| "Digitized information, especially on the Internet, has | | | | Stanford University assigns a numerical handle to |
| such rapid turnover these days that total loss is the | | | | every digital "object" (record) in a repository. The |
| norm. Civilization is developing severe amnesia as a | | | | handle is the clever numerical result of a mathematical |
| result; indeed it may have become too amnesiac | | | | formula whose input is the number of information bits |
| already to notice the problem properly."(Stewart | | | | in the original object being deposited. This allows to |
| Brand, President, The Long Now Foundation | | | | track and uniquely identify records across multiple |
| )Thousands of articles and essays posted by | | | | repositories. It also prevents tampering. SAV also |
| hundreds of authors were lost forever when | | | | offers application layers. These allow programmers to |
| surprisingly shut its virtual gates. A sizable portion of | | | | develop digital archive software and permit users to |
| the 1960 census, recorded on UNIVAC II-A tapes, is | | | | change the "view" (the interface) of an archive and |
| now inaccessible. Web hosts crash daily, erasing in | | | | thus to mine data. Its "reliability layer" verifies the |
| the process valuable content. Access to web sites is | | | | completeness and accuracy of digital repositories.The |
| often suspended - or blocked altogether - because | | | | Internet Archive, a leading digital depository, in its |
| of a real (or imagined) violation by the webmaster of | | | | own words:"...is working to prevent the Internet - a |
| the host's Terms of Service (TOS). Millions of other | | | | new medium with major historical significance - and |
| web sites - the results of collective, multi-annual, | | | | other "born-digital" materials from disappearing into |
| transcontinental efforts - contain unique stores of | | | | the past. Collaborating with institutions including the |
| information in the form of databases, articles, | | | | Library of Congress and the Smithsonian, we are |
| discussion threads, and links to other web sites. | | | | working to permanently preserve a record of public |
| Consider "Central Europe Review". Its archives | | | | material."Data storage is the first phase. It is not as |
| comprise more than 2500 articles and essays about | | | | simple as it sounds. The proliferation of formats of |
| every conceivable aspect of Central and Eastern | | | | digital content has made it necessary to develop a |
| Europe and the Balkan. It is one of countless such | | | | standard for archiving Internet objects. The size of |
| collections.Similar and much larger treasures have | | | | the digitized collections must pose a serious challenge |
| perished since the dawn of the digital age in the | | | | as far as timely retrieval is concerned. Interoperability |
| 1920's. Very few early radio and TV programs have | | | | issues (numerous formats and readers) probably |
| survived, for instance. The current "digital dark age" | | | | requires software and hardware plug-ins to render a |
| can be compared only to the one which followed the | | | | smooth and transparent user interface.Moreover, as |
| torching of the Library of Alexandria. The more | | | | time passes, digital data, stored on magnetic media, |
| accessible and abundant the information available to | | | | tend to deteriorate. It must be copied to newer |
| us - the more devalued and common it becomes and | | | | media every 10 years or so ("migration"). Advances in |
| the less institutional and cultural memory we seem to | | | | hardware and software applications render many of |
| possess. In the battle between paper and screen, | | | | the digital records indecipherable (try reading your |
| the former has won formidably. Newspaper archives, | | | | word processing files from 1981, stored on 5.25" |
| dating back to the 1700's are now being digitized - | | | | floppies!). Special emulators of older hardware and |
| testifying to the endurance, resilience, and longevity | | | | software must be used to decode ancient data files. |
| of paper.Enter the "Internet Libraries", or Digital | | | | And, to ameliorate the impact of inevitable natural |
| Archival Repositories (DAR). These are libraries that | | | | disasters, accidents, bankruptcies of publishers, and |
| provide free access to digital materials replicated | | | | politically motivated destruction of data - multiple |
| across multiple servers ("safety in redundancy"). They | | | | copies and redundant systems and archives must be |
| contain Web pages, television programming, films, | | | | maintained. As time passes, data formatting |
| e-books, archives of discussion lists, etc. Such | | | | "dictionaries" will be needed. Data preservation is |
| materials can help linguists trace the development of | | | | hardly useful if the data cannot be searched, |
| language, journalists conduct research, scholars | | | | retrieved, extracted, and researched. And, as "The |
| compare notes, students learn, and teachers teach. | | | | Economist" put it ("The Economist Technology |
| The Internet's evolution mirrors closely the social and | | | | Quarterly, September 22nd, 2001), without a |
| cultural history of North America at the end of the | | | | "Rosetta Stone" of data formats, future deciphering |
| 20th century. If not preserved, our understanding of | | | | of stored the data might prove to be an |
| who we are and where we are going will be severely | | | | insurmountable obstacle.Last, but by no means least, |
| hampered. The clues to our future lie ensconced in | | | | Internet libraries are Internet based. They |
| our past. It is the only guarantee against repeating | | | | themselves are as ephemeral as the historical record |
| the mistakes of our predecessors. Long gone Web | | | | they aim to preserve. This tenuous cyber existence |
| pages cached by the likes of Google and Alexa | | | | goes a long way towards explaining why our |
| constitute the first tier of such archival | | | | paperless offices consume much more paper than |
| undertaking.The Stanford Archival Vault (SAV) in | | | | ever before. |