I don't 100% remember the first time my family dialed into the Internet super-highway, but I feel as though it was around 1996-7. My first foray into the Web was through AOL chat rooms and pages directed towards kids/teens and helping with homework assignments. After being comfortable with such things, we naturally started branching out, and after hearing that "everything" could be found online, I would do endless searches only to learn that wasn't quite the case yet. I could search for many things and maybe half would come back with good results.
Digitization has really helped that process along. With more learning institutions putting their collections online (like the UT Heritage Society) and with more and more businesses moving online, finding information in other ways is becoming easier. Discovering new things is what piqued my interest in digitization as well it being a way to showcase the past. I realize digitization does not equal preservation, but it does seem like a good way to at least try and help sustain the lifetime of certain objects that might have a personal connection to others. It also allows for people to view items that they would not be able to see in person, and I think that's a cool part of digitization.
I'm hoping to be able to to utilize what I learn here by sharing the information with family members and friends on how to save their heirlooms, photos, etc. When you make preservation a personal case, more people are apt to listen and connect with what is being said. It would also be great to be able to take what is learned here and apply it in a museum setting, which is where I would ideally like to work. So, we shall see what the future holds!
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