Iain,
I not only listen to archivists, I work happily with them every day ... but,
as a group [I'm not speaking of my colleagues here], they are not noted for
their rapid acceptance of new technology, rather are quite stridently
recalcitrant and entrenched in their insistence [belief] that nothing can
ever equal paper for preserving data. Veneration of a venerable media is one
thing ... but preservation of information is another. Are we seeking to
preserve archeological records for the romantic notion that we've inscribed
them with our [venerated] words and scribblings on traditional time-honored
media OR rather, are we (shouldn't we be) more interested in preserving the
information ... the data ... those papers contain?
"In late 2005, Microsoft announced it was opening the file formats of its
Office suite, including Word and Excel, to competitors in order to get
Office certified as an international standard. By ceding proprietary control
of the formats to third-party developers, Microsoft greatly increases the
odds that those formats will be accessible for future generations.
Meanwhile, the International Organization for Standardization recently
certified a modified version of Adobe Systems' popular Portable Document
Format (PDF) specifically for long-term archiving. It's called PDF/A. In
essence, PDF/A preserves everything contained in a document that can be
printed while excluding features that may be useful in the short term but
problematic in the long term. For example, the new format does not allow
embedded links to external applications, which could become obsolete, and it
doesn't allow for passwords, which can be lost or forgotten. "It is all
about creating a reliable presentation down the road," says Melonie Warfel,
director of worldwide standards for Adobe, who worked on the project. Adobe
is also working on archiving standards for engineering documents and digital
images."
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4201645.html
Best regards,
Bob Skiles
----- Original Message -----
From: "Iain Stuart" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 1:54 AM
Subject: Old Notes
Unlike some I do listen to the archivists especially those who are dealing
with this problem on a daily basis. I have been told of one commission of
inquiry simply handing their computers over to the archives for them to
archive. The problem as has been mentioned is not the short life of CD’s and
DVD’s but the propriety formats of Word …etc. I noticed that MS introduced
an entirely new format for its Office programs running under Vista so that
there was the usual compatibility problems with those using the 2003
version.
My reading is that the archivists were advocating PDFing everything as PDF
is an open-source program whose code is known.
Of course every document that dies or is destroyed is one more reason for
doing archaeology in the future!!
yours
Dr Iain Stuart
Partner
JCIS Consultants
ABN 15 673 291 522
PO Box 2397
Burwood North
NSW 2134
Ph/Fax (02) 9701 0191
(0413) 380116
HYPERLINK "mailto:[log in to unmask]"[log in to unmask]
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