from The New York Times -
A Rebel Form Gains Favor. Fights Ensue.
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It is indeed an ironic twist that performance art - the art form which resists commercialism by being stubbornly rendered as not collectible - is now facing questions about its core value as some artists insists on reperformance, sometimes using the guise of preservation to deflect criticism.
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from New York Times -
Digging Into the Science of That Old-Book Smell
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A non-destructive method of detecting elevated levels of harmful chemicals inherent in the paper. If proved consistent, this could be potentially useful in prioritising and targeting efforts in the preservation of paper-based artefacts.
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from The New York Times -
Foundation Helps Archives to Go Online
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A timely reminder that preservation of heritage and historical materials do not just happen by themselves - no matter how much good intentions there are.
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from The Telegraph -
World's oldest Bible published in full online
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from IIC News -
Earliest Christian Bible virtually restored
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Codex Sinaiticus
go to web-site

In this project, the minimal conservation treatment rendered - repairs made to the pages so that they could be photographed, and nothing more - was crucial in enabling a wider dissemination of the context via electronic means. Would the understanding of "minimal interventuion" in another era (say, without computers) be different? Or has to be different...
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from The Guardian -
New digital library to display world on a website
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go to images

Launched by UNESCO, the World Digital Library is already facing an uphill task in terms of securing long-term funding and making decisions as to what would be included in the library.

"For the WDL to fulfil its potential, observers say it must not allow itself to be drowned out amid competition from other online cultural projects. Its aim is to focus on the very best of what each country has to offer."

Perhaps elitist in tone, but necessarily practical.

from CBS News -
Bye, Tech: Dealing With Data Rot
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Keeping Up With Data Rot



from The New York Times -
Should You Worry About Data Rot?
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Not an optimistic view, given the mismatch between the amount of personal digital artefacts being created and the effort given over to implementing an intuitive, reliable and cost-effective process of digital archiving.

"Data rot refers mainly to problems with the medium on which information is stored. Over time, things like temperature, humidity, exposure to light, being stored not-very-good locations like moldy basements, make this information very difficult to read. The second aspect of data rot is actually finding the machines to read them. And that is a real problem."

Link from The Long Now.

from The Guardian -
Zen and the art of online data
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Reconciling the diagrammatically opposite poles of access and preservation, the International Dunhuang Project (IDP) seeks to bring together institutions to work collaboratively. This would also ensure that digital copies are spread across a handful of locations, just in case.

Perhaps the idea of digital preservation is better understood in Europe and China:

"The IDP has been in talks with the Indian authorities for the past 10 years, but has met with countless bureaucratic obstacles. 'I am sure we will reach an agreement eventually,' she added."

This must qualify as the best example of long-term thinking (and perseverance) that I have come across for a while.
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from The Guardian -
Google brings masterpieces from Prado direct to armchair art lovers
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Google Earth's Prado can't compete with the real thing
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Online gallery zooms in on Prado's masterpieces (even the smutty bits)
go to article
go to audio clip

If the experience of art is devoid of the human scale (size of room, size of painting, height of display) and the means to vary that scale (by walking to and away from the artwork), then should one even bother?
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from The Chronicle of Higher Education -
University Libraries in Google Project to Offer Backup Digital Library
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Though initially driven by commercial interests, the digitisation of books could see social spin-offs if we can wait long enough for copyrights to expire. An interesting aside, the project to share digital version of scanned books is called Hathi - Hindi for "elephant" - as:

"The name resonated really well because elephants remember, elephants are large, and elephants are strong,"

And one might add, they are social creatures, too.

Link via Educause Connect.
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from Inside Higher Ed -
At Libraries, Taking the (Really) Long View
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A succinct account of current challenges facing the preservation of digital records - and some tentative solutions ahead. Of interest is the trend towards an "open-source" approach, in which the inner workings of a project is freely communicated and with it the advance permission to "tinker" and improve upon by someone else. Such an "open-source" approach would also be a long-term viable solution for preservation work as a whole.
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from The New York Times -
Project Digitizes Works From the Golden Age of Timbuktu
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Owing to the predominantly dry conditions of the desert, manuscripts were largely intact even as time takes its effect on the historic materials. With the latest digitisation project, hopefully these important texts can withstand future ravages of time.
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from The Los Angeles Times -
Conservators face issues in preserving video
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Another update on the issue of preserving time-based media art. Mention is also made of the earlier conference held at the Getty Conservation Institute.

