Slashdot Mirror
Archiving Digital Data an Unsolved Problem
mattnyc99 writes, "It's a huge challenge: how to store digital files so future generations can access them, from engineering plans to family photos. The documents of our time are being recorded as bits and bytes with no guarantee of readability down the line. And as technologies change, we may find our files frozen in forgotten formats. Popular Mechanics asks: Will an entire era of human history be lost?" From the article: "[US national archivist] Thibodeau hopes to develop a system that preserves any type of document — created on any application and any computing platform, and delivered on any digital media — for as long as the United States remains a republic. Complicating matters further, the archive needs to be searchable. When Thibodeau told the head of a government research lab about his mission, the man replied, 'Your problem is so big, it's probably stupid to try and solve it.'"
I can't wait to hear Microsoft's explanation why the project should use one of their proprietary formats.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
So, they're shooting for about 10 years then?
Worked for the Egyptians didn't it?
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
I'd trust that guy. If there's one thing our governrment knows, it's stupidity.
"Was it a millionaire who said 'Imagine No Posessions?'" -- Elvis Costello
Interestingly, This Slashdot article is shown to me with advertisement for HD-DVD, which has a data format "forgotten" by design.
I wonder what archaeologists will think of the Zune :)
There exists no way of exchanging information without making judgments. --Bene Gesserit Axiom
Go to the library while you still can and memorize it. Buy camping gear.
KFG
Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it. -- Linus Torvalds
Working at a University, this is not a subject I'm not unfamiliar with.
Well, I have to say, I'm at a University too, and this is far from being not a subject I'm not unfamiliar with.
I'm doing my part by working on a project where I'm copying every single MySpace page onto stone tablets.
When future archeologists dig them up and see "LOL Bobby Ray Sucks!" and "D00d 1 pwnz3r3d U!!1!", they'll understand that our civilization didn't just decline; our only choice was to destroy ourselves because we were so lame.
Working at a University, this is not a subject I'm not unfamiliar with. We've had lots of discussions about this. Everyone always talks about how many zillions of "pieces of information" are out there. The number of web pages in existence is always brandied about.
Where can I attend these meetings, where people speak in triple negatives and much brandy is available?
I do. (Adjusts glasses)
--Rob
Towards the Singularity.
That's what MIME types are for. Duh.
Archeologist from the 23rd century going through or email archives: "Wow! These guys must have had humongous penises with all the enlarging going on!"
As a Slashdot discussion grows longer, the probability of an analogy involving cars approaches one.
... just print all the ones and zeros out on paper, so that later on others
can just read it all back in again with OCR! Oh, I know we could use
punch cards instead, but we don't want our kids to laugh at us, do we?
Besides, if we print the ones and zeros real small, we can achieve higher
data densities.
I doubt you'd sell many Nano-Pump (tm) enlargement kits. It's all in the name, even in the future.
SAILING MISHAP
That assumes they know which are the zeros and which are the ones. And that in turn assumes they know there are zeros and ones in the first place.
Sunwalker Dezco for Warchief in 2016
Knowing that there are 8 bits in a byte isn't going to do them any favors if they are looking at some of my programs that I have on punch cards.
Yo mama so fake, she failed the Turing Test.