Hardware

Two recent publications about disk reliability are of considerable interest. Continuing their exemplary tradition of transparency, Backblaze updated their 2013 report on their experience of disk failures with a report on 2014, and the raw data and a set of FAQs. And J-F Paris et al published Self-Repairing Disk Arrays. Below the fold, thoughts on the relationship between these two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeAWVoQtCVs&list=PLJfQmTStwzSO48DJalzD3Q...
Michael Olson at CurateGear 2015. Get slides for this and other CurateGear talks at http://ils.unc.edu/digccurr/curategear2015-talks/olson.pdf

Research data is increasingly perceived as a valuable resource and, with appropriate curation and preservation, it has much to offer learning, teaching, research, knowledge transfer and consultancy activities in the visual arts. However, very little is known about the curation and preservation of this data: none of the specialist arts institutions have research data management policies or infrastructure and anecdotal evidence suggests that practice is ad hoc, left to individual researchers and teams with little support or guidance.

Dene (pronounced “Deenie”) Grigar’s mother was an artist who painted mainly with oils on canvas. But occasionally she painted on a different medium, such as wood or pottery. Once she experimented with painting on bamboo, a medium she was unfamiliar with.

The Smithsonian today unveiled the Smithsonian X 3D Collection and state-of-the-art 3-D explorer. The announcement kicked off the Smithsonian X 3D Conference, a two-day event focused on the current state of the Institution’s 3-D program and where it is headed in the future. A webcast of the conference is available.

Leslie Johnson reminisces on her favourite legacy hardware.
http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2013/11/before-you-were-born-th...

Since its foundation in 2002, the Digital Preservation Coalition has published a series of topical Technology Watch Reports that provide an authoritative introduction to recognized challenges associated with maintaining access to data and digital materials in the long term. The series fills a strategic gap between emerging research and actual professional practice, and it strongly reflects the needs of the DPC's members. Commissioned from recognized domain experts, they identify and track developments in IT, as well as the standards and tools that inhibit or enable digital preservation.

The number of Americans ages 16 and older who own tablet computers has grown to 35%, and the share who have e-reading devices like Kindles and Nooks has grown to 24%. Overall, the number of people who have a tablet or an e-book reader among those 16 and older now stands at 43%.
Up from 25% last year, more than half of those in households earning $75,000 or more now have tablets. Up from 19% last year, 38% of those in upper-income households now have e-readers.

Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture (PDT&C) is an international refereed journal of high scholarly standing which focuses on preserving digital content from a wide variety of perspectives, including technological, social, economic, political, and user. Its scope is global, covering projects and practices from key international players in the field.