Their possible future

April 1, 2007

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Remember how I was complaining just a few minutes ago about links that download PDFs automatically? Well, I just started reading one of them and it’s great. Yeah, life can be funny that way.

Ensuring the Longevity of Digital Information
by Jeff Rothenberg
Revision: February 22, 1999
Click here to download the PDF.

Here’s his great opener:

The year is 2045, and my grandchildren (as yet unborn) are exploring the attic of my house (as yet unbought). They find a letter dated 1995 and a CD-ROM (compact disk). The letter claims that the disk contains a document that provides the key to obtaining my fortune (as yet unearned).

My grandchildren are understandably excited, but they have never seen a CD before—except in old movies—and even if they can somehow find a suitable disk drive, how will they run the software necessary to interpret the information on the disk? How can they read my obsolete digital document?

Later on in the article he points out how important the letter is in this scenario. It’s crucial because it identifies the disk as something of value. Without the letter (on paper, of course) there’s no way someone is going to go to heroic lengths to read the data. Trust me on this one.

As a footnote, I was delighted to learn that Jeff is responsible for one of my favorite soundbytes about digital preservation:

Digital information lasts forever—or five years, whichever comes first.

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Posted by Sally J. | Filed Under Blog, Preserve 

Comments

2 Responses to “Their possible future”

  1. Cricket on April 4th, 2007 4:49 pm

    Sally, I just discovered your blog, and I’m really enjoying it. Genealogy is my passion, but one of my recent projects has been helping to create an “Archives” to preserve and store my church’s historical records.

    It’s a labor of love, but has its challenges…and I have so much to learn! I’ll be checking back with you often so I can stay up to date with your posts.

    Any advice you have would be welcome!

    Cricket
    http://www.shakingthefamilytree.blogspot.com

  2. Sally J. on April 19th, 2007 2:47 am

    Cricket,

    So glad you found me. Thank you for the kind words. My goal is to transform as many family historians as possible into family archivists — so please help me spread the word.

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