14 Jan
1998
14 Jan
'98
2:45 a.m.
On Wed, 14 Jan 1998, Grant Zozman wrote:
2) People who work in the computer industry generally
percieve
themselves as pioneers who are creating a new future, and therefore
throw off the old. As a result, very little emphasis is placed on
storing or cataloging the vast quantities of digital data generated.
This trend is complicated by the fact that storage mediums are
constantly changing.
That's what we are here for...to preserve the digital past. I've never
thought of the necessity to preserve "vast quantities of digital data"
(what would that be anyway?) but by preserving the hardware, software,
manuals, magazines, sales literature, etc. we are ensuring that this stuff
will be there for future generations to marvel over. The trick is keeping
it intact. More emphasis needs to be placed on preserving the medium.
We've done a decent job of addressing the issue, but society at large
hasn't.
The movie industry a few years back realized they had a problem on their
hands when they realized old movie reels in their vaults were
disintegrating and historic old movies were being lost. There was then an
industry campaign to find ways to preserve these important reels. I think
the computer industry needs to do the same.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
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