How will I pass-down all my digital content?
Last January, I penned my thoughts about how I could shape my personal digital legacy. The topic came up again this week during a holiday gathering and I referenced my previous blog post during the discussion. (Doesn’t it sound so geek to cite a blog post during a family discussion?)
As we discussed digitizing photos and storing them “in the cloud” it occurred to me that content, such as photos, also need context to provide meaning.
I was thinking about all the old family photos I’ve seen over the years. Not only did I not know who many of the people were in the photos but I also didn’t know anything about the event. I relied on my parents or grandparents to tell me who the people were and the story the photos captured. Without context the photos were meaningless to me and I realized a meaningless photo is more likely to be ignored or abandoned by future generations.
But if I could leave information about my digital content then maybe it would add value for future generations. Maybe, just maybe, it would it increase the chances the content is retained and used in some way by a future generation.
Today, I use Google photos to store my digital photographs online. The tool provides the ability to add photo captions, comments, geo locations, and facial recognition. To be honest, I haven’t used this type of metadata much. But it feels like the right way to start adding more meaning to the family photos. 
Several years ago my wife was into scrap-booking. This is a great way to create context for family memories. Each page contained notes, stories, or phrases to describe the event in the picture. Digitizing the scrapbooks she created is a project I need to do to make sure the content is in my digital library.
So I leave these thoughts in my blog this year. I’m sure I’ll be discussing and thinking about a personal digital legacy again in the future. If you’ve thought about this topic and have ideas to share let me know.
Onward and upward!
Photo Credit: Dean Michaud via Creative Commons https://flic.kr/p/5W9UTq