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The problem with physical solutions like microfilms is accessibility. I will be happy to know that there is a “true” copy buried somewhere in a mountain, but I

by kaurov 3y ago

The problem with physical solutions like microfilms is accessibility. I will be happy to know that there is a “true” copy buried somewhere in a mountain, but I won’t be able to access it. I had no intention to throw any shade on librarians :). They are cool, and do a lot of useful work assembling stuff, but I as user what to have trust in the original source. If everything including backups is managed by one organization, I can be still suspicious. :) And your point regarding what do we actually want to preserve is very valid. It is easy to imagine a situation when we want to store too much.

theGeatZhopa 3y ago
Yes. That's a good question... Right now, in U.S. each president's fart must be archived, like the tweets of D.Trump, which has been so massive in counts, that they've had to buy a new harddisk for it :) I'm not sure about America's rules. In Germany, the law for federal archive says "movies, songs, events (like who got the award, who was nominee..), written texts and - actually - everything which is not Facebook or a comment in Instagram. Basically everything that is published and publicly available/accessible. Of course the whole state running thibgs, the prosecution of crimes and the ruling of judges.. Quite a lot of stuff, if you ask me :) but ok! For the archive's sakes! While I'm with you at the most of your arguments, with the digital archive you'll have more problems with accessibility. You'll need a computer for it. The File-Format/codec/code should also be readable by the future's archive software.. (it's actually a problem of itself. One of the formats suitable and already used for documents is PDFX A..) So, while a digital archive can offer you error corrections in case data gets corrupted because of, f.e. medium's degradation, you still are in need to make sure it's copied early and often to other disc, so not too much data is lost for the error correction to be able to work.. With analog, the medium is the problem. A harddisk is typically suitable for 20-30 years, USB Stick / SSD are somewhere in the 2-4 years (if not being used once in a while).. microfilms are 150y+, tone or ceramic plates 1000y+++. In analog one has to take care of the medium itself (restoration f.e.) But with analog you don't need a computer. You need a light source and a magnifier. This will be available after the doomsday too - what can't be said about computer/infrastructure/powerplants.. Actually a good topic for a good night read. Thank you for raising :)
- kaurov 3y ago
  Thanks a lot for your thoughts! Frankly, I do not even try to think about doomsdays scenarios since I am unsure if it is even possible to make meaningful predictions on the state of technology. Someone with a magnifying glass reading Trump's twits of a ceramic plate in the middle of apocalyptic world?.. :)

by kaurov 3y ago

theGeatZhopa 3y ago

Yes. That's a good question... Right now, in U.S. each president's fart must be archived, like the tweets of D.Trump, which has been so massive in counts, that they've had to buy a new harddisk for it :) I'm not sure about America's rules. In Germany, the law for federal archive says "movies, songs, events (like who got the award, who was nominee..), written texts and - actually - everything which is not Facebook or a comment in Instagram. Basically everything that is published and publicly available/accessible. Of course the whole state running thibgs, the prosecution of crimes and the ruling of judges.. Quite a lot of stuff, if you ask me :) but ok! For the archive's sakes! While I'm with you at the most of your arguments, with the digital archive you'll have more problems with accessibility. You'll need a computer for it. The File-Format/codec/code should also be readable by the future's archive software.. (it's actually a problem of itself. One of the formats suitable and already used for documents is PDFX A..) So, while a digital archive can offer you error corrections in case data gets corrupted because of, f.e. medium's degradation, you still are in need to make sure it's copied early and often to other disc, so not too much data is lost for the error correction to be able to work.. With analog, the medium is the problem. A harddisk is typically suitable for 20-30 years, USB Stick / SSD are somewhere in the 2-4 years (if not being used once in a while).. microfilms are 150y+, tone or ceramic plates 1000y+++. In analog one has to take care of the medium itself (restoration f.e.) But with analog you don't need a computer. You need a light source and a magnifier. This will be available after the doomsday too - what can't be said about computer/infrastructure/powerplants.. Actually a good topic for a good night read. Thank you for raising :)

kaurov 3y ago
Thanks a lot for your thoughts! Frankly, I do not even try to think about doomsdays scenarios since I am unsure if it is even possible to make meaningful predictions on the state of technology. Someone with a magnifying glass reading Trump's twits of a ceramic plate in the middle of apocalyptic world?.. :)