I understand your point.  But, if the magnetic tape is not fully readable and in some sort of format that can be read, do you believe the information can be retrieved and undestood, adding the fact that the program is probably not functional as well.  Please advise.

Deb


----- Original Message -----
From: [log in to unmask]
Date: Thursday, October 26, 2006 10:03 am
Subject: Re: Question

> Deborah Tamborski asked about problems in archiving electronic  
> recordsand if it would be "possible" to read them 50 years hence.
> 
> I  shall not attempt to top Bill Roach's brilliant explanation of  the
> difficulties in keeping electronic documents viable but I do argue 
> that
> it is most likely that our successors will be able to read  our
> electronic files--if they really care to.  
> 
> Remember that  there was something like an 1,800 year gap between the
> last Egyptian and the  first Frenchman who could read 
> hieroglyphics.  To
> read the Epic of  Gilgamesh linguists had to resurrect an alphabet 
> and a
> language that had been  dead for millennia and they did so without the
> help of computers.  More  recently scholars did the same to read Mayan
> inscriptions.  And with the  help of computers classical scholars are
> beginning to read charred papyrus  scrolls from Pompeii and expect to
> recover many ancient works.  A few  weeks ago there was an 
> announcementthat a long-lost work of Euclid was  recovered even 
> though a Christian
> monk had scraped its words from the page  and written a book of 
> prayersover it.  
> 
> It would seem that the  only documents that are irretrievably lost are
> those that have been  physically destroyed.  Are magnetic tapes, 
> opticaldisks, and  punch-cards really all that much different from 
> clay tablets,
> stone, and  organic media?
> 
> Paul R. Scott, CA, CRM
> Records Management  Officer
> Harris County, TX
> 
> 
> List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
> Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
> 

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