Digital photographs, emails, and social media capture cherished conversations, gatherings, and memories. Without key digital preservation skills, families could lose valuable information.

Wayne State’s student chapter of the National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) researched various user-centered digital preservation methods and share valuable insight on how to help families preserve their digital photographs, emails, and social media.

The group also developed a website resource, informed by their research and archival best practices, to provide community members with the means to preserve their digital content in an accessible and cost-effective manner.

School of Information Sciences students Robert Browning, Ginny Schneider, Grace Moore, Eric Morgel, Kendra Moyer, Leah Minadeo, Amber Harrison and Caoline Hron created the website with encouragement and advice from faculty advisor Kim Schroeder.

"Our NDSA students have taken on another amazing real-world project and are offering it up to assist the public,” said Schroeder. “Digital preservation of family memories is a big challenge and they have created an easy-to-use website with which to guide families. I am so impressed with their work and so proud that our student group will again be presenting at the annual conference."

Browning, Moyer, Morgel and Schneider will present the group’s findings at the NDSA’s Digital Preservation Conference and Schroeder will co-moderate the meeting held virtually on November 4, 2021.