Personal Digital Archiving Elizabeth tietjen Digital publishing services September 20, 2016

photos audio video email docs websites Print family photos Research materials financial documents

5 questions to ask yourself… Where is your information? What is most important to you? Are you organized? Could someone else tell? Do you have backups? How easily can you access, move, and share your files?

storage Know the trade-offs between different types…

What exactly is “the cloud”? Dropbox Apple iCloud Google Drive Servers

Storage considerations… Location – local drive or cloud? Import/export and sharing Cloud requires internet access! How easily can you access, move, and share your files? Space How well does it integrate with other platforms you use? Often a certain amount is gratis, with additional buy-up options Mobile support Supported file types Security and privacy Media file quality Cost Many platforms compress uploaded media Backups! Features Automated? Editing tools

Data security Research data and student records (FERPA)… Encryption: the conversion of digital data into a code that can only be de-coded by a person or system with the key There are different levels Many cloud storage services do not meet the standards or requirements for secure data management Harvard: catalyst.harvard.edu An Investigator’s Guide to Research Data Management Practices Harvard Catalyst Data Privacy and Security Planning Checklist University of Michigan: www.safecomputing.umich.edu Sensitive Data Guide Safely Use Sensitive Data Safely Use the Cloud

General rules of thumb… Keep primary copies and original media files on your own computer or hard drive Use cloud storage for backups and derivatives 3-2-1 Rule 3 copies 2 in different platforms 1 in a different location Technology obsolescence and long-term preservation Migrate your files every 5-7 years to avoid losing your data

A quick comparison… Your computer (drive) Google Drive Dropbox Location: local drive Space: unlimited! Sharing: manual sharing to any platform Cost: $50-100/1TB Location: cloud Space: 15GB free, with buy-up options Sharing: albums with other Google users, links, Google+, Facebook, Twitter Cost: free, with space buy-up options Location: cloud Space: 2GB free, with buy-up options Sharing: email Cost: free, with space buy-up options

A quick comparison (photos)… Google Photos Apple Photos Facebook Location: cloud Space: unlimited high-quality photos OR use Google account storage (15GB free, with buy-up option) File quality: high-quality or original Sharing: albums with other Google users, links, Google+, Facebook, Twitter Cost: free, with space/quality buy-up options Location: local drive and/or iCloud Space: local drive capacity OR us iCloud account storage (5GB free, with buy-up option File quality: original Sharing: iCloud, email, message, AirDrop, Notes, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr Cost: free, with space buy-up options Location: cloud Space: unlimited File quality: compressed, anything over 100KB or outside their standard sizes - 720px, 960px, 2048px (width) Sharing: restricted to FB platform (albums, posts, messages, etc.), downloading Cost: free

organization & description …it’s all about finding things later.

Imagine that you’re trying to find something again in 5 years or that someone else is trying to find something in your files… Why will you be looking for these files again? What information would be most helpful for finding a specific file?

Naming your files Be consistent! Choose the most important 2-3 types of information to include in your file names E.g. documents: Author_Title_Date.doc E.g. photos: Name_Location_Date.jpg Avoid spaces and special characters – some software won’t recognize file names with spaces Other options include Underscores, e.g. file_name.doc Dashes, e.g. file-name.doc No separation, e.g. filename.doc “CamelCase”, e.g. FileName.doc Date formatting tip YYYYMMDD or YYMMDD, e.g. 20160920 or 160920 Allows you to easily sort your files chronologically

Describing your files You can embed additional descriptive information into the file itself (Photoshop) Data stays with the file and is viewable in other platforms Most platforms also include their own descriptive fields, but these may not be viewable if you move the file into another platform Adding tags can help you group your files

example ORGANIZING PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL FILES…

RefWorks Refworks Easily import citations from databases Organize them into folders (you can nest them!) E.g. Create a folder for a paper and create sub-folders for sub-categories of your research Automatically create a bibliography in any style

example Digitizing print family photos for a slideshow…

File naming Naming convention Want to be able to find specific photos to share with family members and use in holiday cards, event invitations, etc. The people in the photos and dates that the photos were taken will be most useful INITIALS_short_description_date.jpg

Embedding metadata Photoshop File > File Info data is embedded into the file and viewable in other platforms Apple Photos

Exporting metadata Apple Photos You may have the option to include metadata when you export a file For groups of photos, you may also be able to automatically add a prefix to each photo Photos of my grandma and me, so I used our initials: PM_ET_ File names will be exported as: PM_ET_1,jpg PM_ET_2.jpg etc.

File conversion… Using the software that you are converting to and from is always the best option Look for Export or Save As options in whatever software you’re using Not perfect Third-party conversion software available online is unlikely to work well – don’t pay for it! Other work-arounds possible…

Getting started… Start simply, with a rough sort of your information at a high-level You can refine your organization in iterations Break things into chunks and prioritize Be realistic with your time Nothing is perfect and there’s no one right way to do it!

Resources The Library! MediaHub High-resolution scanners Media management and editing software Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Automatic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) enables you to search the text in your scan Allows you to edit text Allows you to convert to Microsoft Word, Excel, or PPT Photo editing tools (Photoshop, iPhoto, GIMP) Digital Publishing Services is happy to provide consultation on storage, scanning and digitization, and records management Library of Congress: digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving

Questions? Elizabeth Tietjen, Digital Publishing Services elizabeth.tietjen@providence.edu 401.865.1515