Digital Preservation

This section was created to help with the preservation, preparation, and production of digital content for you and future generations. Below is a listing of tools and resources to help in setting up this process. This section was born from this blog post which I recommend you read to help frame the need for this. You can read more posts I’ve written on this topic here. I will continue to maintain this section with updates and if you have anything I should add, please let me know.

Step 1 – Preservation

Backup

• Local Backup Strategies and Software articles
  • How to backup your computer – Lifehacker
  • What’s your backup plan – The 99 Percent
  • Set up an automated bulletproof file backup solution – Lifehacker
  • Bulletproof backup: How to make sure your desktop, mobile & web data are safe – The Next Web
  • Duplicati – Backup software client for Windows / Mac that integrates with Amazon Cloud backup or remote file servers
• Cloud Backup Services
  • Backblaze, Carbonite, CrashPlan
• Online / Social Data Backup Services
  • Backupify
  • Social Folders
  • BackupMyTweets
  • Tweet Guard
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • Rewind.me – Currently supports Foursquare with more services coming
  • Social Safe - Saves Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Viadeo, and Google
  • ThisLife – Backup and share photos and videos with privacy settings

Step 2 – Preparation

Password Management

• Password Services and Software
  • Lastpass, 1Password (password services)
  • Legacy Locker, Entrustet (digital will services)
  • KeePass (software)

Access / Update Social Accounts

• Facebook information for: Memorializing or deleting the profile and downloading account data
• Google Inactive Account Manager: Configure your Google account to grant access to data for trusted contacts

Prepare a data access plan

• Provide information for password services / software with the master password to access
• Designate and train a digital trustee on accessing your data and passwords to help out
• Provide information for all on-going subscriptions to services related to digital data

Step 3 – Production

Digital Archiving Software

• Photos
  • Picasa, ACDsee (photo management software)
  • Video Archiving tips

Digital Archiving Services

• 1000Memories - A service to create digital archives of your physical photos
• Dead Social – A service that allows us the schedule messages to send across our social networks after we die
• Famento – Create family history sites
• If I Die – A service to queue up a message to be posted on social services when you die
• LiveOn
• MiLifemap – Archive photos, videos, social network data, and more. Filter and create collections to curate your memories as well.
• ViewShare

More Resources

Resource Websites

• Library of Congress Digital Preservation website
• The Digital Beyond
• Digital Preservation Tools and Services - at Agofied
• Death and Digital Legacy

Articles

• Death doesn’t stop social networking
• Services aim to preserve legacies in the digital afterlife
• Data protection: More than saving data, it’s saving culture – by Write Edit Teach
• Interesting survey results for how to handle online accounts after death
• Death doesn’t stop social networking – by SFGate
• Account Handling After Death Survey – by Lifeensured (image)

Books

• The future of looking back – by Richard Banks