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Do Digital Photos Endanger History?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the what's-the-problem-here dept.

Ant writes "Experienced photographer Jayne West wrote her degree dissertation on the historical impact of digital capture. She argues that the use of digital photography in news reporting means we could lose a valuable pictorial record of history." Much of her argument seems weak to me (precisely because digital photography allows the instant culling West talks about). The digital storage itself, though, perhaps ought to make us nervous.

3 of 479 comments (clear)

  1. History has been disappearing for a long time. by pben · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Mankind has existed for a couple of million years. The camera has existed for 150 years. Color prints made in the the last fifty years are fading away. Nasa has lost digital data from there early probes.

    We don't seem to be learning from the history we know about now. Maybe we should just let history fade away to tall tales like those hunters did a million years ago.

    Nothing lasts in the end.

  2. Re:Easily solved by mojo-raisin · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Hey! Do you know how many shots you can get out of the battery with that setup if the LCD is turned off. I want to buy a G2/1Gig for a camp/canoe trip in several months.

  3. Veganism and limitations by No+Such+Agency · · Score: 1, Offtopic
    Obviously any activity you engage in (modern or primitive) probably has animal-killing involved somewhere down the line. Walking down the street probably involves stepping on a lot of tiny bugs, after all. Washing yourself kills numerous tiny bugs that reside on your skin. Veganism is about avoiding harm or exploitation of animals, but of course you can't have zero impact on the world no matter how hard you try. From Everything2.org:


    Veganism may be defined as a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practical, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.


    "As far as possible and practical". Anti-Vegans love to bait Vegans by looking far enough "down the line" to find some fault in their behaviour, but this is not a productive mode of criticism. After all, at least they're trying.

    --
    Freedom: "I won't!"