digital dark age

hugovk commented on the word digital dark age

digital dark age, n.

The Long + Short, 12 May 2016:

Today, we tend to assume that digital files are permanent, don't degrade and don't need looking after to the same extent as physical materials like vellum or microfilm. But this is an illusion: few things age faster than technology. Numerous archivists and IT researchers express concerns about a possible "digital dark age" – a future scenario in which today's carefully digitised files become inaccessible as their technology is rendered obsolete. Think only of your own MiniDiscs, VHS tapes or floppy disks. In Finland, every file is digitised in three formats (two different JPEGs and an 'original' TIFF, a format archivists regard as unlikely to be rendered obsolete) to help militate against such developments. Each of these TIFFs is stored on two separate tapes in different locations by a governmental non-profit in Espoo, Finland's second city. A good old-fashioned fire therefore remains a significant problem, although – unlike in the days of the Library of Alexandria – digitisation, like the printing press, has increased document security through multiple copies and multiple locations.

June 9, 2016