[Personal_archives] FW: dialogue on arrangement and digital personal archives

[Rodney Carter]

In my current position, the proportion of digital records I come
across is quite small. Other than the odd file here or there (mostly
digital photographs) I have not had to contend with the acquisition
let alone arrangement of large groups of digital files. I am quite
thankful that the Sisters still print a great deal and have not, to my
knowledge, started using any cloud storage.

The only exception to this was when a Sister left the position of
Superior last year, I copied her "My Documents" folder onto the
Archives' external harddrive. I haven't dealt with her fonds yet, but
the paper and digital files appear to mesh quite well together. There
is some overlap with files she had printed and, by and large, the
filing system echoed that used previously (minutes to council
meetings; correspondence; financial matters; files on Sisters;
photographs etc).

My (extremely limited) experience here suggests that the archival
principles underlining arrangement - based on function or form -
remain the same. Even with this rather straightforward example,
documents exist in multiple locations in multiple formats and
capturing that in the description will be important. Noting which
documents were printed and which were not (or not kept in printed
version) might be important to demonstrate importance or use. I am not
terribly concerned about the arrangement of these records but
description might be tricky -- the metadata (folder and file names)
are rather sketchy, particularly with the photographs. At least the
technical metadata provides a date of creation.

Because of my limited experience to date arranging digital files I
feel that I am rather ill equipped to comment on many of the issues
raised in Catherine's emails. However, I am sure there are folks out
there who have begun to delve into digital arrangement issues in a
serious way.

I was fascinated by the video of the FTK software and would love to
hear if anyone here has had experience using that or similar software.
Have people had success using it to assist with arrangement? Are there
limitations to a software-based approach?


Rodney

On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 11:29 AM, Hobbs, Catherine
<Catherine.Hobbs at bac-lac.gc.ca> wrote:
> Hi There,
> We seem to be lagging a bit with this dialogue but we still have two days so I hope you'll give it another go and share your thoughts and reflections.
>
> I have some questions to put to you:
>
> For those of you who are considering arrangement for digital personal archives you are treating, can you reflect on how this might be different when we look at current technologies (including the Cloud and removable media)?  What would your strategies be for capturing these fast-changing and complex contexts?  Are there types of modelling that come to mind, for example?
>
> For those of you who haven't weighed in on digital arrangement, can you tell us why?  I think this topic has the double disadvantage of combining two topic that archivists find difficult:  arrangement and technology.  In the same way that the NASARM guidelines and other documents in the last dialogue provided some clarity about when to decide on a series, and how to discern elements of arrangement, is there guideline that needs to be created that speaks directly to the digital?
>
> Something to chomp on,
> Catherine
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: personal_archives-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:personal_archives-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Sarah Kim
> Sent: April-06-12 5:18 PM
> To: Personal_archives at mailman.yale.edu
> Subject: Re: [Personal_archives] dialogue on arrangement and digital personal archives
>
> 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/ _______________________________________________
> Personal_archives mailing list
> Personal_archives at mailman.yale.edu
> http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/personal_archives
> _______________________________________________
> Personal_archives mailing list
> Personal_archives at mailman.yale.edu
> http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/personal_archives