The knowledge and expertise of floppy disks is diminishing and no clear resources are available within the field on a more detailed understanding of transferring material from floppy disks. There are many uncertainties around the reliability of different tools and techniques used within the digital preservation community to transfer material from floppy disks and therefore no clear workflow or guide around best practice is available. Furthermore, more and more of the knowledge and context of floppy disks is being lost.

On top of the uncertainty surrounding the best method of creating a disk image, there is also concern around the optimal way of preserving and maintaining obsolete hardware. Cleaning and storing floppy disks is also something which currently has had minimal discussion within the field (outside of a number of blogs highlighting their experience) but is of increasing importance to ensure a reliable disk image is made.

Future Nostalgia has three key research areas to address above concerns:

• Gathering Knowledge - There are a number of sources out there on looking after and transferring material from floppy disks. This activity will gather this information in one place, including resources from outside the community, as adjacent fields and interests have a lot of information of use. An example of this is the retro hardware community, who have expertise on maintaining obsolete hardware and floppy disks. 
• Experimentation - A lot is unclear about floppy disks maintenance and many hobbyists have different opinions on how to look after them. A small number of resources are available for the digital preservation discipline itself on this topic, but it is severely limited.  This activity will result in testing a number of these resources in a more structured way.
• Preservation of Knowledge - Interviews will be conducted with those who have worked in the field. There are a number of sources out there on looking after and transferring material from floppy disks. This activity will gather this information in one place, including resources from outside the community, as adjacent fields and interests have a lot of information of use. An example of this is the retro hardware community, who have expertise on maintaining obsolete hardware and floppy disks. 

These three areas of research will be followed by a workshop with the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) and a resource in collaboration with them. This resource will include all gathered knowledge and information from interviews and experiments. Later on in the year a public workshop will be organised to celebrate World Digital Preservation Day.