Born-Digital Acquisition Guide (edit in progress)

The purpose of this guide is to help curators identify and appraise materials to support processing goals.

Instructions

  • Downloading and filling out this document is encouraged. If you do that, please rename the file (using a collection identifier) and save it. YouGenerate or download the questionnaire in one of the following ways:
  • When completed, send to the Digital Archivist in any of the following ways:

General

  1. Please list associated Collection Identifiers if any (accession number, manuscript number): 
  2. What born-digital content should be transferred? Where is it located? 
  3. How does the born-digital content overlap with the rest of the collection materials?

Formats

  1. What types of born-digital media are there? 
  2. What types of computer files are there? Examples: Word processing files (.doc, .txt), photographs (.jpeg)

Work Habits

  1. Please describe their work and/or computing habits. How is content organized? What software did they use? 
  2. Who created these files and what are their roles?

Privacy and Security 

  1. Are any of these files encrypted? Do any require login information?
  2. Do any files contain sensitive or legally protected information? Examples include Social Security Numbers, bank account information, or other sensitive materials or data, etc. 

Networked data

  1. Email:
    1. If the acquisition includes email, please provide email providers/platforms and associated login information*.
    2. Please describe the current format of the email. 
  2. Social Media: If the acquisition includes social media, please list the associated platforms, as well as usernames and hashtags.

Cloud Storage & Document Sharing 

  1. Does any content live on cloud storage? Are they publicly or privately available?
    1. Please list the cloud storage/document sharing sites and associated login information, if necessary.*
  2. Does any of the born-digital content exist on picture, video, or other media sharing sites (i.e. YouTube, Flickr, Vimeo, etc.)? Please list them with associated login information.*


*Note about Login Information

Please note that login information should be sent via encrypted email to the Accessioning Archivist or the Digital Archivist.