Adapting Existing Technologies for Digitally Archiving Personal Lives Digital Forensics, Ancestral Computing, and Evolutionary Perspectives and Tools Jeremy Leighton John Department of Western Manuscripts, Directorate of Scholarship and Collections, The British Library 96 Euston Road, LONDON NW1 2DB, United Kingdom
[email protected] Abstract The project is also addressing in tandem the digitisation of The adoption of existing technologies for digital curation, the conventional papers in personal archives (and in that most especially digital capture, is outlined in the context of sense is also concerned with digital manuscripts beyond personal digital archives and the Digital Manuscripts eMSS). Among other benefits, this will make it easier for Project at the British Library. Technologies derived from researchers to work with an entire personal archive in an computer forensics, data conversion and classic computing, integrated way; but this work along with cataloguing and and evolutionary computing are considered. The practical resource discovery is beyond the scope of the present imperative of moving information to modern and fresh paper, which aims to focus on the curatorial role in digital media as soon as possible is highlighted, as is the need to acquisition, examination and metadata extraction. retain the potential for researchers of the future to experience the original look and feel of personal digital objects. The importance of not relying on any single technology is also emphasised. Theoretical and Practical Considerations The challenges of technological obsolescence, media degradation and the behaviour of the computer user (eg Introduction failure to secure and backup information including Archives of ‘personal papers’ contain letters, notebooks, passwords) are long familiar to the digital preservation diaries, draft essays, family photographs and travel cine community.