Post #4426195

2026-08-06 20:04 UTC

RE: https://glammr.us/@overholt/117049333496122205 Back in 1999 or so, I was on the team that helped Minnesota Public Radio choose a long-term storage format for their (extensive and valuable!!) audio archives, which they were about to digitize. The conclusion we came to was that there was •no• storage medium that met their long-term preservation goals — true then, and almost certainly still true today. The best approach is perpetual and redundant forward copying of the data, from one physical storage device to another. An archive isn’t a physical thing; it's a process.

Replies (6)

@JustinDerrick@mstdn.ca 2026-08-06 21:31

@inthehands@hachyderm.io @overholt@glammr.us Yup, I’ve been a “Digital Archivist” for 30 years, personally and professionally. Only the process will save you. All media fails.

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@paul_ipv6@infosec.exchange 2026-08-06 20:06

@inthehands@hachyderm.io i took a LIS course that talked about storage problems and longevity with microfiche and that was the story then, still the story now.

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@ClimateJenny@biodiversity.social 2026-08-06 20:25

@inthehands@hachyderm.io My very non-technical historian husband says you should have multiple types of media and multiple locations.

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@jredlund@social.linux.pizza 2026-08-06 23:54

@inthehands@hachyderm.io We are still digging up ancient Sumerian receipts stored in cuneiform on baked clay.

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@EricLawton@kolektiva.social 2026-08-07 02:16

@inthehands@hachyderm.io I did the same for the Alberta Provincial Archives. Same conclusion. Most of their material was on microfilm, which was beginning to perish. Early 1980s.

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@cratermoon@zirk.us 2026-08-07 00:17

@inthehands@hachyderm.io less technology, more librarians and archivists

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