Comments on: Excellent Life-Blogging segment on NPR “On the Media”

By: Alzheimer

Alzheimer — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 06:09:10 +0000

Alzheimer

Alzheimer

By: Uncle Fester

Uncle Fester — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 00:43:42 +0000

You aren’t alone

http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/about/index.html

Four years ago I sent out the family 8mm and 16mm film for conversion to DV tape. The boatloads of slides are the next to be sent out.

In digital photography, there’s the uproar over the RAW formats that the camera companies claim as proprietary (Nikon’s NEF, etc). Adobe’s “open
DNG format isn’t that widespread.

the keyword, as always though, is BACKUP. Too often it isn’t format but total loss that gets the average consumer. And local drive or DVD backup doesn’t help in a fire.

I just joined Mozy.com for easy, small file backup. I like it.

By: site admin

site admin — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:34:37 +0000

Wise words jim. I wrote my first and only novel on a Wang word processor in the spring of 1980 and wound up with floppies the size of old LP album covers. Absolutely useless today.

That’s why I want an online archive with double-belt-suspender redundancy for my stuff.

By: Cahill

Cahill — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 15:52:54 +0000

Found in a cave in 3021 AD – the dead sea floppies…

By: Jim Leonard

Jim Leonard — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 14:30:36 +0000

Leaving a history of life has always been a challenge and perhaps even more so in this digital age. If we look back into the records that have been left for us from the past the difficulties are obvious. Will the language you use be decipherable in the future? How long did people stare at ancient text until the Rosetta stone was discovered and provide a connection?

The challenges of records left using digital technology are even more frustrating. Who has the equipment to play back a wire recorder? How about a data tape used in 1978 on an STC tape drive? How about those slides our parents took to preserve those moments in the past? What about a 180K floppy drive that came in the first IBM PC? Can you find something to play an 8-track or a Sony BetaMax? How long before the 1.4MB diskette will be unreadable with a standard PC? How much longer before CD’s are such old media that finding a reader will be a frustrating experience. Even if you find the most persistent media will the language you write it in be translatable?

Maybe we need to look back at those artifacts that have persisted over the years to find examples of successful ways to leave a history.

Maybe our descendants will be constantly converting our digital legacy to new media and formats.

Will our efforts to share what we have learned and experienced be valued?

Maybe our contributions will burn brightly and illuminate only to fade away over time, just like us.

Jim