[SPG_Active_Members] Swiss format archive

[Tim Shoppa]

Olin Sibert <osibert at siliconkeep.com> wrote:
> I think calling this a "publicity stunt" is being too kind.
>
> They seem to be claiming that they have created some unique physical 
> artifact, which must be kept secret and stored safely away untouched 
> by human hands, as if it's some kind of digital Rosetta Stone 
> awaiting a future Champollion to discover it and magically bring enlightenment.

I agree, sounds exactly like the BBC Domesday Project... a multi-year
project, choosing its own unique "special for forever" formats,
published in 1986, stuck in the vaults at the UK National Data Archive,
and nigh-inaccessible in 2002. OK, that's a little unfair. But the
idea of saying "this is the one magic key and we're gonna lock it up"
has a lot in common with BBC Domesday.

Speaking of which, the BBC Domesday project laserdiscs were recovered in
the early 2000's... converted to web type formats...
and put on the web... but where? Google and Wikipedia aren't helping me
much. Domesday1986.com is not helpful. I will poke around archive.org but
getting to the actually content of the 1986 publication seems obscure.

> What bosh. If they really wanted to help "future generations to read 
> data stored using defunct technology", they'd collect the information 
> publicly, and store replicas of it all over the world (e.g., the 
> Internet).

Sounds like, e.g. bitsavers :-).

Tim.