MMC Summer 2011 Newsletter
Data at Risk
Dear Friend,
-
Welcome to our company newsletter. Two or three times a year, we like to reach out to clients and friends and tell them about some projects and initiatives which we hope they'll find interesting. As you can see, this time our theme is "Data at Risk". Here's an outline:
-
- CODATA's Data at Risk Task Group (DARTG) -- proud to be a member!
- Helping the American Philosophical Society to preserve a Native American language.
-
Old Tapes/Disks at Risk
-- But which have the data you need? Are they worth the
effort?
-
CODATA,
the Committee on Data for Science and Technology, an
interdisciplinary Scientific Committee of the International
Council for Science (ICSU), was established 40 years ago. It
has a number of task groups which deal with various issues. One
of these is Data at Risk Task Group (DARTG). As the
group's leaders have pointed out: "Data which are regarded as
unusable tend to be regarded as useless, and then risk being
destroyed." This agrees with our own experience in the
media/data conversion service industry.
Sadly, data custodians can be unaware of the technical or even
financial resources that may be available to salvage and even
enhance the usefulness of that material.
DARTG's focus is
on the identification and preservation of scientific
which is in danger of being lost forever,
(as described on the
DARTG website), with a view to enabling an assessment of
what's needed to bring those
data into fully usable electronic formats. A few weeks
ago, the task group was kind enough to accept Chris Muller as the
only non-government, non-academic member. Chris hopes that
his long experience with
recovery and conversion might enable him to contribute a useful
insight now and then--and he
is indeed proud to be a member! You can see the
DARTG website here.
Recovery/Conversion of
Penobscot Dictionary Diskette Files. We had great
enjoyment helping the
American Philosophical
Society with this project. The dictionary
compiled in the 1970's and 80's only existed on these old
floppies and some copies-of-copies of dot matrix
printouts, very difficult to scan. The language is endangered
and the dictionary has not yet been published. 
Our
job was to crack a 1980's proprietary file and diskette format,
then convert 31 floppies. The directory
structure, sector chaining and interleaving were not compatible
with known operating systems and appeared to be unique to the
rare software package used to
compose the dictionary with its many special characters.
Our ample accumulation of nerd-years helped us to hack our way
through the disk layout and file structure. Of course, that was
nothing compared to the work done by the
original researchers, including the iconic Dr. Frank Siebert,
along with current-day
advocates such as Tim Powell, Director of Native American
Projects for APS and
Pauleena MacDougall, Director of the
Maine Folklife Center.
Their energy and devotion have kept this cultural treasure from
disappearing. But it's a great feeling to think we played
even a small role.
Our
job was to crack a 1980's proprietary file and diskette format,
then convert 31 floppies. The directory
structure, sector chaining and interleaving were not compatible
with known operating systems and appeared to be unique to the
rare software package used to
compose the dictionary with its many special characters.
Our ample accumulation of nerd-years helped us to hack our way
through the disk layout and file structure. Of course, that was
nothing compared to the work done by the
original researchers, including the iconic Dr. Frank Siebert,
along with current-day
advocates such as Tim Powell, Director of Native American
Projects for APS and
Pauleena MacDougall, Director of the
Maine Folklife Center.
Their energy and devotion have kept this cultural treasure from
disappearing. But it's a great feeling to think we played
even a small role.
What the heck is on
them? Are they still readable? If I do
indeed need the data, should I pay to store a thousand
3480's on a shelf when the converted data will
fit on a thumb drive?
Many of us have old computer media, but we're not certain what's on them and whether they're worth the effort to migrate to new media. Maybe the file formats aren't compatible with new systems. Wouldn't it be nice if we could find out more about the material without investing in arcane hardware and software, or paying some expensive forensics outfit to investigate them? No need to discard potentially valuable data without checking first. How about a free look-see? Our policy is to review samples from a potential client for free. Their only exposure is shipping cost. Even if it turns out to be unneeded material, we're betting that our thoroughness and openness will make you inclined to come back again. :-)
Many of us have old computer media, but we're not certain what's on them and whether they're worth the effort to migrate to new media. Maybe the file formats aren't compatible with new systems. Wouldn't it be nice if we could find out more about the material without investing in arcane hardware and software, or paying some expensive forensics outfit to investigate them? No need to discard potentially valuable data without checking first. How about a free look-see? Our policy is to review samples from a potential client for free. Their only exposure is shipping cost. Even if it turns out to be unneeded material, we're betting that our thoroughness and openness will make you inclined to come back again. :-)
From your friends at
Muller Media Conversions
21 Locust Street
Manhasset NY 11030-2233
www.mullermedia.com
516-833-3067, ext 1-101
Go to MMC Company News
21 Locust Street
Manhasset NY 11030-2233
www.mullermedia.com
516-833-3067, ext 1-101
Go to MMC Company News