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Digital Archivists: Protecting Public Data from Erasure

(spectrum.ieee.org)
206 points rbanffy | 4 comments | 02 Apr 25 16:03 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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nla ◴[02 Apr 25 18:01 UTC] No.43559438[source]▶
Best thing I ever heard from the head of archives at the BBC:

Once you format shift, you will always be format shifting.

Keep your originals whenever you can.

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1. anitil ◴[03 Apr 25 02:25 UTC] No.43564042[source]▶
I don't understand this phrase, are you able to explain it?
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2. bell-cot ◴[03 Apr 25 06:54 UTC] No.43565773[source]▶
Guess: If properly stored (physically), good-quality paper documents and photographs will last for centuries. But as soon as you digitize them - you're now chained to the treadmill of maintaining/upgrading/migrating digital archiving systems. Compared to keeping the old-fashioned Archive Storage Room dry (and fire-free), that's 100X the labor and expense. Forever.
replies(1): >>43567769 #
3. wizzard0 ◴[03 Apr 25 10:54 UTC] No.43567769[source]▶
A lot of paper archives and libraries burned just recently in LA.
replies(1): >>43568729 #
4. bell-cot ◴[03 Apr 25 12:37 UTC] No.43568729{3}[source]▶
True.

But from fire-resistant storage cabinets, to concrete-lined file rooms, to underground archives, the tech to make archives ~99.5% fire-proof is more than a century old. And if you add redundant storage sites for the high-value stuff...

Vs. anything digital is far more vulnerable to digital malice.