Social Archivist

A couple of articles have caught my eye this week: If you have lofty ambitions for your legacy, head for the attic and Cyberspace once you’re dead.

Some quotes from the articles:

“Did we ever give a thought to how much of this will endure beyond our lifetimes?” Probably not. What that means is that we are – carelessly or unwittingly – consigning the records of our lives to the digital shredder…. chances are that when historians come to write the history of our times, they will find a yawning gap in the record.

“Increasingly we’re not leaving a record of life by culling and stowing away physical journals or shoeboxes of letters and photographs for heirs or the future. Instead, we are, collectively, busy producing fresh masses of life-affirming digital stuff… We pile up digital possessions and expressions, and we tend to leave them piled up, like virtual hoarders… what do they add up to when we’re gone? The legacy of a life you hope your survivors will remember? Or a jumble of “digital litter” for them to sort through?”