Here Today, Virtual Tomorrow: future proofing your digital presence
Description
A student of digital design is encouraged to compile a digital portfolio, and this also becomes a part of their virtual identity and reputation. This is expected to become their calling card and during the course of their career they are likely to be constantly updating their digital portfolio. The storage of that portfolio, and their identity could be cause for serious anxiety and requires security for that portfolio and their reputation. As educators it is our responsibility to inform them of the risks and suggest ways to secure their work and their identities.
Takeaway
The takeaway from this session on the risks and opportunities for digital design students (and others) is that they should be aware of the professional and personal risks they could face from the loss, or damage of their digital portfolio, and digital identity. Attendees will be informed of these risks and be encouraged to consider ways to secure work and professional reputation for students.
Abstract
Students who have grown up with the Internet could justifiably believe that the web medium has a certain persistence, if not unerasable actuality. As they begin to build their digital career, and concomitant digital identity, they could feel secure creating a digital portfolio, and digital reputation as a lifelong record of their work. Even if a virtual 3D world were to eventually consume the World Wide Web, many could feel relaxed that any web based storage, and most likely, cloud based archive, would preserve their valuable digital assets and digital identity. However, even a cursory review of the past fifty years of information technology would suggest that this confidence could be misplaced.
Software programming and storage procedures have changed radically and a short list of major technologies will illustrate how a digital asset created in 1965 could be almost inaccessible today. Archivists have long discussed the problem of reading outmoded technologies as we moved from the various mediums such as punch cards, to large floppy 5¼-inch discs, small floppy discs; zip discs; jazz discs; optical discs; internal hard drives; and now cloud based storage. Compounding this problem of storage and retrieval has been the radical change in software and operating systems making files no longer readable.
A student, who might imagine a long career in creative technologies and digital design, may be struck by anxiety as they consider that their digital portfolio, and identity could become inaccessible and they will lose evidence of their work, and possibly even access to basic services. According to one cloud based storage company 5.1% of hard drives fail from manufacturer defects in the first year, this increases to double digits, or around 20% by the fourth year, when most drives are out of warranty. For Apple computer owners ejectable media, such as floppy discs are no longer an option, many users have no idea about the security or backup process of their precious files hosted by various cloud providers. Many companies will not allow employees to use cloud based storage solutions for fear of hackers.
The growing popularity of virtual worlds, and the nascent development of supporting digital design work could see a growing number of design students and professionals beginning to curate their own digital portfolios within virtual worlds. What happens when companies that host these services go out of business, or innovative file formats make archived digital assets inaccessible? This paper will explore the hazards, opportunities and the research urgency, surrounding the preservation of digital artefacts and identities.