Hmmm...  from the website:

...It also includes conversion tools that were used to migrate the objects
as well as software to open and view/use these objects and supporting
software all the way down to an operating system; descriptions of the file
formats, of the file systems and encodings used on the storage media; and
description of all these objects and their relationship to supporting
technology and recognised standards.  The TimeCapsule will be available to
researchers in the future to investigate how much of its content will still
be or can be made accessible and usable with the information provided...

So I've followed this project (PLANETS) and have seen what they've been
doing, but something about this "time capsule" seems to be missing for me (?) 

Digital Stuff was migrated from original formats/media to (presumably) more
stable longer term formats (PDF/A, TIFF, JPEG2000 and MPEG4) and media
(paper, microfilm and floppy discs to CDs, DVDs and flash-drives and HDDs)
and the plan is to "...demonstrate in ten, 20, 30, 50 and hundreds of years
the fragility of digital data and the ability of technology to overcome it..."

SO what happens if on first check, say in 10 years, the stuff isn't
accessible and even IF IT IS, what forms of measurement will be used to
determine the percentage of 'loss' that may have occurred with each of the
selected formats and each of the media types?   Granted, it also says that
SOME reading devices and the tools use to migrate the content from its
original storage forms will be in the time capsule, but the big question for
me still is THEN WHAT?

Presumably, those of us in the trenches that are required to ensure
persistent access to and preservation of, content in electronic formats as
part of our regular responsibilities will have already developed methods,
procedures, and practices to have done this for at least 10 years.  And will
continue to periodically do it.

And while this may result in research data being developed regarding what
was stored in whatever formats converted from whatever other formats at some
period in time, how does that help people that DIDN'T convert it then do
something when the research data is published?

I guess this is another case of where practical and theoretical don't seem
to converge soon enough for me... call me a Records Manager I guess!

Larry
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