Abstract
Changing formats of digital content presents challenges for the archival and preservation of historical information, which are essential to the future of civilization. This chapter explores digital formats relating to metaliteracy and the need to prepare for the future through understanding digital migration, digital archival, and personal digital legacy. Obsolete media concerns include evolutionary changes in digital file formats, servers, information networks, software applications, and the technology hardware necessary to access information. The exploration of changing literacy formats is an essential component of metaliteracy in the metamodern era.
TopIntroduction
“Even though the Internet and electronic media wouldn’t appear for decades, you can sense, even in the 1960s, that librarians knew traditional book lending would not always be the institution’s chief purpose”. ---Susan Orlean
Our metamodern era, experienced in an oscillation of polarities, presents two seemingly opposite concepts: obsolescence and innovation. Fitzpatrick (2018, p. 330) says, “Obsolescence and innovation are, most literally, ideological; they are ways of thinking about the world around us that often operate invisibly, as mere common sense, and yet they have far-reaching ramifications for the objects that surround us—not to mention for ourselves”. The constant upgrades on our devices and software applications remind us of the fast pace of innovation, urging us to keep up with what is current. “In fact”, Fitzpatrick (2018, p. 330) continues, “there is a question to be raised about the relationship between our ideas about the obsolescence of things and our own eternal sense of belatedness, as many of us find ourselves having increasing difficulty, across the span of our lives, keeping up with the now”.
The evolution of digital formats has given rise to questions about the preservation and archival of digital information. Certainly, we ask how long a digital asset will last before it becomes degraded or unreadable? As discussed in chapter four, there are concerns about the inability to access historical information in the digital age due to outdated file formats, obsolete hardware, or data that becomes inaccessible or corrupt, which could to lead to what is called the digital dark age. This chapter addresses past, present, and future media formats which may evolve placing an emphasis on the relationship of these formats to metaliteracy within metamodern times. Whether carving on stone or spray-painting street graffiti, humans are prone to make their mark.
TopBackground Of Preservation And Archival
Not all information is equal. Some information is trivial or nonsensical, and some is essential to the life and well-being of citizens. Understanding the value of information has always been important to human beings, particularly historical information documenting the achievements of generations and the cultural values appreciated by those who lived before us.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Digital Archival: The storage and preservation of digital (computer created) materials (public, personal or historical) for future access.
Media Obsolescence: Information formats that are no longer used because they have gone out of production, have become outmoded, or have been replaced with something new.
Digital Heritage: Computer-based materials which requires specific preservation techniques to ensure accessibility and usability through time.
Transdiscipline: A combination of more than one field, such as CAS (computational archival science).
Semantic Web: A proposed development of the Web in which data in web pages is structured and tagged so that it can be processed by machines instead of human operators.
Blockchain: A digital system which records transactions (often financial cryptocurrency) shared with a large decentralized computer network.
Digital Migration: Moving a large collection of data from one application to another.
Digital Legacy: The electronic information, such as social media or digital photos, left behind when someone dies.
Web 3.0: The next generation of the Web which will include artificial intelligence and ubiquitous machine-connected semantic metadata.
Digital Management System (DMA): A collection of data files designed with an organizational hierarchy for storing digital (electronic) resources and assets.