Sorry Mr. Browning, but you're wrong.
Again, I urge anyone who is interested in really learning about all the
problems associated with the simplistic answer Mr. Browning insists on
offering to please consult the professionals at the Society of American
Archivists or, if you prefer, the National Archives in Washington.
Again, as far as I know, there are no American National Standards
Institute (ANSI) standards regarding digitization as a means of
preservation.
Robert Vejnar
Archivist
Emory & Henry College Archives
Holston Conference Archives
P.O. Box 948
Emory, Virginia 24327-0948
276-944-6668 - office
276-944-4592 - fax
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-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lyle E. Browning
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 10:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Despondent
Not that old canard again;( Migration from one system to another these
days is not a huge problem as it was in the "infancy" of computers.
All those competing systems that wouldn't talk to another have now
coalesced into a very few that do (well, mostly;). The problem was
that the folks had a paper based archive mentality where you could
toss something onto a shelf and let it sit and then pick it up and do
something with it. Electronic media isn't like that. What should have
happened was those e-archives should have been migrated to new media/
systems when the new ones came out. Then it's not a big deal.
I've moved from Radio Shack TRS-80 to IBM to Mac System 9 to Mac
Classic to PowerMac to Intel Mac in systems and from 5.25 to 3.5 to
hard drives and archivally from floppies to magneto-optical to CD/DVD
in media. All those files are now in a couple of back-up hard drives
and multiple CD's.
Just because there wasn't forward planning 20 years ago doesn't
preclude it happening now. Kodak doesn't make slide projectors
anymore, buggywhip manufacturers are hard to find, etc. Tempus fugit
and technology definitely fugit as well (this being the popular flies
rather than the literal flees definition). Techno-luddites, please
stand aside. The Roman army had a statement to the effect that those
who said something couldn't be done should not be standing in the way
of those who are doing it.
As an archaeologist, one of the questions I am frequently asked is
which era of the past I would most like to have lived in, given a
choice. My response has always been not the past, but rather 200 years
into the future when everything is digital and what is absurdly called
research is really recognized for what it is and that is slogging
through endless paperwork looking for gems after 100 other researchers
have looked at exactly the same stuff and never recorded it
electronically. Think about how many times the deed books at LVA have
been gone over. If LVA had put computers in there for people to record
just their own research, I daresay it would have a complete e-archive
ready for use now 20 times over.
Lyle Browning
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