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The Digital Preservation Coalition, Gabriela Redwine and Charles Beagrie Ltd are delighted to announce the public release of the latest DPC Technology Watch Report ‘Personal Digital Archiving’, written by Gabriela Redwine, Digital Archivist at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.

This free peer-reviewed report is aimed at individuals who are concerned about how best to manage and preserve their own personal digital archives, as well as professionals who advise people on how to select and best preserve such digital content.

‘The term personal digital archiving refers to how individuals manage or keep track of their digital files, where they store them, and how these files are described and organised’, explained Gabriela Redwine. ‘People keep personal archives for many different reasons and the ubiquity of personal computing devices and the ease with which files can be duplicated often means that the same digital files can exist in multiple locations simultaneously.’

The report provides an overview of the key issues related to personal digital archiving, arguing for the importance and urgency of preserving personal files, while also acknowledging the difficulty of managing digital files that include a combination of digitised and born-digital materials. There is a short introduction to the role of cultural heritage organisations, in the history of personal digital archiving, as well as current initiatives, which sets the stage for resources and recommendations for individuals who want to be proactive about saving their own digital materials.

‘Our Technology Watch Reports are available open access as a distinctive contribution to the dissemination of good practice in digital preservation, but are framed directly around the needs of our members who help suggest topics and help us turn ideas into sustained and significant advice that addresses their requirements, explained William Kilbride of the DPC.

Neil Beagrie, managing editor of the Technology Watch Report series on behalf of the DPC added, “Personal archiving is where digital preservation most directly affects non-specialists as well as curators. This title in the Technology Watch Report series is likely to be of interest not only to DPC members and the digital preservation community but also to a wider public internationally.’

Personal Digital Archiving’ is published by the DPC in association with Charles Beagrie Ltd. Neil Beagrie, Director of Consultancy at Charles Beagrie Ltd, was commissioned to act as principal investigator for, and managing editor of, this Series in 2011. He has been further supported by an Editorial Board drawn from DPC members and peer reviewers who comment on text prior to release: William Kilbride (Chair), Janet Delve (University of Portsmouth), Marc Fresko (Inforesight), Sarah Higgins (University of Aberystwyth), Tim Keefe (Trinity College Dublin), and Dave Thompson (Wellcome Library).

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