Using Oral History to Study the Personal Digital Archiving Practices of Modern Soldiers

Abstract

Drawing on literature from personal information management studies and on the topic of documentation of American military experiences, this article aims to help the archival profession understand the personal digital archiving practices of modern soldiers. During the summer of 2019, the author conducted oral history interviews with US Army soldiers at Fort Hood to address the questions of what personal records soldiers keep of their military experience, what they do—if anything—to preserve them, and how they value them. This study found that both military and socio-technological factors contribute to a lack of digital recordkeeping among modern soldiers, that soldiers' reliance on social media as ad hoc digital preservation tools leads to poor digital preservation practices, and that a majority of soldiers do not see their digital records as worthy of future historical study. The article concludes with a discussion of actions that can address these issues.