Also see earlier recent post here.
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from Archaeology -
Why do Virtual Heritage?
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Computer rendering of archaeological sites and finds have great potential as an effective educational tool in facilitating the understanding and appreciation of remote and often inaccessible physical sites.

However, the article bemoans the slow adoption of such a technology within the archaeology field by the professionals themselves, citing the long-standing preference for archaeologists to draw or photograph their finds in a flat 2-dimensional manner.

Perhaps the reason that archaeologists still prefer the pencil and paper method of recording is that the actual act of sketching out the details somehow forces the brain to observe intensely the crucial details of an artefact and hence allowing for a more vivid recollection. This is surely something that cannot be replicated by all the amount of virtual reality wizardry combined.
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from BBC Radio 4: Material World -
Memories For Life
go to programme web-page
listen to programme (Real Audio format)

An overview of the multi-disciplinary project to look into digital preservation for the masses. Another grass-root attempt to widen the scope of preservation decision and priority outside of the usual bastion of "elite content". For more information on the Memories For Life project, visit their web-site.

Also see related article on how the pervasiveness of "prosthetic memories" is actually modifying our human experience of the world.

from The Boston Globe -
The advantages of amnesia
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from Conservation Awards -
2007 winners
go to web-page
go to newsletter (PDF format)

Learn about this year's winners and shortlist for:

Award for Conservation

Award for Care of Collection

Student Conservator of the Year

Digital Preservation Award

Anna Plowden Trust Award for Research and Innovation

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from National Geographic News -
Digital Music Project Races to Save Tibetan Folk Songs
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A lethal combination of politics and encroaching modernisation makes this volunteer-run project to record Tibetan folk songs before they disappear a difficult task. But nevertheless, the progress so far is remarkable, thanks in part to, of all things, modern digital recording and internet technology.
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from The Guardian -
Preserving old games is a service to humanity
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Not very clear about the part that having preserved old copies of arcade games is beneficial to the human race. Otherwise, a timely reminder that it is popular culture content that will drive the main bulk of any digital preservation effort.
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from Washington Post -
Saving Our Digital Heritage
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This article asks - which also can be taken as as a sort of counterpoint to the earlier post on the on-going effort by the British Library to archive a snap-shot of e-mails, although not directly related in any way:

"Responsible preservation of our most valued digital data requires answers to key questions: Which data should we keep and how should we keep it? How can we ensure that we can access it in five years, 100 years or 1,000 years? And, who will pay for it?"

These are also questions that museum collections must face up to, albeit phrased slightly differently.
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from The New York Times -
British Library, You’ve Got Mail, and It’s Not Spam
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Another effort at digital preservation and this time using the unique medium of e-mail to document a sample of "everyday" (and some might say "mundane") life. The larger objective of the entire exercise being to build "the first archive of its kind" as a sort of "electronic time capsule".

"The British Library is famous for its collections of 'official history.' What’s great about the collection of e-mail messages is that it’s a 'democratic resource' that shows how people really lived."

The claim that this collection of messages are somehow representative is perhaps a result of wishful thinking. It would be more accurate to qualify that it "shows how people with access to e-mails really lived" in a world where only 12% have access to a computer.
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from The New York Times -
One Picture, 1,000 Tags
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from The Chronicle Daily News Blog -
Metropolitan Museum Will Let Art Historians Use High-Quality Digital Images Free
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from National Public Radio -
Preservation of Digital Art Poses Challenges
go to podcast

PLANETS - Digital Preservation Research and Technology
go to web-page

Museums and the Web 2007
go to conference web-page
go to online conference papers

With the increasing spread of digital technology, museums and archives have also begun to consider the impact and implications of its use - both in preserving digital works created by others and also creating their own digital interfaces in allowing easier access to information.
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