Dick Eastman has written a thought provoking article that we should all be aware of as we can lose part or all of our digital media in the blink of an eye at some point if we do not take the time to preserve it.
“In our digitally integrated lives, we create and share most of our pictures and home videos with snazzy digital cameras, incredible smart phones, or other easily portable devices. We download music purchases and perhaps even keep only digital receipts of our purchases through photos or emails. Someone said, ‘That [choose your device of choice] is so versatile that it can take pictures, chop celery, and keep us in touch with relatives as far away as Samoa.’
Now that we have all these digital devices, have we figured out what to do with the fruits of those devices—the mounds of digital files and sources we amass daily, weekly, monthly, yearly? What do we do with all our personal digital content that makes up our digital lives?”
One very interesting and surprising fact is how long the life expectancy is of each individual type of digital media.
“Most of us have not mastered how to effectively preserve our physical family artifacts. Even more of us are probably at a loss about how to effectively ensure our growing digital treasures are safe in the long term. In this article, we will focus mainly on digital assets.
So the questions remain—what do we back up or preserve and how do we do it? The short answer is that you need a personal digital asset plan. ”
The full article has been placed on the familysearch.org website with the permission of Dick Eastman. Please click here to read the entire article.