Oh! And I just noticed their link to the 10,000 Year Library project. What’s that? Dunno, sounds interesting: http://www.longnow.org/10klibrary/libIdeas.htm

j, have you read Nicholson Baker’s Double Fold?

I think computer-based archiving does have some merits, not only in preservation of access over time but in distribution of access geographically in the Here & Now (if licensing hurdles can be overcome). However, paper continues to be a startlingly *good* preservation medium compared to other things we’ve got. When a dump is moved or excavated, it’s common to find decades-old newspapers that are perfectly readable though they have been buried all that time.

As an example, I have hundreds of pictures of my son Rowan, which initially I archived on my website and on some CDs. But I thought, how likely are we able to be to read that file format when he graduates from college? After having that thought I bought a photo printer and printed them out on acid-free paper and store them in an archival photo album, as well as keeping the electronic versions.

The great thing about paper is that it’s a “universal file format.”

One really interesting example of digital long-term preservation is being done by The Long Now Project. They are making what they call “Rosetta Disks,” which are optical disks that contain a short text of hundreds of the world’s languages. You can see a Rosetta Disk here — they’re startlingly beautiful to look at, too.