18 May
2005
18 May
'05
2:52 p.m.
From: "Brian Wheeler" <bdwheele at
indiana.edu>
---snip---
Putting it into a currently-standardish format is acceptable for the
medium term. There is no format which will withstand eternity, so as
long as it can be used NOW and for the foreseeable future it can be
converted later.
Hi Brian
Even the choice of using ASCII is in question. With more
and more things being used world wide, I expect to see
information stored in a meta translatable language.
This would be something that could be entered in any
language and then print out in any other. It would not
just be a word translator but also include phases
and even slang.
I see ASCII as having a limited lifetime right now.
Still, for the archives, one needs to keep things as
simple as one can and still try to include enough
information ( not encrypted ) to recreate the original.
It is a task that Sellam has taken. He has made a great
start on it.
Personal archives are a different thing. I zip stuff
myself.
Dwight