Let's see if this message gets through - my others aren't
Jan:
Museum curators have told me they will not accept certain kinds of digital
image files, so they will go. Don’t you know anybody with 18,000 images in
a flash drive they carry around? I do, and my nephew says he has about 8500
“expendable images’.
I'm hearing of a few places that are refusing digital copies - and it's not
just the preservation that's proving problematic, apparently there are major
issues with retaining archives of digitally created material in respect of
the digital copyright legislation(s) around the world.
" no comprehensive programme exists to preserve "born digital" recordings."
"It reiterates the long-established fact that many digital media such as
recordable CDs have a lifetime significantly shorter than earlier
technologies"
(I'd add that when CDs were introduced they were marketed as scratch proof -
which was wrong - and people themselves extrapolated this to meaning
'permanent'. Marketers got hold of this and basically BS'd people into
believing it.. and that was just the metal based CDs.. Dye based CDs
lifespans were considerably shorte. Programs I listed here years back
allowed you to actually test this by checking the error state of CDs before
they failed - and anyne could check an individual CD, burn it, check it
again, put it in storage - or subject it to more aggressive situations, then
test it again. Few ever showed any promise of lasting. I'd be curious to
know how many here who relied on CDs still have their data)
then there's ""US copyright law impedes preservation and access in many ways
"
"An 1895 wax cylinder is protected by state law and common law copyright
until (2067) and that's impeding access and preservation."
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-11442361
and we have the bleeding obvious:
"One irony of the Digital Age is that archiving has become a more complex
process than it was in the past. You not only have to save the physical
discs, tapes and drives that hold your data, but you also need to make sure
those media are compatible with the hardware and software of the future"
which it seems the US NAvy is having issues with. Changing their software
meant their files were altered and this has proved a headache for the
aircraft carrier USS Nimitz
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a1028/4201645/
Of course this isn't restricted to digital only:
http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1818-forgeries-happen-6-realities-inside-americas-archives.html
but one Carrington Event and the digital world is gone for good.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859
We had a near miss only 2 years back:
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/23jul_superstorm/
"calculated the odds that a Carrington-class storm would hit Earth in the
next ten years. The answer: 12%"
I am delighted to have all my physic, chemistry and formulary texts
available to me on a kindle, but I also have shelves full of the books too.
(oh big PS - a rather nice man, a Buddhist spiritual leader in Oz just gave
me these:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Feynman-Lectures-Physics-Volume/dp/0201021153 as a
gift ! - happy dance :)
