The E-Sylum:  Volume 5, Number 50, December 15, 2002, Article 7

THE FRAGILITY OF TECHNOLOGY

  Alan Luedeking writes:  "The Fragility of Technology" was the
  the title used by Fred Schwan to describe his trials and
  tribulations in resurrecting the files for his book "World War II
  Remembered" in the IBNS Journal V.41 No.3, of which I was
  reminded by your piece on the Domesday Project.  Fred
  feared his hopes for a new expanded second edition of this
  excellent work would be dashed by his inability to access the
  files for the first edition because the state of computer art had
  advanced beyond the means to retrieve them.  If the loss had
  proven permanently irretrievable, he would have had to rewrite
  the work from scratch and recreate all the illustrations.  The
  average human lifespan is insufficient to afford such disasters.
  This is yet another example of why the printed work, on good
  acid-free paper, is essential.  Quite aside from the convenience
  of resting a book versus a hot laptop on one's belly whilst lying
  in bed, optical character reader technologies will always exist
  100 and 500 years from now (if we're all still around) that will
  be able to instantly convert the printed page to whatever
  electronic, chemical, or other storage medium is then popular."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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