"archival" CDs again

[Roger]

In my humble opinion the issue of longevity of digital media is a bit of a
red herring. The whole point of having something in digital form is that you
can copy it without loss. The curation of digital resources should involve
copying them onto the latest media every 5-10 years. The density and quality
of the media is continuously improving and so this process should not
increase in difficult as the archive grows. Few archives are doubling in
size every few years! Also the copy process gives a chance for improving the
indexing of the resource and generally improving its availability to others.

What if the money/interest runs out and nobody copies it? I can leave a book
in the basement for 100 years and it is still readable. Well you can leave
some books in some basements for 100 years. Take your average paper back and
put it in a damp basement and it won't be readable. Likewise I suggest that
CD-ROMs if left alone in the dark for 100 years would have varying survival
rates. Generally the media is getting better. This gives even more of a
reason to continue the copy process.

Digital Curations is a new subject and needs alot of thought but it is
arriving. Check out http://www.dcc.ac.uk/

For the really paranoid: If your data is just text you could always print it
out onto acid free paper using a high quality laser printer. Then put the
paper in good archival boxes and keep them in an environmentally controlled
facility. Future generations could then scan the text back into a computer
when they need it!