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Personal Digital Archiving
Michael Paulmeno
Head of Discovery Services

or…
how to manage your digital
life!

+ Why Are We Here?
 We all have digital files
 We want to be able to access our stuff in 5 -10 years
 Yet we all have so much stuff

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Analog issues
Nothing lasts forever.

User:Jiří Janíček (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plesnive_knihy_-_megaplisen.JPG),
„Plesnive knihy - megaplisen“, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

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Digital issues
More fragile than we think
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tseedmund/3088146403/

http://thekuipers.org/images/IMG_2279.jpg

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How Digital Files Go Bad
Stored on fragile media
Bitloss
Physical damage
Outdated file formats

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What You Can Do
Digital preservation
Electronic materials need to be cared
for; no benign neglect

Identify
Select
Store
Protect
Manage
Provide

Word of the day…
Organize

Identify
Select
Store
Protect
Manage
Provide

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Where are your documents?
Locate all of your photos, manuscripts, notes
Camera, computers, memory cards, flash
drives, web sites (Dropbox, etc)
What other kinds of things are important
to save?
E-mails, research data, portfolio

Identify
Select
Store
Protect
Manage
Provide

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Which are important to save?
Pick the most important
Which things have long term value?
Do not keep everything
Space and time are limited

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Metadata? What’s that?
Label your files
Descriptive file names are best
Tag photos with names, places, or other
meaningful information
Use meaningful folder structures

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What kind of files do you have?
Lossy vs. lossless images
Archival files
Access copies
Open vs proprietary format
txt files vs. Word documents

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Common File Types
 JPEG – Compressed format, lossy but smaller
 PDF – Stores all text, fonts, graphics, etc need
to display a file
 TXT – File made up mostly of plain text
 MP3 – Compressed, lossy format for audio files
 MP4 – Common multimedia file format for
videos

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Other File Types
PST – Data file for Microsoft Outlook
PAGES – File created by Apple Pages
JPEG 2000 – Lossless, good archival format
TIFF – uncompressed & lossless but large

Identify
Select
Store
Protect
Manage
Provide

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Get Things Organized
Create a meaningful directory structure for
your files
Group like things together
How will you want to find things in the future?
Record the structure and a description of the
items in writing

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Keep Things Organized
Start now and be diligent in the future
Gradually deal with your backlog
Make a commitment to yourself

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Choose A Storage Medium
External hard drives
Other computers
Cloud storage services (Amazon S3, Azure
Storage, etc) → requires third party software

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What is NOT a Backup
Dropbox
Google Drive
One Drive
CDs
Shared drive

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Automated Cloud Backup
Package deal – storage and a program to
use
Allows for easy off-site backup
Usually set-and-forget
Many options to choose from

Identify
Select
Store
Protect
Manage
Provide

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Protecting Your Data
LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe)
Where is everything stored?
 3-2-1 rule
 Keep track of backup copies

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Protecting Your Data (Cont’d)
At what intervals are backups made?
How are files organized?
Incremental backup or complete?
Store the inventory list with your important
papers in a secure place

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Automated Cloud Backup
Test the system
Look at the details when signing up
Do you have access to the original files?
What about encryption?

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The Bottom Line
Get organized
Have a plan
Multiple strategies
Test to see if you can restore

Identify
Select
Store
Protect
Manage
Provide

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Periodically check things out
Spot check at least once a year to make sure
the files are still readable
Create copies onto new media at least every
five years

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Other considerations
Software versioning is problematic
Think about how you may use the
information in the future
Can you use someone else’s infrastructure
and expertise?

Identify
Select
Store
Protect
Manage
Provide

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Sharing your files
Create access copy, preserve original
CD/flash drive fine as a transport medium
Email not so great…
Can share large files via cloud service

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Rights and Management
http://creativecommons.org
• Consider copyright issues
• May be a concern with manuscripts
and e-mail

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Moving from analog to digital
Consider scanning old files for access and
preservation
Create directory structure before you embark
on project
A little planning goes a long way

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Scanning your analog images
Use appropriate resolution
Save as TIFF for an archival image
JPEG 2000 also acceptable as master

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After you scan
Master files and derivative images
 Do not do adjustments on your archival files
 Work on a copy. Always.
Use precision controls when possible

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Consider a Commercial Service
Saves time
Ensures professional quality
Do research and compare services

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In summary…
Make conscious choices
Don’t keep things you don’t need
A little organization goes a long way
Think through process from beginning
to end
Start now!

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Resources
• Library of Congress Personal Archiving;
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchi
ving/
• File Info Extension Database - http://fileinfo.com/
• US Copyright Office - http://www.copyright.gov/
• Cornell Legal Information Institute (Intellectual
Property section) -
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/intellectual_property

Questions and Discussion
http://michaelpaulmeno.com