A practical view of why digitizing photos, papers, etc is a good idea: Katrin Eismann writes:

"After Hurricane Katrina, it was the photographs that people looked for and clung to amid the mud and destruction.  Just as essential as packing batteries, water, and non-perishable foods, creating a digital preparedness kit can save you and your family immeasurable trouble and aggravation."

 Download the PDF from her website: http://www.photoshopdiva.com/articles.htm

Just select Column 8 in her series of columns. 

Rethinking Personal Digital Archiving by Catherine C. Marshall

Individuals rarely view their own stuff as requiring curation: curation is for objects in museums. They feel no compunction to label photos, preferring instead to chuck them into a shoebox with the idea that they might paste them into a photo album later when they have more time. Books and CDs are crammed onto shelves to be searched visually. Although there are countervailing trends such as scrapbooking or lifehacking, neither reflects a universal...