Let's develop an open-source media archive standard

Ok, instead of all the unproductive bickering over semantics (most of which is illogical...come on, admit it) I'd rather we actually discuss developing further an open-source, public domain, free (in every sense of the word) standard for archiving data media of all types (magentic, paper, or otherwise). This is basically going to be a continuation of what we've already discussed on the list, and what Hans and I have discussed in private. First, let's start with the goals. The format should be: 1) Well Documented (with such documentation actively preserved in all four corners of the globe and beyond) 2) Not constrained to any particular hardware 3) Be inclusive of all physical (and logical?) manner of recording media 4) Be implementable on even the simplest architectures (because the original media source will in many cases have to be read on the hardware it is connected to) 5) Open source, public domain, etc. (although a copyright may be held if it makes sense to do so) 6) Adaptable, expandable, revisable (for future extensions) 7) Text-based and storable in commonly accessible character formats (i.e. a suitable subset of Unicode, i.e. ASCII) 8) Allow for the representation of media in either logical or physical (raw bit stream) formats This is a good start. Someone please continue adding to the definition. I will establish a special session at the next VCF (November 6-7) where we can commence a committee for formalizing this standard and getting it recognized internationally in all the various relevant groups (i.e. ANSI or ISO/IEC). -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org [ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ] [ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]