6.0670 Rs: Media Life Expectancy; Calvin & Hobbes (3/100)

Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 13 Apr 1993 18:04:04 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0670. Tuesday, 13 Apr 1993.


(1) Date: Fri, 9 Apr 93 16:36:36 EDT (31 lines)
From: Peter Graham 908-932-5908 Rutgers Univ. Libs.
Subject: Re: 6.0660 Qs: Media Life Expectancy

(2) Date: Fri, 9 Apr 93 21:22:09 -0400 (24 lines)
From: gxs11@po.CWRU.Edu (Gary Stonum)
Subject: Re: Calvin and Hobbes

(3) Date: Sat, 10 Apr 93 10:57:37 EDT (45 lines)
From: Mark Ritchie <AVFILM2@watdcs.UWaterloo.ca>
Subject: Media Life Expectancy

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 93 16:36:36 EDT
From: Peter Graham 908-932-5908 Rutgers Univ. Libs.
Subject: Re: 6.0660 Qs: Media Life Expectancy; Journal; Quote IDs (4/130)


From: Peter Graham, Rutgers University Libraries
Re: Life expectancy (n.b.) of media

The most useful recent reference on this general topic is
Michael Lesk, _Preservation of New Technology_ (Washington, DC: Commission
on Preservation and Access, Oct. 1992), 17 pp. + 2p appendix. $5 from the
Commission at 1400 16th St. NW, Suite 740, Washington DC, 20036-2217.

One of his main points is that technological obsolescence is more of a danger
than medium obsolescence: e.g., the punched cards can be made to last a very
long time but the readers for them are now almost impossible to find.
Similarly with magnetic tape, 8" floppies, and the like. We can keep the
tape for measurable times, but finding a 256-bpi tape drive is not likely.

(The third preservation issue for electronic materials, one important to me,
is intellectual preservation; or authentication that the bits read today are
the same as those encoded, onw hatever medium, yesterday or 100 years ago).

I know this doesn't answer M. Lenoble's question directly, but perhaps it
will help.

--pg

Peter S. Graham / Rutgers University Libraries (908) 932-5908
169 College Avenue / New Brunswick, N. J. 08903 Fax: (908) 932-5888
3/30/93: Note CHANGE from graham@zodiac (tho still forwarded from there).
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------41----
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 93 21:22:09 -0400
From: gxs11@po.CWRU.Edu (Gary Stonum)
Subject: Re: Calvin and Hobbes




Since no one has yet replied more definitively about why Bill Watterson
calls his comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes," let me report what he told the
Cleveland Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine a few years ago. (He is, one hears,
pretty shy about interviews and militant against merchandising, so maybe
this is less common knowledge than I would have thought.) The boy and the
tiger are indeed named for John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes, so I remember the
interview reporting, but I also recall him denying there was any more
significance to the names than the fun of making what, for comic strips, would
already be a pretty arcane reference.

Gary Lee Stonum
Co-General Manager (with my rapscallion son, natch)
of a fantasy baseball team named
Calvin and Hobbes,
three-time pennant winners (1989, 1990, 1992)
in the General Managers Statistical League,
(fantasy baseball, NOT Rotisserie)
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------54----
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 93 10:57:37 EDT
From: Mark Ritchie <AVFILM2@watdcs.UWaterloo.ca>
Subject: Media Life Expectancy


The proceedings of the 3rd Joint Technical Symposium, Archiving The
Audio-Visual Heritage have just been published. (I've just received mine)

ISBN 1 873902 02 6 Editor George Boston 192pp illus.

It should be available from the National Archives, Audio-Visual Section
and the Library of Congress. Sorry I don't have a price.

It has an excellent explanation of the processes involved in "Vinegar
Syndrome" and the degradation of Polyester based stock. It also has
sections on optical media and cd-rom preservation research.

Session titles :-

Problems Facing Archives and Long Term Storage in Countries with Adverse
Conditions
Breakdown of the Components of Signal Carriers with Age
Stability and Preservation of Image Layers in Photographic Film
Deterioration of Polymers in Audio-Visual Materials
Simulated Aging of Processed Cellulose Triacetate Motion Picture Films
The Archival Stability of Metal Particle Tapes
The Life Expectancy of Optical Recordings
A Study of the Preservation of Compact Discs
New Carriers
Do We Have Format Standards Suitable for Long Term Storage of
Audio-Visual and Film Materials?
The Practice of Signal Carrier Restoration
A Comparison of the Restoration of a Nitrate Film by Traditional Methods
and by the Use of Digital Videotape
Is a Multi-Media Format or System for Audio-Visual Materials a Practical
Proposition?
Consultation of Users and Manufacturers of Technical Equipment


W. Mark Ritchie | Tel: (519) 888-4070
Media Librarian | Fax: (519) 888-6197
Audio-Visual Centre |
University of Waterloo | Internet: avfilm2@watdcs.Uwaterloo.ca

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