At the heart of Norsam lies something related to the difference between machine readable and human readable information (text on paper, microfilm, Norsam). It would seem to make sense that whatever the future holds for many types machine readable devices as yet unknown, human language will remain a constant.
Human language (spoken or written) will always be available and can be turned at will ("scanned") into whatever future storage devices and reading devices there may be well into the future. This means that human language has considerable stability compared to digital systems, which will come and go in rapidly oscillating technology cycles.
Any information of a nontrivial nature, then, might best be kept, in its truly "native format," if only as backup, along with the conversion that makes it useful in the variety of ways that computer-based systems permit. Technology like the Archive Writer can support this larger-picture view.
Once again, it's not either digital or paper/microfilm; it's both.
Mike
PS: Yes, I know: "98% of all records are electronic."
-----Original Message-----
>From: "Jones, Virginia" <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Nov 9, 2006 10:32 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [RM] NORSAM
>
><The NORSAM technology is essentially microfilm in that most uses of it
>involve etching images onto the storage substrate. If you have an
>electron
>microscope, you can read the images like using a microfilm reader.>
>
>(I made this observation a number of years ago when this technology was
>discussed on the list.) I find it ironic that we have come full circle
>in access/reading images. When Benjamin Dancer invented the micro-image
>in 1839, he used a microscope to read it. We now have a high-tech,
>super image condensing technology that uses a microscope to read the
>images. 8-)
>
>Another note - the reason this technology has not "caught on" in
>business is because, like microfilm, the images (and thus the
>information) is static. Once in place, they stay in place. It is much
>more useful to business to be able to sort, resort, search, combine,
>re-combine, etc. business information and documents, which is what
>electronic format offers.
>
>
>Ginny Jones
>(Virginia A. Jones, CRM, FAI)
>Records Manager
>Information Technology Division
>Newport News Dept. of Public Utilities
>Newport News, VA
>[log in to unmask]
>
>List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
>Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
J. Michael Pemberton, Ph.D., CRM, FAI
Professor
School of Information Sciences
The University of Tennessee
451 Communications Bldg.
1345 Circle Park Drive
Knoxville, TN 37996-0341
865-974-6509
Cell: 865-919-5878
Fax: 865-974-4967
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
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