Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/05/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]| | > nothing will last forever even if properly stored. and most things will deteriorate because they won't be properly stored. and the technology for accessing "whatever" will become harder and harder to save and migrate - especially if you haven't kept up with the migration in a steady way. | | This is all true. | But with paper/film/papyrus/parchment, the medium *is* the image. A copy reduces the quality. | With digital, the medium *stores* the image. A copy does not reduce the quality. | Bits are forever, because a 0 will always be a 0 and a 1 will always be a 1. | Sure, the disk on which you are storing the bits might need to be changed out. But a faded 1 will never be a 0.83 or 0.61, it will be a 1. | | I think that if I wanted to preserve an image for a thousand years, I would digitize it into an uncompressed TIFF file at 16 bits/pixel, add 20% Huffman-code redundancy, image the digitization into a sort of fine-grained barcode, and then print the barcode out on museum-grade doubleweight glossy photo paper, developed and fixed according to best-practice archival standards, then seal that paper into an airtight metal box. | _______________________________________________ | Now thats a good idea. Have you seen any news in the USA lately about the mechanical nanoscaled cantilever memory projects? Like IBM is running and Phillips? best regards simon jessurun