This document summarizes a workshop on personal digital archiving (PDA) that took place at iPRES 2016. The workshop sought to discuss how cultural heritage institutions can help individuals and communities preserve their important digital content in trusted, long-term ways. Participants discussed defining roles and actors in PDA, as well as topics like resources, outreach, privacy, and technical options. Breakout groups further explored user-centric and institutional-centric views on PDA. The workshop highlighted that while technologies make personal archiving easier, most people lack the skills, and cultural institutions could help by developing strategies to transfer those skills and emphasize their value to the public.

1. iPRES 2016 - Workshop 02
• iPRES 2016 Proceedings and other info:
https://ipr16.organizers-congress.org/frontend/index.php?page_id=3276
• iPRES 2016 Workshops and Tutorials:
https://ipr16.organizers-congress.org/frontend/index.php?page_id=2833
Personal Digital Archiving: How Can the Cultural Heritage Community
Help Individuals Curate Their Own Materials?Maurizio Lunghi, Helen
Tibbo, Christopher (Cal) Lee, Natascha Schumann, Achim Osswald,
Martin Iordanidis
Personal Digital Archiving (PDA) is a relatively recent topic in the
landscape of digital preservation and new questions/challenges arise as
devices, tools, and apps to capture and share information seem to appear
every day. Individuals and community organizations can be overwhelmed
with photos, email messages, texts, letters, and a wide array of other
materials.This workshop seeks to discuss ways in which cultural heritage
institutions such as libraries, archives, and museums, along with university
researchers, and software and systems developers in this domain, can
help individuals and groups come to grips with their digital collections and
preserve content that is important to their lives, organizations,
communities, and heritage in trustworthy, long-term ways. This workshop
will explore the domain of Personal Digital Archiving by defining potential
actors and roles, and discussing key topics such as resources, outreach,
privacy, legal issues, and technical options available for individuals and
organizations to preserve their digital content. Presently, few institutions
around the globe are mounting concerted efforts to help individuals curate
their own materials, however, there has been a PDA conference in the US
each year since 2010. It is our goal in this workshop to bring this
discussion to iPRES 2016 and to Europe. Because of the newness of PDA
efforts it is important to be inclusive and bring as many voices to the
conversation as possible.
Agenda
1.Personal Digital Archiving scenario, roles, instruments and possible
strategies - Maurizio Lunghi
https://www.facebook.com/ArcaMemorie/
2.Research Data Can Be Personal Too - Helen Tibbo
3.PDA in the United States / Conference on PDA outcome - Cal Lee
https://ils.unc.edu/callee/lee-pda-ipres2016.pdf

2. 4.German nestor working group on PDA - Martin Iordanidis
5.The DPC activity supporting PDA - William Kilbride
6.Colone University experience - Achim Osswald
http://www.fbi.fh-
koeln.de/institut/personen/osswald/publikationen/Osswald_iPRES_WS02_
PDA_seminar_TH_Koeln_2016-10-05.pdf
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Dear participants at the Workshop on 5 October, it is well know that a
report immediately after an event is ‘archived’ in the memory so that’s why
I have waited for 4 weeks :-D
… so here we are, I thank again you all and the co-organisers for the effort
done, we have published our slides and I try to make a synthesis about
what we said …
First of all we focused on some terminology and tried to set the scene of a
common understanding of ‘Personal Digital Archiving’ PDA. Actually we
understood that some different opinions and ideas are on the table,
different approaches and different models. One point that received
agreement by all was that some projects falling in the PDA and carried out
by cultural institutions actually are ‘collective memory’ that are only a part
of ‘personal archiving’ that is wider of course. Selection was remarked as a
mandatory point for anybody.The big challenge is to help citizens pass,
generation by generation, a part of their family memory. Technologies and
metadata for individuals are available and quite easy, but most of people
have not the competence. Cultural and scientific institutions have the
competence and the experience and the credibility to help citizens
organise their contents, institutions must find new and more effective
strategies to cooperate with individuals. Moreover this transfer of
competence would also remark the role and value of these institutions
towards the public perception.
A survey on experience up to now and a vison on emerging trends or
services has been drafted covering USA and Europe.
After that participants have been divided in two workgroups for a breakout
session
Group 1 - user-centric views on PDA
Group 2 - institutional-centric views on PDA
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3. Short summary of discussions in part 2: The personal perspective on PDA
[6-7 Participants (including the reporting one)]
The discussion started with reflections on the personal perspective: Does
PDA include the personal perspective of the archiving person or does PDA
focus only on archiving digital objects of a person for other designated
communities (e.g. already known or future family members, other
persons). A majority agreed that both audiences should be covered -
depending on the intention of the archiving person.
Thinking about pictures (as an example of relevant personal digital objects;
letters and diaries have been mentioned as relevant personal digital
objects as well) there are several personal strategies to deal with the
multitude of pictures taken during an event, a holiday trip etc.:
a) Keeping all of them hoping that there are and will be software tools
available (e.g. like googles auto-generated movies / slideshows based on
pictures on one´s smartphone) to categorize and select the relevant
pictures (whatever non-personal criteria might be applied). In this case
PDA is just storing and saving personal files. Selection of and
interconnection between them will be based on algorithms using technical
metadata of the files.
b) Reducing the number of pictures by applying personal (semi-systematic)
criteria, collecting them in specially named folders and perhaps renaming
the files.
c) Doing b) and additional activities (e.g. adding more metadata elements
on persons, locations, situations).
d) Doing b) and/or c) and adding more information about the stories behind
the pictures covering context and emotion - which might be the basis for
real understanding by third designated parties.
There was consensus that - whatever action is taken - there is a implicit or
explicit choice taken by the archiving person. Awareness about this should
be stimulated.
If b), c) or d) is applied some kind of personal pespective in archiving
comes into operation related to a implicitly or explicitly defined designated
community.
Intrinsic motivation to spend time and effort on PDA-related activities might
be driven by the perception the archiving person wants to have through the
designated community (including her- or himself). Therefore PDA will
always be influenced by the self-perception the archiving person is hoping
for.

4. There was some doubt in the discussion that the / a (?) designated
community will be interested in the archived objects / information at all.
Maybe only if there is a whatever kind of personal interconnection or
interest.
Non-encrypted saving and storing personal files will be the basis for all
personal data. Cloud-based services should be proofed to be trustworthy.
Other backup-strategies should be applied systematically as well.
Notes by Achim Osswald / 2016-10-06
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… a funny closing note can be that the Radio Television Switzerland RTS
went to teh conference and was very interested on our workshop and
made an interview to Cal and me and put on line at 19:30 on 5 October :-D
http://www.rts.ch/play/tv/19h30/video/la-memoire-numerique-ne-garantit-
pas-une-conservation-eternelle?id=8068660
apart the joke this is confirming the interest on PDA from parts of society
not very interested on digital preservation in a classic concept …
I will keep you informed about new activities or events on PDA, please do
the same with me,
.. hoping to organise asap an event in Florence on PDA …
thanks in advance.
Maurizio Lunghi
+39 3351396371
mauriziolunghi66@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/ArcaMemorie/