Quote:
Originally Posted by Format C:
To preserve for centuries a digital book you need:
- A safe place
- A safe storage
- The technology to access the medium (which, in turn, has to be preserved)
- The medium itself (again, to be preserved)
- The ability to decode the information in it (file format, bit/byte algebra)
- A reading device complete with hw&sw (which, in turn, has to be preserved)
- The power supply (same voltage, enough energy, etc...)
To preserve for centuries a paper book you need:
- A safe place
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You seem to be making that needlessly complex in order to present digital media in the most negative light, to wit, please explain:
- why item #4 doesn't apply to paper books? (is not the book the medium? does it not need to be preserved the same as, say a computer disk?)
- why item #5 doesn't apply to paper books? (ie. think alphabet/language, see
Linear A)
- what you mean by "safe storage" in #2? (ie. are you referring to the medium, which is #4? or the location, which is #1?)
- how items #3 & #6 differ. (ie. is not the reading device hw/sw the technology used to access the medium?)
Digital media really only have 2 additional requirements over paper books: 1) a device to read the media, and 2) power to operate that device. Now there are some arguments to be made about fragility of media and the reading device - but the majority of those go right to point #1: a safe place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Format C:
To preserve for millennia a book you need:
- A chisel
- A stone (did I say Rosetta?)
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We have many works which have survived multiple millennia without being engraved in stone. eg. think works from ancient Greece, India & China.
Environment seems to be a better indicator of survivability than media. The right media in the right place can survive indefinitely (within human terms.)
Troy