Presented by Tom Jackson, UK

This presentation provides one possible answer to the question of how to create and where to store digital records about objects of historical interest including the restoration of historic scientific instruments. In particular objects which are not owned by an institution and therefore do not have access to a corporate database and cataloguing system. The answer suggested is to use an open source communally owned protocol that can replicate data across any hardware connected to the internet. By far the most actively supported and well used protocol for such peer-to-peer file sharing and storage is IPFS (InterPlanetary File System). This presentation walks through some practical examples and suggests how long-term storage of digital records can be achieved using IPFS.