[Personal_archives] dialogue on arrangement and digital personal archives

[Sarah Kim]

Hello all,
I would like to add something to previous comments related to diskettes.

"The diskette seemed to be acting as we normally understand the file
to act in traditional physical archives. (Catherine Hobbs)": I share
the thought that diskettes are more than temporary storage media. In
some cases, they indeed function as folders, thus they are part of the
"original order" of a collection showing how the creator
categorized/grouped her files. Pat Galloway at UT Austin has taught a
digital collection preservation class. In her class, she experiments
how to incorporate diskettes in the arrangement of personal digital
collections. Once personal digital collections are processed and
deposited into institutional repositories, it is possible to build
multiple virtual arrangement structures without actually re-arranging
individual files. A diskette base arrangement can provide an
additional picture of "the character of personal archives" and the
personality of a creator.

"I would say that this is changing rapidly, but has reflected the way
in which the creators have seen this material - as different from the
other material but unified through its difference. (Heather Home)":
Adding to this, I also think old diskettes as physical objects evoke
and bring out some sort of sentimentality and/or historical aspects of
personal digital collections. Many of my research participants said
that they still keep their old floppy diskettes (e.g., 5.25" and 3.5")
that they cannot render anymore. In some cases, people already
transferred files on them to newer storage like their current personal
computers or external hard drives but still keep the diskettes.

It is highly likely that personal digital collections will be
transferred or donated to archives in a very different form and method
in the relatively near future (probably no more diskettes at some
point and probably less, a lot less analog documents): thinking of the
increasing use of cloud storage where the IT service providers get
involved more deeply in the formation of personal digital collections
at the first place and where the word "archives" is often used without
clear distinction from backup data or date warehousing (e.g., "Gmail's
"archive" feature (Rodney Carter)" is an example!). Since floppy
diskettes already became a part of history in some sense and their
physical longevity is unknown, they seem like particularly interesting
objects to think of and question their preservation needs at this
point.

Just my two cents.
Sarah Kim
(My hands-on experience with personal collections is extremely limited
compared to many people in this group. My thoughts are based on my
work with a few personal digital collections and individuals mostly
for my research.)
--
Sarah Kim
Doctoral candidate
School of Information, University of Texas at Austin
http://srhkim.com/