An article titled "In Storing 1's and 0's, the Question is $" in today's New York Times addresses the crucial issue of data storage and preservation on the web.
We're increasingly dependent on personal computers and remote servers to store the kinds of items previously classified as the stuff we'd run back into a burning house for (i.e. photo albums). But are they really as well preserved as they would have been in a shoebox under the bed? As the article points out, "The storage systems might not be around or accessible in the future — it is like putting precious information on eight-track tapes."
To tackle the problem, the National Science Foundation has begun a $100 million program over the next five years for an initiative, known as DataNet, spawned from its awesomely titled Office of Cyberinfrastructure. The program aims "to preserve science and engineering data in ways that are 'open, extensible and evolvable.'"
I won't pretend to know much about the technology behind this move, but there's a lot to be said about its implications. While I would love to have a reliable way to access my vacation pictures five, ten, twenty years from now, there are, well -- let's just say, some online artifacts should be allowed to die.
There are also a slew of ownership issues involved. I already have more online accounts than I can keep track of. In the coming years, I will create and promptly forget about dozens more. When I'm 50, will the information I've submitted to those here-and-gone sites still belong them? Or will there be a point at which I can "reclaim" my data? I'm curious to see where this goes...
