Re: [ARSCLIST] Paper cuts – going all-digital sti ll not popular [Re: Preservation ]

[steven c <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lou Judson" <loujudson@xxxxxxx>
> FYI, in the early days of filmmaking you could only copyright images on 
> paper, so prints were struck on long rolls of paper. Unlike the 
> cellulose nitrate film base of that era (which decomposes into an 
> explosive powder) or the more recent cellulose acetate (which can 
> decompose into vingear and something else) those paper prints are still 
> like new. And now we've got the digital scanners that can restore those 
> films to playablity. Friend of mine makes the scanners now used by the 
> Library of Congress, which digitally register the frames (cuz there are 
> no physical sprocketholes). Probably some of those films will be 
> lasered out to film -- but mylar-based this time!
> 
> I never know about paper films - anyone here know more?
> 
The problem is that each medium used for the distribution and/or
storage of information has inherent advantages...and DISadvantages!

In spite of the fact that ink-on-newsprint is supposed to be (and
usually is) a notably imperfect medium, I have late-19th-century
newspapers that are still intact and readable (and were never
carefully stored using state-of-the-art technology!). Shellac
phonorecords would seem to be nearly permanent...UNLESS you
drop them, spill any kind of alcohol on them or submerge them
longer than momentarily. We speak of "carved in stone"...yet
many tombstones from less than a century ago have been rendered
totally illegible by both natural forces and today's polluted
atmosphere. In my own case, many of my paper documents have
become...well, not illegible but certainly unfit for exposure
to polite society...through the undesirable habits of my many
(in serial order) feline companions. Finally, our stored data
can meet the terrible fate of Etruscan stored data...which 
still exists, in reasonably intact form, but has one minor
problem...nobody knows what the <bad place> it SAYS!

In fact, if we DO perfect a highly accurate and near-permanent
method of preserving our sound recordings...whay happens if
the eventual discoverors thereof have no idea of communicating
via sound waves?!

Steven C. Barr