Search Results for “digital permanence”

Source: Digital permanence

Digital permanence addresses the history and development of digital storage techniques, specifically quantifying the expected lifetime of data stored on various digital media and the factors which influence the permanence of digital data. It is often a mix of ensuring the data itself can be retained on a particular form of media and that the technology remains viable. Where possible, as well as describing expected lifetimes, factors affecting data retention will be detailed, including potential technology issues.
Since the inception of automatic computers, a key difference between them and other calculating machines has been their ability to store information. Over the years, various hardware devices have been designed to store ever larger quantities of data. With the development of the Internet the quantity of information available appears to continue to grow at an ever-increasing rate often characterised as an information explosion. As information is increasingly being stored on electronic media as opposed to traditional media such as hand-written documents, printed books, and photographic images, humanity's social and cultural legacy to future generations will depend increasingly on the permanence of these new media.
However, not all of this information is worth saving; sometimes its value can be short-lived. Other data, such as legal contracts, literature, scientific studies, are expected to last for centuries. This article describes how reliable different types of storage media are at storing data over time and factors affecting this reliability.
Librarians and archivists responsible for large repositories of information take a deeper view of electronic archives.

Given that individuals' personal data has been growing at a rapid rate in the 21st century, these archiving issues affecting professional repositories will soon be manifest in small organisations and even the home.