Digital Legacy – Guaranteeing access to your chapter/state digital accounts

If you are the “keeper” of your chapter or state organization website, Facebook, or other digital media, have you planned for the day when you turn these over to another member?

What is a Digital Legacy?

A Legacy is what you leave behind when you leave a place. A Digital Legacy is all the online files, graphics, websites, etc. that are in cyberspace.

When thinking about a digital legacy consider:

• social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn;
• blogs and licensed domain names;
• music, photos, or other files that you store online;
• a website.

How can access be guaranteed?

In general, the email and password associated with any digital account should be shared with at least two other members of your group. You might establish guidelines for the president and treasurer (suggested people) which dictate that the information be kept safely and passed along to the succeeding person.

There is a strong possibility that your chapter/state Facebook page is set up as a page associated with a personal Facebook account because that is how Facebook demanded that you do it. This will be next to impossible to pass along. Many states and chapters are finding that Facebook is quite valuable and plan to establish an account in the near future. To those groups, please wait for the next blog posting that will describe how to “work around” Facebook and establish a page that is independent of personal accounts. Then, as above, the login information can be shared with at least two other people in your group.

Websites are generally two kinds. One is built and maintained on a personal computer using a website building program. The other is web based. If your website is associated with a computer program, the owner must maintain a backup or archival copy that can be passed to another member who owns the same computer program. The originator of the website must periodically share the backup or archival copy with at least two other members. The web-based website is easier to pass along. It is assumed that the email associated with the website is generic (i.e. ADSOhio@gmail.com) and not personal. If it is a personal email, it should be changed. Then both the email address and the password associated with the website are shared with two people for safe keeping. See suggestion above.

If your webmaster were no longer available, could you access your website to make updates? Please discuss this topic and decide the best course of action to guarantee access to all of your digital accounts.