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The Guardian Newspaper on Tuesday this week (30th September) devoted an editorial to digital preservation and the iPRES 2008 conference in London. The editorial “In praise of…preserving digital memories” is also available on the online version of the paper.

A short extract as follows:

“It ought to be reassuring that while governments are living a day-to-day existence trying to prevent a global financial implosion, some people are thinking centuries ahead. The British Library is hosting a conference of more than 250 experts from 33 countries to work out ways of preserving for future generations the huge amounts of data we store online. Since practically everything we write or watch these days is in digital form – from newspapers or state documents, to the minutes of the banking crisis or the latest edition of Grand Theft Auto – this is a task of mind-boggling proportions…. This won’t cure the banking crisis, but it will enable people in future centuries to understand it better. If all goes well, we will have the capacity to preserve as many of our memories, personal and national, as we want. Only time will tell whether these will last as long as the Rosetta Stone.”

With thanks to Najla Rettberg for drawing the editorial to my attention.

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