close attention to this advice as I work on building a strong professional foundation for a career in twenty-first-century librarianship, at the same time that I celebrate and document the personal moments and objects that give our lives meaning.