Collecting the digital

Apps and digital platforms are part of our everyday, yet collecting them presents unique challenges. Technology rapidly becomes obsolete, so it is important to find new ways to care for and display digital objects. We worked with YouTube and interaction design studio oio to rebuild an early watch page for the platform’s first ever video, ‘Me at the zoo’. We brought together the code for the watch page, the video file, the original video player and a selection of ads. This allowed us to keep the interface design while making the original software and code functional again.

Written by: Corinna Gardner, Senior Curator, Design and Digital
Carmem Saito, PhD Researcher, Design and Digital
Published:16 Feb 2026

Description: Framed ‘If you're into it, it's in the V&A’ campaign poster / Leica M6 camera, E. Leitz, 1984
Maker: adam&eveDDB for V&A

Description: ‘If you're into it, it's in the V&A’ campaign poster / 'JVC Videosphere', JVC Ltd, about 1970, Japan
Maker: adam&eveDDB for V&A

Description: Process documentation
Credit: Matteo Loglio, interaction designer, oio

Description: iStorage diskAshur PRO2 solid-state drive (SSD), used for transportation and file sharing, 2055
Credit: Purchased by V&A Design & Digital/ Digital Conservation department

Transcript - Me at the Zoo

All right, so here we are in front of the, uhm, elephants, and the cool thing about these guys is that, is that they have really, really, really long, uhm, trunks, and that’s, that’s cool, and that’s pretty much all there is to say.

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