Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 10th Nov 2008 09:13 UTC, submitted by irbis
What stands a better chance of surviving 50 years from now, a framed photograph or a 10-megabyte digital photo file on your computer's hard drive? The concern for archivists and information scientists is that, with ever-shifting platforms and file formats, much of the data we produce today could eventually fall into a black hole of inaccessibility.
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Member since:2005-07-24
We should just go back to those, they last pretty much forever.
For really important historical documents, perhaps we should, for the reason you have given. One would imagine that the Flintstones had a laser printer, and that design might be a good place to start for designing modern stone tablet printing technologies. However, I suspect that it may only have had a small dinosaur inside, likely now extinct, chipping the letters out with its teeth.
Member since:2005-07-13
One would imagine that the Flintstones had a laser printer, and that design might be a good place to start for designing modern stone tablet printing technologies. However, I suspect that it may only have had a small dinosaur inside, likely now extinct, chipping the letters out with its teeth.
Actually, the tech was a little more sophisticated than that. It utilized a small but highly trained prehistoric bird using a hammer and chisel.
So the idea could still be feasible.
Member since:2005-07-08
Stone tablets, we should just go back to those, they last pretty much forever.
Yeah, but stone tablets are no use if you cannot read the content written on them...
That is the case when trying to interprete some texts written in lost languages and writing systems... It can be a bit similar problem with proprietary data formats after, say, a century, if those companies are gone and their proprietary formats and software with them to the grave.
Member since:2005-08-18
It can be a bit similar problem with proprietary data formats after, say, a century,
To be honest, I think it's much ado about nothing. If there's a need to read these formats someone will find a way. I think we can reasonably presume that the internet and it's archived content will still exist in some way or the other in 20 to 50 years. Beyond that, lets say that technology will probably solve it.
To paraphrase someone else in this thread, it's not like the vikings sat around wondering "geee, i wonder if this runestone will last thousands of years. And what if noone understands my writing?"
The problem is not the formats but how to store our data for such extended persiods of times. If you can store it you can always store the instructions for the formats with the data.
There are problems we need to worry about NOW and there are those that we dont. This is one of the donts.
Edited 2008-11-10 17:56 UTC
Member since:2005-07-01
You're not the first person to think of that...
http://kk.org/kk/2008/08/very-longterm-backup.php
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Member since:
2005-08-18
We should just go back to those, they last pretty much forever.