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We talk a lot about archiving stuff - great, but I hardly see the same emphasis on finding things. Search is equally important because thats where the rubber me
by systemvoltage 5y ago
We talk a lot about archiving stuff - great, but I hardly see the same emphasis on finding things. Search is equally important because thats where the rubber meets the road - actual utility of archive is realized and benefits of long term archives are reaped. Of course, there are queries such as "Find all newspapers for July 26, 1931" if something important had happened on that day - this would be an O(1) query for a library if they've indexed newspapers by date. Finding all mentions of "Bankruptcy of Cooks Mills in Lawson, Texas in 1931" is much harder problem if it is a physical storage. I'd be ok with converting all newspaper archives in digital format that's searchable.
- nerdponx 5y agoSaving the physical versions is preservation of cultural history. The information content should definitely be digitized.
- tomrod 5y agoHow much of the physical version should be preserved? For how long? Singletons are probably not enough. But why save the physical aspects? Why not simply digitize people discussing it, take pictures of the original form, etc.? Why invest the time and energy maintaining items of dubious future need?
- dEnigma 5y ago,he said, ripping the first Gutenberg bible into shreds after copying it.
- Aloha 5y agoa copy of a daily newspaper from Los Angeles in 1937 is not the same as the Gutenberg Bible. Newspapers were meant to be disposable, then and now, its good to store the information, but I'm highly skeptical of the need to hold onto the physical copies after scanning.
- tomrod 5y agoI think it's worthwhile to keep a few foundational books around, especially those that set a language or were otherwise milestones in technology and cultural progress. We should not be hoarders. There is a balance to be struck. I recommend considering folks can be multifaceted and aren't solely bound to one's opposing opinion as they read down a comment chain. Good day.
- afiori 5y agoat least a few of everything forever is a good starting point, as we move more and more into digital spaces it will become be even more feasible to archive physical copies when they exist (whit everything I also include WalMart depliants)