This document provides guidance on creating a personal archiving plan. It recommends setting goals for what materials to digitize, taking an inventory of original items, selecting what to digitize based on fragility and importance, organizing originals, choosing a digitization method, preparing files with consistent naming and metadata, digitizing the materials, organizing the digital files, and preserving copies across different media and locations according to the 3-2-1 rule of having 3 copies, 2 different media, and 1 offsite backup. The document offers tips on prioritizing fragile media like floppy disks and strategies for archiving digital materials like emails and social media.

1. PERSONAL ARCHIVING
BRIAN MEAGHER

3. WHAT IS PERSONAL ARCHIVING ?

4. BRING THE ARCHIVIST CLOSER TO THE
CREATOR

6. THE NEED FOR A PLAN

7. 1. SET A GOAL
4. ORGANIZE
ORIGINALS
2. TAKE AN
INVENTORY
5. ASSIGN
PRIORITIES
6. SELECT THE
DIGITIZATION
METHOD
3. SELECT ITEMS
TO DIGITIZE
9. ORGANIZE
DIGITAL ITEMS
8. DIGITIZATION
7. PREPARE
TECHNICAL
ASPECTS
10. PRESERVE
DIGITAL ITEMS
THE PLAN

8. 1. SET A GOAL
SCAN PHOTOS FROM MY MOM’S PHOTO ALBUM
TRANSFER THIS BOX OF CD-Rs TO MY COMPUTER
DIGITIZE ALL THE AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIAL
FROM MY OLD BAND

9. 2. TAKE AN INVENTORY
21 GALLONS OF CASSETTES
6 DAT TAPES
12 VHS TAPES
20 VHS-C TAPES
4 Hi-8 TAPES
10 CD-Rs
NOTEBOOKS, SCRAPBOOKS, LETTERS
ABOUT 50 PHOTOS
ABOUT 30 POSTERS

10. 3. SELECT ITEMS TO DIGITIZE
DECIDE WHAT TO KEEP:
- RAW MATERIALS AND THEIR DOCUMENTS
- FINAL PRODUCTS AND THEIR DOCUMENTS
ELIMINATE JUNK AND DUPLICATES

11. 4. ORGANIZE ORIGINALS

12. 5. SET PRIORITIES
FRAGILITY OF THE MEDIA
RARITY OF THE ITEM
AMOUNT OF USE FOR THE ITEM
AGE OF THE MATERIAL

13. MOST FRAGILE
DYING OR EXTINCT MEDIA:
- FLOPPY DISKS
- ZIP DRIVES, JAZ DRIVES
- OLD VIDEO FORMATS
THINGS IN A CARTRIDGE:
- CASSETTES
- VHS
- DATS

14. LESS FRAGILE:
REEL-TO-REEL TAPE:
- EXCEPT TAPE MADE BEFORE 1960
- AMPEX ¼” TAPE MADE BETWEEN 1977 AND 1983
CD-Rs MORE THAN 7 YEARS OLD
PAPER AND PHOTOS:
- WATCH FOR MOLD DAMAGE
- NEWSPRINT AND OLD FAXES

15. LEAST FRAGILE
CELLULOID FILM:
- 8MM, 16MM, SLIDES
- WATCH FOR VINEGAR SYNDROME
VINYL

16. 6. SELECT THE DIGITIZATION METHOD
DIGITIZE AT HOME
SEND MATERIAL OUT TO BE DIGITIZED

17. 7. PREPARE TECHNICAL ASPECTS
ASSEMBLE NECESSARY EQUIPMENT

18. 7. PREPARE TECHNICAL ASPECTS
DECIDE ON FILE FORMATS
IMAGES: TIFF, PNG OR JPEG
VIDEO: MPEG-2, MPEG-4 OR AVI
AUDIO: BWF OR WAV

19. 7. PREPARE TECHNICAL ASPECTS
DECIDE HOW YOU WILL NAME
AND ORGANIZE YOUR FILES
FIGURE OUT WHERE THE FILES WILL BE STORED

20. 8. DIGITIZATION

21. 9. ORGANIZE DIGITAL ITEMS
CONSISTENCY IS THE BEST POLICY
USE GOOD FOLDER NAMES
ADD NOTES, TAG IMAGES

23. 10. PRESERVE DIGITAL ITEMS
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 3-2-1 RULE:
- 3 COPIES OF EVERYTHING
- 2 DIFFERENT MEDIA
- 1 DIFFERENT LOCATION

24. 10. PRESERVE DIGITAL ITEMS
PRINT OUT ANY NOTES YOU HAVE MADE
AND STORE IT WITH YOUR ORIGINALS
CHECK ON DIGITAL MEDIA EVERY 5 TO 7 YEARS
TO MAKE SURE IT IS STILL READABLE

25. IF YOU ARE STARTING FROM DIGITAL:
1. GATHER THINGS
TOGETHER
2. DECIDE WHAT
TO KEEP
3. ORGANIZE
4. SAVE USING THE
3-2-1 RULE

26. NOT JUST THE STUFF ON YOUR COMPUTER
EMAILS
WEBSITES & BLOGS
SOCIAL MEDIA
CLOUD-SAVED ITEMS

27. LOTS OF RESOURCES AVAILABLE
EMAILS
– THUNDERBIRD, GOOGLE TAKEOUT, MUSE, MAILSTORE
SOCIAL MEDIA
– FACEBOOK AND TWITTER ARCHIVE FUNCTIONS
PERSONAL ARCHIVING SOFTWARE
– MYKIVE, EVERNOTE, LIFEMAP

28. QUESTIONS ?
BRIANMEAGHER@YAHOO.COM