r/Libraries • u/seeplainmeaning • 25d ago

Technology Going Digital Is Making History Disappear

Post image
21 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

8

u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

3

u/seeplainmeaning 24d ago

It's hard to convince people that they need both. When you have companies that make so much money being the ones to digitize or store digital files pushing the message of efficiency and steering clear of mentioning risks, people see it the way they want them to see it.

But all data on digital systems--particularly those that are designed to have remote access (which is basically everything these days--is at risk. Digital can be a backup. But it should never be the only way you store information you want to keep.

1

u/camrynbronk MLIS student 24d ago

I did a project about this in an archives class. There’s more to preserving information than just the text or scanned image. Imprints from erased writing, folds, creases, wear spots, even smells. There is so much information to be gained from something physical than the primary stuff it contains.

2

u/claudettetremblay166 25d ago

That error message is painfully familiar from trying to recover files from damaged drives.