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Preservation is more than backup
This is an interesting article about digital preservation.
The Fading Memory of the State By David Talbot. Technology Review (July 2005)
It opens with a story about FBI director J. Edgar Hoover writing a memo in 1972 to an aide about a young historian suing for the release of old FBI files and asking “What do we know about Weinstein?” That’s Allen Weinstein, who has just taken over as Archivist of the United States. This article continues, “It was a telling note about the mind-set of the FBI director and of the federal bureaucracy of that era. And it was saved–Weinstein later found the clipping in his own FBI file. But it’s doubtful such a record would be preserved today, because it would likely be ‘born digital’ and follow a convoluted electronic path.”
The article describes the new nature of government information. Definitely worth reading!
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