Securing our digital lives

We all lead increasingly digital and online lives, we blog, tweet, send emails, and take and share digital pictures. Our digital lives can be scattered across different places on the web, on photo sharing or social networking sites, on CD or on our computers. Often this material can be important to other people, such as family or friends. But so often no one else knows where this material is or that it even exists. If something were to happen to us this material could be lost forever. The photos of aunty Mabel and uncle Fred would never make it into the hands of the grandchildren. One way to address this issue is to create a ‘Digital Will’. A digital will is about making others aware of what our digital life has been, where it’s all stored and what we want to have happen to that material. Digital Planet, from the BBC’s World Service, has been looking at what happens to information about ourselves that’s stored electronically. The Wellcome Library’s Digital Curator Dave Thompson was interviewed for part of the programme which was broadcast in the week beginning 20 July 2009.

Hear ‘Digital Planet’ on the BBC website at - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003nvyk

Read the Wellcome Library FAQ on digital wills.