Digital Preservation Planning

With today’s computer technology, it’s never been easier to collect and enjoy digital artefacts. However, creating the artefacts in the first place is simply not enough to ensure that you’ll be able to enjoy them in the long-term or be able to hand them down to family members. Unfortunately, the technology we use continues to change rapidly, so the hardware and software that works today is unlikely to be of much use in twenty years time. So, to ensure that a digital collection will be accessible and usable for years to come, it’s necessary to make a plan – a Digital Preservation Plan – and then to apply it. This is what I need to do for all the various digital collections that I’ve been working on and discussing in the OFC website; and I’m going to use the practical experience I gain in the process to assess the usefulness of today’s Preservation Planning guidance and tools and, if I find any shortcomings, try to make suggestions for improvement to the professional community working in this field.

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