Preserving disposable data
We still have writings from ancient cultures, carved in stone. We have papyrus and parchment manuscripts – the Dead Sea Scrolls – dating back 2,000 years and more. But that Wordperfect document you saved in 1997 on floppy disc, can you read it now? Digital files are hard to archive in the long term not only because physical media corrupt – a CD you burnt in a PC fifteen years ago probably won’t be readable now – but because file formats and technologies change so rapidly.