He is also starry-eyed utopian about the long-term robustness of digital content:
Digitized scholarship can’t be lost or stolen the way that print can be, it doesn’t have to be mailed, it doesn’t have to have physical storage, it can’t be eaten by termites, it can’t get mold on it.
As an archivist who has increasingly had to deal with digitally-born materials created in obsolete systems, and the belief of record-creators that it must surely be best practice to scan the originals rather than make sure they're retained and properly housed -
There's a place for digitisation. It's great for access, it can be good for preservation if it means physical artefacts are less handled. But it's not a Magic Bullet for preservation for posterity.
no subject
As an archivist who has increasingly had to deal with digitally-born materials created in obsolete systems, and the belief of record-creators that it must surely be best practice to scan the originals rather than make sure they're retained and properly housed -
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
See Domesday Book vs the Domesday Project.
There's a place for digitisation. It's great for access, it can be good for preservation if it means physical artefacts are less handled. But it's not a Magic Bullet for preservation for posterity.