Saving Content in Digital Surroundings: A Safe Solution?
In: Pólemos: journal of law, literature and culture, Volume 14, Issue 1, p. 17-45
ISSN: 2036-4601
Abstract
Cultural institutions save most of their digital-born and digitalized content within the digital sphere. In doing so, they rely on cloud computing and servers, barely taking into consideration that this infrastructure may fail one day. Furthermore, the institutions seem to factor out that these attempts may be related to profound changes in the digital objects.
Our paper aims to explore this situation by focusing on sustainability within the digital realm. In the deliberate process of saving born-digital content, should we run the risk of inadvertently losing the content's individual character itself? Should we embrace the possibility that dynamic content might be transformed into purely static data – ceasing to be relevant for users?
How can we find a solution, set between archiving and the continuous promotion of digital culture? Might it be, that born-digital cultural heritage is not made for storage? Has the eager preservation of cultural heritage become a historical oddity that will not last the test of time, due to its nature?