----- Original Message -----
From: "George Brock-Nannestad" <[log in to unmask]>
> From: Patent Tactics, George Brock-Nannestad
> Brandon Burke asked:
>> Anyone else think it's ironic (sad even?) that a thread originally about
>> preservation and long-term
>> housing solutions has turned into a discussion of milk crate
>> technologies..
>
> ----- I for one don't. Because the query was about an instant problem, not
> about preservation and long-term housing at all. People reacted on their
> gut
> feeling and saw "long term", so their posts were just as misguided. And
> reacting by going into fibre-glass reinforced milk crates is just as
> relevant.
> I think that we may have information overload, but from free association
> something good may still come. People used plywood in the old days (see
> the
> original post), and the fortuitous fact that certain milk crates are
> actually
> also very good for housing records with stiff covers shows that when there
> was a demand outside the archiving world, elements useful in archiving
> became
> much cheaper. However, only one ARSCLIST poster really made good use of
> them.
> And this is the eternal problem of archiving: we have to rely on
> technology
> originally developed for other purposes, because there is so little
> prestige
> in archiving that there is no funding for buying tailor-made solutions.
> On another list a reference to a most relevant document has been posted,
> and
> I recommend it heartily, although I have not finished reading it. It is
> available at:
> http://brtf.sdsc.edu/biblio/BRTF_Final_Report.pdf
> and it is called "Sustainable Economics for a Digital Planet". It is very
> sobering reading. Fortunately, in other places there are still those who
> work
> on an easily accessible and durable (non-migration-requiring) medium. It
> is
> my personal view that that is the only long-term viable solution.
>
EXCEPT...my 78rpm "shellac archive" is NOT yet digital! Since my interests
also include the discographic information concerning these sound recordings,
I don't expect to convert this archive to digital form. For one thing, this
MUST
be done in "real time" (about six minutes per "78".../!)...this would take
about
5700 hours (712.5 8-hour days!). In fact, I have NO idea how many of my
78's have already been issued in digital form (on commercial CD's); however,
I'm not holding my breath awaiting the multi-CD "Complete Recorded Works
Of Henry Burr"...?!
Steven C. Barr
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