Newsletter reader Jim Benedict wrote to call attention to an article in the IEEE Spectrum that will interest many genealogists. Preserving the Present: Will Your Grandchildren Know What You Look Like as a Child? by Robert Charette describes the preservation of digital files and the potential for a "digital dark age."
As stated in the article, "The problem is that by the time we decide to preserve a digital record, the devices needed to read the file formats are often no longer readily available."
Charette also writes, "And do any of you worry that your grandchildren - or even children - will know what you looked like as a child if all that exist are digital pictures of you? Or are you just resigned to the fact that some things digitally captured today are just going to be lost forever in a future "family digital dark age"?"
I believe there are some simple solutions but Charette seems to ignore them in this article.
You can read Robert Charette's thought-provoking article at http://goo.gl/yRc3D
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