Editing 1909: Digital Resource Lifespan
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
β | In this chart, [[Randall]] laments the | + | In this chart, [[Randall]] laments the ease of digital resources to quickly become obsolete or non-functional. By taking a general subject, such as xkcd's core subjects of "romance, sarcasm, math, and language", one can see that a useful tool such as a smartphone or computer app or interactive CD-ROM (essentially, software) does not have the lasting power of printed books (e.g. textbooks, for many general subjects) and microfilm/microfiche. The printed resources, not having to rely on a computerized platform for use, are far more reliable despite being less mobile and taking up physical space. The only digital source which is still working is {{w|Portable Document Format}} (aka PDF) which encapsulates fixed layout flat documents, and is supported for years already by {{w|Adobe Systems}} and is part of {{w|International Organization for Standardization|ISO}} standards, so has a widespread support, and should be still viewable in foreseeable future. |
Archive.org refers to {{w|The Internet Archive}}, a non-profit organization that maintains the {{w|Wayback Machine}}, one of the largest archives of the {{w|World Wide Web}}. When a website is taken offline, copies of its content can often be found backed-up on the Wayback Machine. The Wayback Machine is primarily designed to back up {{w|Website|websites}}, however, and will often not be able to save information stored in a site's {{w|Database|databases}}, as alluded to in the comic. The Internet Archive has a part for non-website archives, but it cannot hold recent databases either due to copyright problems. | Archive.org refers to {{w|The Internet Archive}}, a non-profit organization that maintains the {{w|Wayback Machine}}, one of the largest archives of the {{w|World Wide Web}}. When a website is taken offline, copies of its content can often be found backed-up on the Wayback Machine. The Wayback Machine is primarily designed to back up {{w|Website|websites}}, however, and will often not be able to save information stored in a site's {{w|Database|databases}}, as alluded to in the comic. The Internet Archive has a part for non-website archives, but it cannot hold recent databases either due to copyright problems. |