[Ldsoss] Archiving Our Electronic Lives

[V. B. Hunt]

Bryan Murdock wrote:
> That's interesting.  Do you use any kind of special paper or printer
> that archives better?  
Just a heavy bond, acid free paper in an auto-duplexing laser printer.  
That's usually enough to last for a very long time.
> Why book binding in particular?  
It lasts a long time and when you know what is involved, it is actually 
kind of a relaxing activity (at least for me).  Some people work with 
wood to relax.  I bind books.
> Wouldn't just
> a three ring binder be a lot easier?  I'm thinking that'd be easier to
> get the pages out to feed into a scanner to be re-imported into
> digital format down the road someday?
>   
Three ring binders are easier to put together and take apart to rescan; 
however, not as durable.  I've yet to have a three ring binder last more 
than 6 or 7 years before the rings fell out or the cover wore out.  I 
suppose if you put it flat on a shelf and leave it, it would last a lot 
longer.  At the same time, if you know how to bind a book, it's not that 
big of a deal to tear down a book, scan it, and then re-bind it in a new 
binding.
> At least half joking now, wouldn't it be even cooler to engrave it on
> metal instead of printing it on flimsy paper?
>   
Yes and no.  Metal does last longer; however, given my metalworking 
skills, I would much rather bind a thousand pages per week in a format 
that lasts for a few hundred years than add 1 plate per week to the 
binding in a format that lasts for a few thousand years (not to mention 
how much more it costs to use a metal that wouldn't easily corrode).  
And my half-joking response: Why do you think that Mormon abridged the 
records with so few details about the history if the Nephites?  I 
wouldn't want to hand engrave all that stuff either.


Brice