Jay wrote:
"The time capsule aspect seems like a stunt..."
 
 
The Planets press release refers to it more as awareness-raising:
http://www.planets-project.eu/news/?id=1273674576
 
"...Planets will deposit a TimeCapsule to draw widespread attention to the physical and electronic challenges around preserving digital information for the long-term."

Raising awareness of the problem is very important for driving development of a solution/s. For more than a decade, archivists and records managers have been banging on about the challenge of maintaining long-term access to digital records - but there's still very little public awareness of the problem, or industry movement towards a solution.
 
At the recent AIIM 360, we learned that IT development and enterprise implementations are now highly user-driven. IMHO we will not resolve the challenge of long-term accessibility until the average Joe/Jane Citizen realises what it means for *their* digital correspondence, photos, music, journalling, etc in the future.
 
"Replicas of the time capsule will be available to libraries, archives, science museums and others for research and public exhibit." Rather than just telling people what will happen to their treasured personal records, the time capsule allows it to be demonstrated. I've seen the value of this "ah ha" moment in 2002 - when people in London were able to look at the 900-year old Domesday Book(s) and the 16-year old Domesday laserdiscs... and physically see which content was accessible.
 
So the time capsule is a great way of raising public awareness.
 
 
Larry wrote:
"I guess this is another case of where practical and theoretical don't seem to converge soon enough for me... "

The webpage for the time capsule explains:
"An online version will make it possible to experiment with technology to preserve its contents. "
 
What a great idea - encouraging collaboration on the problem, with potential input from all regions, levels and sectors. Many hands (and brains) make light work.
 
I think it sounds - potentially - very practical.
Maybe we can actually crack this problem in the next 10 years if we stop beavering away by ourselves in a dark corner... :-)
 
regards
Sonya



      

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