I hsve long predicted that our generation would be the generation that becomes unknown in the future. Magnetic media has a long lifetime, but not that long. Magnetic records can last for a hundred years, but other circumstances make it a poor choice for archiving. Among these are the materials used in and near the magnetic medium. These things include adhesives used to hold hubs on media, plastic cases outgasing, etc. Of even more concern is the availability of machines to read back the data. We have all seen this already. Are there drives to read an 8" floppy disk back? (Yes, they did exist. I have several.) How about a 5-1/4 inch floppy? This same problem will affect optical storage as well. Even if the drive exists, how about the computer to go along with it, or the operating system or other software that made the files? Now we are storing our photos digitally also. It is for this reason that I use black and white film and real paper to make photos I am interested in saving. Most everyone has color photos that are already fading. The only real long term storage that will be readable in the next century is acid free paper and permanent ink. Brent --- Chuck Hards <chuckhards@yahoo.com> wrote:
I've read somewhere that English is one of the most "efficient" of written languages...more data can be expressed with fewer letters. The language seems to be adapted well to science and technical ideas. A common English word like "airplane" must be expressed in some languages descriptively, something like "machine that flies carrying people". Don't even start thinking about Welsh, for instance. Some simple words can be a hundred letters or more long, and utterly unpronouncable by anyone but a native.
I also heard on NPR recently that archivists are worrying about data recording since the advent of the digital age. Magnetically-stored data only has a lifetime of perhaps fifteen to twenty years, and only a small portion of magnetically-archived data is being either printed-out on paper or converted to optical or other permanent storage media. They think that we may lose a large portion of humanities contemporary records as a result.
Fascinating post, Rich.
Chuck
Rich wrote:
It is rather amazing to think that with only 26 letters and a smattering of punctuation, any thought, idea, feeling, emotion, sentiment or discovery can be set down for ALL future generations to consider, possibly enjoy, and hopefully benefit from (assuming the paper/papyrus/magnetic medium/etc. manages to survive until that red-giant phase happens along... :-) Rich
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