New Clip: Internet Commenters: This Is You

"One day Collier took his curiosity a little further and began to compile a list of comments from a particularly prolific member on IMDB.com (the Internet Movie Database).

He realized, viewed as a whole, the comments created something close to a profile or character sketch of the person writing them.

Collier took the concept to McSweeney's founder Dave Eggers, who liked the idea. Collier has featured 10 commenters since March.

"The good ones reveal themselves — after a lot of looking — to be kind of characters," Collier says. "They're not an exact representation of who this person is, but they are real characters." "

NPR Internet Commenters: This Is You
http://www.npr.org/2010/11/20/131471581/internet-commenters-this-is-you

Research method for personal digital archiving research

I have been exploring Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as a research method for my dissertation. IPA's idiographic and inductive approach seems like a perfect match for studying personal digital archiving practices in everyday lives.

Interesting short articles about IPA:
Smith, J. A. (2004). Reflecting on the development of interpretative phenomenological analysis and its contribution to qualitative research in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 1(1), 39-54.

Larkin, M., Watts, S., & Clifton, E. (2006). Giving voice and making sense in interpretative phenomenological analysis. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 102-120.

Archiving social networking sites

Archive-it (http://www.archive-it.org/) is an interesting archiving service by the Internet Archives, which is "able to capture most publicly available web pages, including social networking sites" (https://webarchive.jira.com/wiki/display/ARIH/Archiving+Social+Networking+Sites+with+Archive-It). However, I continue to wonder how robust this tool/service can be to assist individuals to collect and preserve their own, private digital content produced in the social networking sites.

Lecture video: Keeping Found Things Found project

This is a lecture video about how people keep and organize information. Although the issue of personal archiving is not the focus and the video is a bit old, still fun to listen to. Thanks, Sam.

Google TechTalks May 17, 2006
William Jones is an Research Associate Professor in The Information School at the University of Washington where he manages the Keeping Found Things Found project.

Thank you, Sam.

Hi-tech aims to improve lifestyle

Hi-tech aims to improve lifestyle
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8062327.stm

I will say, in a Haiku style,

Personal information
More and more.

Book: Richard Cox, Personal Archives and a New Archival Calling

Book: Personal Archives and a New Archival Calling by Richard Cox, 2009

"Archivists need to transform their own culture from one of collecting and acquiring to one of collaborating and assisting. Doing this should also open up new possibilities for promoting, in a more understandable fashion, the archival mission. ... At one time, personal archives were the backbone of public archives, the most prized acquisition by archivists, manuscripts curators, and special collections librarians because of the quality of the documentary evidence they provide and often their association with important events or famous people. Now they may be valued more by the individuals and families keeping them for highly personal reasons of identity, memory, sentimentality, or whatever. In my opinion, the archival mission is in the midst of great change, and it is a change that needs to be embraced and nurtured."

Indeed! I think, the increasing interests in how to preserve/archive "my own digital materials" can be turn into a golden opportunity for professional archivists to expand the rigid boundary of traditional archives, interact with more ordinary individuals as their clients, and take an active role in the information technology development where the money goes.

Rocks Don't Need to Be Backed Up

Rocks Don't Need to Be Backed Up
March 27, 2009
By Henry Newman

http://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/continuity/features/article.php/3812496

Nice article. I, however, think we need an approach, broader or more embracing than "a standards body."

Future Arch

"All of which finally gives me reason to stop worrying about cheap terrabytes! Data is going to keep growing and someone is going to have to help manage all that stuff. I guess that is where we fit in." from http://futurearchives.blogspot.com/

Indeed! Personal Digital Archives!

MEM: Making Everlasting Memories

"Making Everlasting Memories® (MeM) helps families share and archive the stories of their lives. Whether documenting a child’s first steps or honoring the memory of a loved one passed, MeM publishes the memories, treasured photographs and loving thoughts that capture life’s most cherished moments."
http://www.mem.com/Default.aspx

The market around personal digital archives will become bigger and bigger soon, I will say. But it will be very interesting to see how and which direction it will grow.

(Thank Maggie, one of my UT iSchool colleagues, for sharing this site.)

Media clip: Now That I’m Dead, Who’s Going to Update My Facebook Status?

The Wall Street Journal Blogs: Digits
Now That I’m Dead, Who’s Going to Update My Facebook Status?

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/03/10/now-that-im-dead-whos-going-to-update-my-facebook-status/

"Legacy Locker, a new online service announced Tuesday that allows people to securely store usernames, passwords and other access information for all their digital assets — from Facebook and MySpace accounts to Gmail and PayPal — and pass that information along to beneficiaries in the event of their death."

Securing and preserving personal digital assets after one's death (sometimes sudden death) is truly an issue. While services like Legacy Locker make us say, "yes, we need this," they also raise series of concerns and questions. Considering the extreme complexity and inherently private/public nature of individuals' digital lives, it is clear that there would be no one-shot solution for this issue. Needs for research about personal digital asset management behavior and personal digital archives are high.