SGML for Web Pages

[Keith Engwall]

Well, actually, format is the least complicated aspect of electronic
storage.  It's relatively trivial to create an interpreter that will
translate from one format to whatever's current.  A much larger issue is
how do we store this information?  Ink on paper has a certain amount of
permanence, depending on the type of ink and paper.  As long as it will
last (ie. acid-free paper, non-water-soluble ink, etc.), we can read it!

However, electronic media last only so long as there is current.  We can
translate it into magnetic form, which lasts a little longer (so long as it
doesn't get zapped by a strong electro-magnetic field), or optical form
which supposedly lasts "forever" (and that technology hasn't been around
long enough to make such claims with certainty).

Furthermore, consider that noone has made a drive that will read 8" floppy
disks for years now, and 5 1/4" disks are heading out the door.  How many
thousands of years has ink and paper (in one form or another) been around?

If we can recover the information to the point of organization of content,
that's equivalent of sentence structure.  Anyone who has read BILLY BUDD
can tell you that that is not up-to-date in organization format (how many
pages was that last sentence I read?).  Even the Rosetta stone just took a
little time to interpret... the information there wasn't lost at all.
However, countless crumbled scrolls and pages have truly been lost because
they could not withstand the rigors of time.  Is high-tech the way to go
with preservation?  Capacity and storage density is increased dramatically,
but so is hardware requirements.  Ink and paper requires only light (and
maybe reading glasses).

Just my $.02 (and maybe some extra spare change)

Keith Engwall
Systems Librarian
Briscoe Library
UTHSCSA

>I think this issue is more serious than anyone cares to admit.  We now
>have hundreds of publishers falling all over themselves trying to create
>electronic versions of their journals.  There does not seem to be a
>recognized acceptable format to use that will guarantee that today's
>journals will be easily interpretable by tomorrow's viewers.
>
>Ink on paper is an international standard.  It has been in use for
>a long time.  As simplistic as these seems to us today, someone who
>penned a scroll in Alexandria in 100 B.C. would be amazed that we are
>still able to interpret the message.  This is no small achievement.
>
>I will wager that most of what is published today electronically will be
>"lost" a hundred years from now.  This very fact should strike some awe and
>trepidation in the hearts of librarians who are committed to the task of
>archiving information.
>
>The digital revolution requires some superhuman intervention on someone's
>part to capture information for posterity.  Open standards that are
>easily upgraded will make our lives a hell of a lot easier in the decades
>to come.  Is HTML the best standard for display of text and graphics?  I
>don't know, but I wouldn't rush to transform my entire library into web
>pages.
>
>Are there alternatives?  Yes, but ASCII is boring and won't do tables and
>Microsoft owns everything else.  What do we do in the meanwhile?
>
>Robb Scholten
>Clinical Computing Center
>Beth Israel Hospital
>
>roscho at bih.harvard.edu

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Keith Engwall          Just one thing before we talk about computers:
Systems Librarian      PCs are just great... PCs are infuriating
Briscoe Library        Macs are just great... Macs are infuriating
UTHSCSA                Neither one will help you scratch the middle
engwall at uthscsa.edu    of your back worth a darn.  Ok, go on...
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