Friday, October 14, 2005

Preservation Readings 14 October 2005

The Future of E-Mail Archiving. Jennifer LeClaire. TechNewsWorld. October 13, 2005.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/46481.html

Recent high-profile scandals illustrate the importance of email and the consequences of misuse. Recently 20% of employers have had email records subpoenaed, and 13% have fought lawsuits that were triggered by email. Email and other records are the “electronic equivalent of DNA evidence." Email archiving is growing rapidly and there is a great demand to have system administrators address the volume of email sent and stored. Email archiving must consider policies and the decision points that turn into policy. They want to make decisions based on long-term objectives and how the policies will fit into the operational model, “which includes policies for backup, restoring, disaster recovery, business continuity, security, flexibility and scalability.” "Archiving is a new concept, [!] and its growth has been fueled by new technologies that assist IT users in implementing this valuable strategy." They are looking to improve the intelligence of the archiving and retention functions, and to find ways to use the information effectively.

Ground Broken for New Church History Library. Press Release. 7 October 2005.

http://www.lds.org/news/article/0,5422,116-22297,00.html

A new Church History Library is being built in downtown Salt Lake City by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The library will incorporate updated technology and will significantly increase archival storage capacity to preserve various types of materials, including print materials, manuscripts, photographs, microfilm, audiovisual items and others. They have consulted with international experts in records preservation and archival design to ensure it has the best lighting, humidity and temperature controls, as well as fire and seismic protection.

http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,40-1-3227-4,00.html

Archivists are already addressing the issues of transitioning to handling the digital materials. “Documents that are digitized and made available online are handled less frequently, extending the life of the original document. Creating digital documents isn't without challenges. Every 10 years advancing technology dictates that digitized documents be moved to a more current electronic medium.”

Holograph? Schmolograph... Larry Medina. Computerworld. October 4, 2005.

http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/1103?NLT_ST_B

Concerns about holographic storage and its permanence. So far there has been no information about the permanence of holographic storage. Is there any information about accelerated aging tests? The Norsam technology was long term and stable; it may be time to look at this technology again. The point is that there is no standard for these new technologies.

More Eggs in One Basket: Will Blu-ray and HD-DVD Be Archival? D.W. Leitner. Video Systems. Oct 13, 2005.

http://videosystems.com/e-newsletters/Archival_DVDs101305/

There has been a lot of interest in the longevity of CDs and DVDs and the suitability for archiving. How do HD DVD and Blu-ray fit into this. Both have higher density than DVDs. HD DVD uses the same construction as DVDs, with the data layer between polycarbonate layers. With Blu-ray, the data layer is on the disc surface closest to the laser, with only a 0.1 mm protective coating, avoiding reading through thicker layers, which could cause optical distortion of the laser. With CDs, the data layer is near the surface on the opposite side of the laser. Disk scratches would be a concern to archivists, but professional versions would have a cartridge for protection (which means two different Blu-ray drives). The higher data densities of discs is a concern if one goes bad. And the holographic discs are even higher density than Blu-ray.

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