[SPG_Active_Members] An essay about a modern application of 20th-century philosophy

[Henry Gladney]

Ref: E-mails on Sept. 13, 2008 with the subject line "Re: GOD vs. SCIENCE"
        Particularly discussion started by Peter Farwell

As some readers of TheButtery know, I have been reading theory of knowledge
(epistemology) and philosophy of language.  Although this started in
response to a sort of schoolboy challenge, the topic rapidly enthralled me
and finally, to my surprise, proved useful.  (In retrospect, I should not
have been surprised.)  An outcome is *a reading and criticism
opportunity*for you--an opportunity that you might find
*amusing if you found Peter Farwell's and my comments on the boundary
between knowledge and belief interesting.  *That the topic of this note,
long-term preservation of digital documents, is socially important is
suggested by an article that appeared in yesterday's New York Times and is
cited below.  As you will see, the topic also might lead to something
helpful to your own family.

The review linked below is intended for archivists and librarians, a
non-technical readership.  Hesitancy of those who have written about the
topic has for some years been associated with their belief that certain
technical requirements were not matched by known solutions.  This belief
has, for about five years, been mistaken.  The essay is part of two-part
review intended to persuade this community that it can progress with digital
preservation with confidence that how to do it reliably is known.

The two essays are rhetorical (intended to persuade) rather than conveying
any new ideas.  There are two difficult social problems.  (1) What I call
"inattention across disciplinary boundaries" is closely associated with C.P.
Snow's *The Two Cultures, *which describes difficulties between literary and
other non-technical scholars, on the one hand, and scientists and engineers,
on the other hand.  (2) Problems of the former community at understanding
(how to exploit) technology--problems sometimes associated with mathematics
phobia and similar afflictions.  With this in mind, the essays avoid
technical material and jargon as much as I know how to do in describing
methodology that is, at its core, a technical exercise.

The first essay is called *Long-Term Preservation of Digital Records, Part
I: A Theoretical Basis.  *A draft is now available at
http://home.pacbell.net/hgladney/LDPreview1.pdf  .  It uses 20th-century
epistemology to show that published difficulties with its topic are, in
fact, connected with "failure to understand the logic of our language" (a
phrase from Ludwig Wittgenstein).  Its thesis is that, once one overcomes
one's own confusions about what is feasible, the solution to the technical
portion of the *long-term* digital preservation challenge is obvious.  I.e.,
Part I sets the stage for Part II, which describes computer programs that I
think needed.

The second essay is called *Long-Term Preservation of Digital Records, Part
II: A Technical Solution.*  With luck, I will be able to make a draft
available in about one week.  This essay will first remind its readers of
what has for a decade or so been available under various overlapping labels:
"digital library software", "digital repository software", and "content
management".   (Whenever you use Google, a university digital library,
WikiPedia, or the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, you are exploiting
content management technology.)  It then shows that the additions to such
widely deployed infrastructure--additions to extend their services to make
information perpetually useful--are relatively small programming
extensions.  The difficult aspect about writing this essay has making it
comprehensible to *anybody of reasonable intelligence*.  If I succeeded, you
will need little prior knowledge about computer programming to understand
the ideas involved.

Whether or not anybody (even I) implements the computer programs sketched is
an open question.  For my part, the job is somewhat bigger than I can
undertake on my own.  Furthermore, funding to engage programmers is not
readily available to somebody who is neither a university nor a private
sector computing technology enterprise.

I believe that the topic, long-term digital preservation, is a critical
social and cultural imperative.  I freely admit to being biased in my
opinion of its importance.  On the other hand, John Swinden just signaled a
pertinent New York Times opinion that corresponds.   See *Robert Pear**, In
Digital Age, Federal Files Blip Into Oblivion, **September 13, 2008*,
available via
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/robert_pear/index.html?inline=nyt-peror
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/13/us/13records.html?_r=1&oref=slogin .

There is a close-to-home reason why I believe that you might find the topic
of interest.  Are you writing things that you want your grandchildren to
enjoy 50 years from now or later?  Do you have digital photograph
collections, digital music recordings, or family videos that you are
(realistically) concerned might become unusable in 10 or 20 years?  If so,
my playmates and I believe we know how to help you achieve the former goal
and forestall the latter disappointment.

If you read one or both of these essays, I would welcome your questions and
critical comments, particularly comments about comprehensibility and
suggestions how to overcome weaknesses in that aspect.  If you choose to do
this, it would be good to post copies of your notes on TheButtery, because
such commentary often stimulates ideas from other readers.  (I.e., in the
modern jargon, the topic at hand is a good one for a blog!)

Best wishes, Henry

H.M. Gladney, Ph.D. HMG Consulting
http://home.pacbell.net/hgladney/(408)867-5454
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