Now that we have it how do we preserve it

[Ken Boyce]

We spent years watching it grow. We spent money cultivating it, spent endless hours at both ends of the candle, deciphering, checking and double checking the pedigree before grafting on each new branch or root. We have decorated each node, leaf and bud with loving citations so that future generations can understand where we came from. - Now how do we preserve it and keep it from fading to dust.

Many of us have created and store our efforts in a computer. Almost all commercially available genealogical programs for storing data, such as TMG, Family Tree, and PAF, etc, are based on unique, non-open architecture software. 100 years from now when the original install disk and the program supplier have both long gone the way of the Dodo Bird and Windows is listed in a dictionary as an alternative meaning to the glass thing and Office was a place where many people worked - how then will our ancestors access and view and build on our effort (How many of us remember and can still access Wordstar and the like).

Acid paper, disintegrating CD media, obsolete technology, etc, etc, can all conspire to seal our opus magnus unless we act to preserve our creation in a form not affected by time nor tide.

One suggestion is that preservation requires analogue filming of all records but this requires a knowledge of the type of films available and their long term characteristics

It would be interesting to hear what subscribers do to ensure preservation and future accessibily of their family history data.

There is an excellent website of a national agency that deals with research into the long term characteristics of storage media unfortunately I've lost the link. If I recall correctly mainstream CDs were deemed to have one of the worst long term characteristics.

Regards

[Colin Moretti]

....
There is an excellent website of a national agency that deals with research into the long term characteristics of storage media unfortunately I've lost the link. If I recall correctly mainstream CDs were deemed to have one of the worst long term characteristics.

Regards

The National Archives in the UK offers guidance on preservation of both paper and electronic records at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/preservation/

Specifically it offers "Digital preservation guidance notes [providing] concise, authoritative advice on specific topics related to the preservation and management of electronic records. Their intended audience is anyone involved in the creation of electronic records which may need to be preserved over the long term, and those responsible for preservation."

Colin

[Guy Etchells]

First and foremost the answer to this is to print out your research on acid free paper (cotton based if possible not wood pulp). There is nothing better for archival storage than a hard copy as it requires nothing other than eyes to retrieve its content.
It is possible to fill or have filled ink cartridges with Indian ink, thereby helping to overcome fading.

In addition I would recommend saving your work on as many different types of media as available to you and store in as many locations as possible.
The more copies available the more chance one will survive.

I would also suggest it imperative to upload your research to the internet, this is not as short sighted as it may seem as the is a project The Internet Archive, which is archiving websites see
http://www.archive.org/

Whether this will last long term we will have to wait to see but it adds another possibility and if it does the chances are it will update and develop to keep up with new technologies.
Cheers
Guy

[Geoffers]

It would be interesting to hear what subscribers do to ensure preservation and future accessibily of their family history data.
In these days of computer programmes (and I do use two, fH and Custodian), I'm one of those who still likes to keep my main record as handwritten notes in acid free books. I sketch and paint a little and so buy good quality art books (190gsm Cotton rag) from the likes of the Heaton Cooper Gallery www.heatoncooper.co.uk (http://www.heatoncooper.co.uk) in Grasmere, write out notes using a quill, or at worst a fountan pen and then add sketches around the notes, or on blank pages. It takes up space, but it's nice to browse through.

Geoffers

[fluffnco]

We spent years watching it grow. We spent money cultivating it, spent endless hours at both ends of the candle, deciphering, checking and double checking the pedigree before grafting on each new branch or root. We have decorated each node, leaf and bud with loving citations so that future generations can understand where we came from. - Now how do we preserve it and keep it from fading to dust.

Many of us have created and store our efforts in a computer. Almost all commercially available genealogical programs for storing data, such as TMG, Family Tree, and PAF, etc, are based on unique, non-open architecture software. 100 years from now when the original install disk and the program supplier have both long gone the way of the Dodo Bird and Windows is listed in a dictionary as an alternative meaning to the glass thing and Office was a place where many people worked - how then will our ancestors access and view and build on our effort (How many of us remember and can still access Wordstar and the like).

Acid paper, disintegrating CD media, obsolete technology, etc, etc, can all conspire to seal our opus magnus unless we act to preserve our creation in a form not affected by time nor tide.

One suggestion is that preservation requires analogue filming of all records but this requires a knowledge of the type of films available and their long term characteristics

It would be interesting to hear what subscribers do to ensure preservation and future accessibily of their family history data.

There is an excellent website of a national agency that deals with research into the long term characteristics of storage media unfortunately I've lost the link. If I recall correctly mainstream CDs were deemed to have one of the worst long term characterng to dust.

Many of us have created and store our efforts in a computer. Almost all commercially available genealogical programs for storing data, such as TMG, Family Tree, and PAF, etc, are based on unique, non-open architecture software. 100 years from now when the original install disk and the program supplier have both long gone the way of the Dodo Bird and Windows is listed in a dictionary as an alternative meaning to the glass thing and Office was a place where many people worked - how then will our ancestors access and view and build on our effort (How many of us remember and can still access Wordstar and the like).

Acid paper, disintegrating CD media, obsolete technology, etc, etc, can all conspire to seal our opus magnus unless we act to preserve our creation in a form not affected by time nor tide.

One suggestion is that preservation requires analogue filming of all records but this requires a knowledge of the type of films available and their long term characteristics

It would be interesting to hear what subscribers do to ensure preservation and future accessibily of their family history data.

There is an excellent website of a national agency that deals with research into the long term characteristics of storage media unfortunately I've lost the link. If I recall correctly mainstream CDs were deemed to have one of the worst long term characteristics.

Regards
I am making an acid free scrapbook with census and other documents printed off via computer onto acid/lignin free paper and incorporated into a visually pleasing album/s of family history which should last for a minimum of 100 years without any decay. I've also been regularly updating my genealogy programme and saving a fully viewable gedcom plus documents onto CD and also have written notes in many leverarch files too :). One of them should last ( I hope)

fluffnco