Part I Introduction

In today’s networked information society, more and more information is being produced and consumed in digital form. Much of this information is readily available, able to be called up at any moment on devices we carry in our pockets, and perhaps more so in future, wear on our wrists or on the bridges of our noses— perhaps 1 day even embedded in our bodies. The storage of such digital information has become easier and cheaper, transitioning from large reels of magnetic tape that were relegated to isolated large-scale computing centers, to memory sticks or SIM cards and now even the nebulous “cloud”, seemingly accessible at all times and from virtually any location. Yet, despite the fact that a blog entry from 7 years ago can generally still be viewed today without many of the issues or risks of loss that plague paper documents, digital information within constantly operating networks is deceptively vulnerable; continuous curation is required to preserve its on-going availability. These aspects of the networked, digital data ecosphere which we currently inhabit have produced a shift in the previously prevailing balance between remembering and forgetting.