You’d think that documenting our footprints in digital world would be easy, in fact, a little too easy because people do it all the time. But, after having a short discussion with a co-worker at a library-museum in Kentucky (my old part-time job) he planted this small seed of fear in me about the future of archiving for the digital generation:
If everyday people don’t keep journals or diaries anymore or write letters, what are people going to submit to their local museums when grandparents of the digital generation pass away? Will they have to dig through five different e-mail accounts to find love letters? Or rummage through GoogleDocs to track the ideas and conversations that have passed between innovators?
But then I came across this video and felt a little relieved:
Vimeo
Maybe technology will cause handwritten cursive letters to become obsolete and journals found in your grandparents attic will be harder to find, but maybe it’ll ignite everyday people to pursue personal projects where you can hear their voice and see their face.