Last weekend, I had some really interesting conversations with some really lovely people, about their digital stuff! I really enjoyed thinking about things from other people's points of view, and finding out about what people care about and how they care for it.
Here are a few things that I noticed kept cropping up!
In their collections, people have...
... things they have created for other people.
... things that need for a short-term current use.
... work they admire from other people.
... things they are keeping "for nostalgia purposes".
... photographs of things that act as records of accomplishments.
People put things online...
... so they can be accessible and useful to others .
... so they are backed up independently of a computer.
... for the purpose of playing a game, doing an activity with other people.
People like to share things with each other...
... particularly when it is a nice experience, and someone important cannot be there.
... to help someone else learn.
I noticed people sometimes felt...
... a sense of confusion/lack of control over how computers work
... a self-consciousness, or the feeling like they're doing things "wrong".
... worried that deleting or changing something could have an unforeseen impact, so just leaving things well alone.
... that whether their digital creations survives in the long term is contingent on their future success. Their stuff will only matter if they earn the respect of future generations.
More than one of the people I spoke to were...
... prepared to pay for additional tools/software, particularly if they make life easier.
... happy to allow some pieces of work to be forgotten about (usually by passively allowing time and the computer to do their thing!)
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much to the lovely people - you know who you are - for chatting with me about your digital stuff! It was really fun, and you have given me loads of food for thought!
And thank you to everyone else for taking the time to read this! What do you think? Do any of these sound like you, or like people you know?
This article was part of my Deep Dive into Personal Archiving series!
Series Intro: Why Stuff Matters?
Last Article: How to Digitise Your Audio Cassettes
Next Article: Interviewing People (Behind the Scenes)
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