A very timely article, and it is comforting to see that it is getting close
scrutiny. It looks like a long-term project.
My experience: Analog tapes. Not good. I recorded some in the early 1960;s,
and the little magnetic thingies dropped down to the bottom of the tape, so
that playing it you get a wah-wah.
CDs. I still play audio CDs that I bought at the dawn of the Audio CD about
25 years ago. Completely different technology..... bits burned into
plastic. But I guess the plastic, by its very nature, will 'flow' so some
day I shall not be able to play the things.
Recent: I just received the proceedings of The Historic Brass Society, and
they noted that all articles now are given some sort of number which will
help in filing and retrieval of the digital data. i.e. it does not solve
the longevity problem, but does show one more group heading down digital
lane.
I cannot address the global issues for Libraries and Repositories. My
emphasis is on records of the Extended Cabell family. The golden trident
for most of us in the data-repository business is, in the words of The
Moravian Music Foundation, to PRESERVE, SHARE, and CELEBRATE our heritage.
Libraries and Archvies obviously have in first place, PRESERVE.
But I submit that for most ordinary mortals like me, the priorities are
SHARE, CELEBRATE with PRESERVE bringing up the number 3 position. Not that
I think it less important, but if I sit around waiting until there are
standards in place, then my grandchildren will have grandchildren, and my
scapbooks will have continued to deteriorate. In the meantime, I'm 100%
PDF. Just finished 55 years of newsletters and 30 years of scrapbooks. All
digital, all searchable on words and phrases.
I have faith that somebody at some point (long after I have gone to that
Digital Archive in the Sky) is going to have figured out how to convert my
PDF files to whatever is the rage in 2100.
Randy Cabell
----- Original Message -----
From: "S. Corneliussen" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 1:09 PM
Subject: [VA-HIST] Sustainable digital preservation
> The recent energized discussion of archiving practices suggests that this
> New York Times article surveying prospects for economically sustainable
> digital preservation might interest some:
>
> In Storing 1's and 0's, the Question Is $
> By John Schwartz
> Digital data degrades over time, and it is unclear how best to preserve
> it - or how much it will cost to do so.
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/09/technology/techspecial/09store.html?ex=1208404800&en=6ff637c40611c1fe&ei=5070&emc=eta1
>
> Please note that I'm neither implying nor qualified to hold any opinions
> about this stuff. I just know it's important. Thanks.
> Steven T. Corneliussen
> Poquoson, Virginia
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