[ARSCLIST] Fw: [ARSCLIST] Longevity

[steven c <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Both my message and Rob's reply were meant for the list! Any comments about
"eternal" archiving (for whom?), all you folkses out there in Radio-land?
Steven C. Barr
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rob Poretti" <r.poretti@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "'steven c'" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 8:55 AM
Subject: RE: [ARSCLIST] Longevity


> Hi Steven,
>
> Not to fear.  The computer industry is very aware of the issue of
> "obseletism" both in products and "standards".  Over the past 10 years a
set
> of best practices for long term archiving have evolved, that allows for
> "eternal" digital carriers and automated approaches to migrate material
from
> one format to the next.  Many companies follow these practices now.
> Awareness by the audio archiving community is increasing:  at the ARSC
> conference in Seattle, John Spence of BMS/Chace had an excellent paper on
> the subject, and it was discussed during the ARSC Technical Committee, of
> which he is part of.
>
> I understand that you are concerned about what might happen far in the
> future, but in reality - and fortunately - time is incremental.  As long
as
> we move to this eternal digital carrier with "open eyes" we should be
easily
> able hold on to our archives - barring the earth's destruction....
>
> But I guess then, it wouldn't matter much!  ;-)
>
> Cheers!
>
> Rob
>
> PS:  Did you mean to email directly or was it accidental?  I think other
> people on the list might be interested in this type of discussion.... Your
> call!
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: steven c [mailto:stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> > Sent: July 13, 2006 1:26 AM
> > To: r.poretti@xxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Longevity
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Rob Poretti" <r.poretti@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > > In that case, we'll need geographic separation of our redundant
> > archives...
> > > Perhaps cold storage on Mars?
> > >
> > > <vbg>  Thanks for the levity Steven!
> > >
> > Well, to some extent it IS levity...but I also tried to make
> > a couple relevant points! Think (if it's even possible) of
> > what another hundred years of evolution in the
> > digital/computer field might bring!
> >
> > I'm still a year and a bit short of officially being a
> > "senior citizen" (born 10/22/42)...but the first "computer" I
> > ever saw was an early IBM that was "programmed" by plugging
> > the banana plugs on a dozen or so jumper cords into specific
> > jacks...and whose main task was reading stacks of pre-sorted
> > 80-column "IBM cards" and using the punched-in data to
> > calculate and print premium notices for insurance
> > policyholders. No "screen"...no keyboard (except on the
> > keypunch machine)...just a fancy (and expensive) cross
> > between a typewriter and a calculating machine. Of course, a
> > decade or less earlier the premium notices would have been
> > calculated and typed out by hand!
> >
> > Now, I'm sitting here typing e-mail on what is essentialy an
> > obsolete machine (Pentium III, 256MB RAM)...which is why I
> > can afford it. If I had the same data in a MS Access file, I
> > could create a program whose only limitation would be the
> > speed of the printing! And that is about 45 years'
> > difference...in 1906 they might have been writing out the
> > premium notices using fountain pens!
> >
> > So, what will be the capabilities in 2106? Of course, this
> > assumes that Homo Sapiens haven't self-destructed and taken
> > the planet with them...
> >
> > Steven C. Barr
> >
> >
>
>