Vice president of Google, Vint Cerf has stated that he is concerned that today's digital files, may not be retrievable in the future. His comments were made at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Jose.
He fears that future generations will have little or no record of the 21st Century as we enter what he describes as a digital Dark Age.
"Even if we accumulate vast archives of digital content, we may not actually know what it is”
You can read the article and hear the BBC interview here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31450389
It goes without saying that we shouldn't overlook the value of print and paper which has stood the test of time for hundreds of years, ensuring that we can pass on history and knowledge published at the time it actually occurred.
Certainly worth remembering that when a client says what an "important project it is" - that it's a great time to get them to commit to print - even if it's done as a pdf/web/usb etc. as well ...and get them to make their mark in history!
You may also remember I wrote previously about a paper mill that has been converted to a data farm by Google in Finland:
Posted by Justin Hobson 13.02.2015