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Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 09:51:50 -0000 From: "LEESON, Chris" <CHRIS.LEESON(a)london.sema.slb.com> Subject: Metro: Time runs out for Domesday discs The BBC's 1986 Domesday Project (a time capsule containing sound, images, video and data defining life in Britain) is now unreadable. The data was stored on 12-inch video discs that were only readable by the BBC Micro, of which only a handful still exist. The time capsule contains "250,000 place names, 25,000 maps, 50,000 pictures, 3,000 data sets and 60 minutes of moving pictures.". The article notes that the original Domesday Book (compiled in 1086 for tax purposes) is still in "mint condition". [Source: London *Metro*, 01 Mar 2002] Additional comments of my own: The BBC Micro, along with the original Sinclair Computers, was the computer that sparked off the "computer revolution" in the UK. The BBC Micro was especially popular in schools, whereas the Sinclair computers were more popular in the home. To be fair, the 1986 Domesday Project was in the days before the really rapid changes in technology came into force - the BBC Micro was not a bad choice of platform then, especially when you consider that there were very few other choices available (50,000 pictures alone take up a lot of space). Moral/Risk: If you are wanting long-term data storage, the format is just as important as the materials. This is not a new problem - It has appeared in Risks before (RISKS-21.56: 'NASA data from 1970s lost due to "forgotten" file format' for one...), but is worth keeping in mind. I still have an old Commodore 64/128 disk with my (very) old account details on it - not that I have a C64/128 any more. My permanent records, however, are the printouts. PS: "Domed... We are all Doomed..."