This is the third article in a three-part series on creating and maintaining digital archives for artists and arts organizations. It offers practical, actionable guidance on the simple steps that anyone can take to start caring for their digital materials.
- Part 1: The Cloud Ate My Homework: Why Artists and Arts Orgs Need a Digital Archive
- Part 2: Archive Smarter: A Step-by-Step Guide to Digital Preservation
- Part 3: (You are here!) Future You Says Thanks: Making Digital Archiving Part of Your Workflow
This third and final article focuses on how to put your archive strategy into practice.
Integration is Key!
If you think you’ll “get around to archiving your work later,” it likely means it won’t get done!
That’s why it’s so important to integrate archival practices into your regular activities. When these tasks aren’t treated as “extras” but instead as a natural part of your process, you’re far more likely to stick with them.
It takes time and repetition for archival work to feel routine. But once it does, it becomes as ordinary as sketching ideas or sending project emails.
To show how this can look in practice, let’s walk through a scenario: an artist who has received city funding to create a new public sculpture.
Use Filename Standards When Creating and Sharing
Scenario:
As an initial step, the artist visits the site where the sculpture will be installed to take photographs and make sketches. They return to their studio and upload these images to their computer where they use graphic design software to edit and embed their sketches into the photographs.
They save these image files using the filename system they developed (e.g. projectname-images-date) in a preservation-friendly file format (e.g. TIFF) and an access version (e.g. JPEG) for sharing with others.
They send an email with the images to a designer who will produce 3D model designs for the sculpture. The designer responds with an estimate for the cost of producing the models. The artist uses the estimate to create a contract for the 3D designer, again based on their filenaming system (projectname-contractname-date).
Takeaways:
Even in the early stages of a project, it’s possible to weave archive practices into everyday tasks.
Saving files in preservation-friendly formats right away provides the flexibility to create different types of access versions in the future.
Naming files as you create them based on an established system will make it easier to search and find those files later, especially when you need to review important information like contract terms and details.
See examples of how you might create a filename structure in Part 2.
Organize Your Work Into a Folder Structure
Scenario:
As the project moves forward, the artist is continually creating and receiving new digital assets. They review multiple drafts of the 3D model before approving a final design.
This is then emailed to a metal fabricator who will create a base structure for the sculpture. Because the city grant program requires multiple project report updates, the artist drafts, edits, and sends those documents based on the project schedule.
Along the way, draft and final versions of the digital assets are produced and immediately moved into the relevant folders based on the established project folder structure. The artist also organizes important email messages from the project funder, city staff, collaborators, and contractors using the same folder names and categories.
Takeaways:
When there is a clear and logical place for each file, organizing becomes part of the workflow rather than an extra chore. This practice prevents a cluttered desktop or scattering of files into random folders.
Even if you are primarily working within web-based services (e.g. Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Dropbox) to create, edit, and/or store digital assets, you can still use a folder template structure to organize your assets.
See examples of how you might create a folder structure in Part 2.
Describe Your Digital Assets With Keywords and Metadata
Scenario:
Finally, after many more steps, the sculpture is installed in its new home in a city park and the artist creates final photographs of the finished work.
They have been photographing the process of creating and installing the sculpture and now have a large set of digital images to sort through. They have created a database specifically for documentation of their artworks so they can add more descriptive information about each piece, including a set of custom keyword categories.
This database is very valuable, making it much easier to quickly find images to use in grant applications, to share with galleries, and promote their art practice on social media. They import the images into the documentation database and start to add keywords and a description for each image.
Takeaways:
It’s not realistic to create detailed metadata for every single digital asset. However, for certain categories—such as images—adding description beyond the filename can be worth the extra effort. A simple set of tags or keywords greatly improves your ability to search, sort, and retrieve files when needed.
Descriptive information can be maintained in basic tools like spreadsheets, but databases offer greater functionality and a more user-friendly experience. There are a range of web-based services that provide easy entry points for creating databases, including a handful geared towards artists.
For larger groups or organizations, more advanced digital asset management systems may also be worth considering, though these often come with higher costs.
See examples of how you might create a metadata structure in Part 1.
Move Your Materials to Archive Storage
Scenario:
Now that the production phases of the project are complete, final grant reports have been submitted, and contractor invoices have been paid, the artist works on the project wrap-up tasks. This primarily entails:
- Reviewing the project folders and selecting assets to be moved to archive storage
- Moving copies of the final preservation versions of assets produced during the project to their archive storage locations on an external hard drive and a cloud storage service
- Deleting draft versions of digital assets and other files that are no longer needed
The artist also downloads copies of important project-related email correspondence, such as communication with funders and contractors, and moves those materials to the project folder archive.
Takeaways:
How you move final assets into archive storage will depend on your workflow.
If you primarily create and store files on your local computer, this may mean copying them to an “Archive” folder on an external hard drive or cloud-based service (e.g., Amazon Glacier, Google Drive).
If you work primarily in a web-based service like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, then this step could involve simply downloading PDF versions of these assets to an “Archive” folder on your local computer, or another copy to an external hard drive.
In either case, the goal is to ensure that preservation versions of your digital assets are stored in multiple places for long-term access.
See examples of how you might approach archival storage in Part 2.
Find Your Archival Flow
Some archival tasks, like filenaming and organization, are best carried out continuously while new digital assets are created, but other tasks will make more sense to schedule to happen at designated moments.
In some contexts, the completion of a project or program is a good time to do the work of selecting and moving final versions of digital assets to your archive storage.
In other scenarios, it might make more sense to schedule these kinds of tasks, or other activities such as adding detailed description to images, to happen seasonally, quarterly, or annually.
If there are times during the calendar year that tend to be more busy with regular work activities, then try to find those stretches that are relatively less intense.
It may take a few attempts to find the time period that fits within your work cycles and that’s ok!
Start Small and Grow Your Archive!
Creating and maintaining an archive that works for you won’t happen overnight. It will take some time and energy to shift your thinking and practices to get to the point where the archival tasks feel like just part of what you do.
This may take years, and it’s ok if its not perfect at first. You are building something intended to grow far into the future.
Start with something that feels doable. Perhaps that’s just creating and consistently using a local filenaming system or a folder organization structure. Even small steps like these will help you gradually build an archive that keeps your digital assets cared for and accessible over time.