David Mattison: Digital Dark Age Funnies

A New BlogShares Economy: Two players cash out for real dollars

Fri, 23 May 2003 03:55:27 GMT

So this is like too unreal: BlogShares.com, a fantasy stock market simulation based on blogs, is going to go commercial for those "geeks" who are heavy into this kind of stuff. Maybe this is the Dungeons and Dragons of the 21st century. Already taken is the domain name BlogDayTrader.com. Details on the plan.

Mitch Kapor Quit Groove Networks Board of Directors

Tue, 11 Mar 2003 17:50:41 GMT

NY Times: Software Pioneer Quits Board of Groove. Mitchell D. Kapor, a personal computer industry software pioneer and a civil liberties activist, has resigned from the board of Groove Networks after learning that the company's software was being used by the Pentagon as part of its development of a domestic surveillance system.

[via Tomalak's Realm, 11 March 2003]

Digital Dark Age: Digital Data Loss and Preservation Resources at the Long Now Foundation

Thu, 13 Feb 2003 03:43:54 GMT

The Long Now Foundation maintains a library of stories about "Digital Dark Age: Digital Data Loss and Preservation Resources"

National Archives of Canada places 1906 Northwest Provinces Census online

Fri, 24 Jan 2003 21:43:36 GMT

Following the Hon. Allan Rock's announcement this morning that the 1906
Northwest Provinces Census is to be released immediately, the Library &
Archives of Canada's National Archives site opened its database and online
images to this census. You can only search by place, not by individual name.
Go to http://www.archives.ca or http://www.nlc-bnc.ca and select National
Archives of Canada. There should be a link in the centre of the graphic to
the census database. If the link isn't there, select the ArchiviaNet On-line
Research Tool and the link to Census of the Northwest Provinces, 1906.
As Gordon Watts, the co-chair of the Canada Census Committee would say,
Happy hunting!

Noisy Light is New Key to Encryption

Fri, 15 Nov 2002 17:35:45 GMT

In this article, "'Noisy Light' is New Key to Encryption" by Sandeep Junnarkar of CNET News.com from November 15, 2002, we learn that

Scientists at Northwestern University say they have harnessed the properties of light to encrypt information into code that can be cracked only one way: by breaking the physical laws of nature.

Restoration of Hemingway's Documents and Manuscripts in Cuba

Mon, 11 Nov 2002 23:11:46 GMT

Hemingway Documents Restored in Cuba [AP World News].

Not exactly about digital preservation, but perhaps the microfilm will one day be digitized and released to the world. Wouldn't that be revolutionary?

European Open Archives Forum Studying OAI Protocol

Mon, 28 Oct 2002 14:56:32 GMT

The Open Archives Forum (OAF) is a European Union initiative that is studying the use of the Open Archives Initiative protocol for archival and library institutions in Europe.

Fri, 26 Jul 2002 14:49:22 GMT

From Wired News, June 5, 2002, comes this inspiring story, "Dead Men Tell No Passwords", by Michelle Delio:

The man in charge of archiving and maintaining electronic copies of Norway's most important historical documents is dead and so is access to those archives.

So the director of the Norwegian cultural center is pleading for
hackers to help him crack the center's password-protected database.

The story goes on to relate how some hackers use a program by Aryeh Holzer called "Dead Man's Switch." If the program is not reset at scheduled intervals, it will encrypt or delete files, and inform your family and friends by e-mail and other computer communications that you are gone. One individual noted that he had gone on vacation, forgotton about the switch, and found himself to be "dead" and his "adult entertainment files" deleted.