Internet Archive gets a new data center

Computerworld has the story here.

The machine fits in a 20-foot-long outdoor metal cargo container filled with 63 server clusters that offer 4.5 million gigabytes of data storage capacity and 1TB of memory.

That only makes me shiver a little bit.

More news from the home front

First I can’t believe I have neglegted to encourage you to attend the DigCCurr 2009 symposium. If you haven’t already registered, you still have time. Just about every name worth mentioning in digital curation will be there and it will be an incredible opportunity to meet some of these names face to face.

Also, the report from the second International Data curation Education Action working group workshop has just been published in D-Lib and is worth reading. I believe the third workshop will be happening in and around the DigCCurr 2009 symposium, so keep your eyes peeled for that report.

CBS on data rot

David Mattison of the Ten Thousand Year Blog posted about this CBS article on data rot. It’s another solid sign that the greater populace is running into real problems with digital longevity. Two years ago I was faced with blank stares and people asking me, “what do you mean, I won’t be able to read my files in five years?”  Now they’re talking about it on CBS news. The problem is here and real and we in the trenches are taking note.

Computer Data Storage Through the Ages — From Punch Cards to Blu-Ray

A Maximum PC article about our beloved data storage methods through time. I remember coloring on used punch cards that my parents would bring home, and I definitely remember my brother and I typing up games in BASIC and storing them on cassette tape. Ah those were the days…

New PLANETS Newsletter

Check out the new PLANETS newsletter [Leads to page where you can download the pdf, or you can download the pdf HERE.

It mostly covers the impending 2010 release of the PLANETS testbed which purports to be able to:

• analyse systematically and verify, based on evidence, different digital preservation strategies such as: characterisation of digital
objects, migration and emulation.

• run a range of digital preservation tools such as JHOVE, PS2PDF,
ImageMagik, Sanselan, MSWord migration, HTMLCleaner.

• test various combinations of preservation workflows such as
migration of DOC to PDF or PDF/A.

• test preservation strategies on different types of digital objects
such as text, image, audio and video.

• measure and compare the results against pre-defined
benchmarks.

Pretty cool. I am excited to see so many tools finally being launched after so much discussion, work, and anticipation. It looks like external institutions will be able to try it out as early as Summer 2009. Hopefully, we at UNC can get our hands on it to test drive!