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+--- Thread: Digital Disengagement (/showthread.php?tid=4384)
Digital Disengagement - Oxbeast - 22nd March 2012
The thing that sprang to mind when I read the blog was the person who was standing for IfA council who popped up on BAJR briefly, and then went away saying that it was unfair for her to campaign on the web as not everyone has access to the web. That seems akin to saying that you shouldn't campaign in print as not everyone can read and write.
I think Mr Rothwell is saying that if you won't engage with new ways of working, you're going to get left behind as there is so much potential there. Academics seem to be happy enough with JISCmail, but they haven't obviously moved on much since then.
Digital Disengagement - Jack - 22nd March 2012
Yes hello snaky.
Dino is definitely showing his age here, but suprised he didn't demand that reports should by carved on clay tablets and not this new-fangled paper stuff. :face-stir:
The key to records surviving must surely be dissemination via a range of media/materials so the knowledge is passed from brain to brain.
Unless of course you have a handy store of diamonds or similar hard substance upon which to etch your site records...........by the way what was that disk made of that was dropped on Pluto (I think) with a tiny etched message for aliens to find.........or did I dream that?
Digital Disengagement - Dinosaur - 22nd March 2012
CARTOON REALITY Wrote:Information Super Highway road rage?
Bit of a b**mer since Mr Rothwell can't drive? Shaking his fist from the verge? }
Despite Jack's comments, surprising how popular my collection of paper reports has been over the years in a supposedly electronic office!
Hi Serpentine!
Digital Disengagement - Jack - 22nd March 2012
Yes paper is good, but so is CD, data stick, server, cloud, website forum, blog etc etc etc. I've never really understood the reluctance of many in archaeology to believe in electronic data, be it a PDF or digital photo.
Is it due to the myths propagated by those hankering after the good old days, or due to the dusty luddites that lurk in positions of authority?
Are we so locked in to looking backwards that we can't look forwards?
Digital Disengagement - P Prentice - 22nd March 2012
having your name on the spine of a book - or ....not?
Digital Disengagement - Dinosaur - 22nd March 2012
Jack Wrote:Yes paper is good, but so is CD, data stick, server, cloud, website forum, blog etc etc etc. I've never really understood the reluctance of many in archaeology to believe in electronic data, be it a PDF or digital photo.
There's a folder on our server labelled 'files rescued from floppies' - when you've finished on here see how many of those you can open useably without taking them to a specialist....and then of course there's the shelf of old tape-drive cassettes, 5" floppies etc etc, all full of inaccessible data from only 15-20 years ago, at least you don't need expensive specialist hardware to get info out of a book....
Digital Disengagement - CARTOON REALITY - 22nd March 2012
He does mention something about 'digital tools' being free. Which digital tools are they? A computer? An internet connection? The personal information you exchange with Facebook etc. in order to use their services? Somebody is paying for this stuff . . .
Digital Disengagement - kevin wooldridge - 22nd March 2012
I don't personally believe that the internet or the digital age is in any way democratic. Exactly the opposite actually. We live in an age where information is power and everyday I see more and more examples of access to information being restricted or put beyond the means of many many people. We need a political movement that campaigns specifically on the demand that access to information and a means of access is a fundamental human right and not just a way to enrich Sugar, Branson or Murdoch.....
Digital Disengagement - Dinosaur - 23rd March 2012
Personally I've never seen the point in us (and everyone else) knowing everything about our 'Secret' Services - rather defeats the point.......
Digital Disengagement - Kel - 23rd March 2012
I'm a big fan of t'interwebs. However having spent a couple of years trying to track down detailed pottery reports originally available on microfiche in excavation reports (sole evidence of previous existence now a smear of dried glue on the back covers), I'm also aware of the need to future-proof. CDs are old technology and I don't doubt USB sticks will be going the same way - we already have USB and USB 2.0. PDF and JPEG formats have lasted an unusually long time for the IT industry, which likes a nice regular turnaround on technology to keep the coffers full. Won't be long before someone thinks of a "better" idea and the customer will have very little say in how fast file formats (and the means to access them) become obsolete, unsupported and sidelined.
As for digital tools being free, well yes many are. But the means by which you access them generally cost money.
No medium is truly future-proof. Paper burns, moulds and rots. ALL kinds of ink fade eventually (even the "permanent" stuff). Pencil can be rubbed away. Don't be fooled into thinking the good ol' days were much safer.