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1 July 2008 - 12:00
An article by David Pearson and Colin Webb. This paper talks about the nature of file format obsolescence and a series of prototype questions designed by the National Library as a benchmark to help assess file format obsolescence. The article was published in the International Journal of Digital Curation, Vol 3, No 1 (2008).
Introduction
We know that in our information-obsessed world, change is everything. And yet some information is required to live beyond the moment; some information is valued beyond tomorrow’s headlines, and must be managed to be accessible, usable, and understandable in the long term.
Cycles of change in file formats impinge on even the most casual users of digital data. Technological change and format obsolescence are potentially major problems for every repository manager and data user. This is particularly true given the ever- increasing reliance on digital storage and distribution of information, the plethora of file f ....

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