An ecologically just future for personal digital heritage: three guiding statements

Abstract

Archival and cultural heritage institutions should take control of our personal digital past in our current global ecological crisis. To develop this argument, this position paper moves beyond the disciplinary lines present in studies of preservation and introduces the concept of personal digital heritage. The concept takes an ecomaterial perspective to contextualise long-term preservation practices, specifies the context of where these practice-based considerations take place, and documents what informs them. This approach allows for a more holistic approach to grasp the ecological implications of personal preservation practices. So far, approaches that should safeguard our current personal digital heritage have been informed by an archival desire embedded in technological solutionism. This article extends social justice principles put forth in critical archival studies, connects these to ecological justice principles present in environmental media studies, and explicitly relates this to the personal. To show a way forward based on this combination, we introduce three guiding statements connected to three questions that lead archival professionals towards an ecologically just archival ecosystem encompassing Big Tech, archival and cultural heritage institutions, and individuals: (1) Take it down: asks where our archive is and considers reconfiguring institutional archival processes an act of ecological care and resistance to Big Tech; (2) Take it slow: asks whose heritage we are preserving and urges us to move from efficiency to sufficiency. (3) Take it back: asks who cares for our heritage and argues for archival and cultural heritage institutions to engage with public infrastructures and initiatives that limit Big Tech influence.