I have written in the past that I am putting together a time capsule. With the WTB’s new camcorder I want to produce a few videos and store them in the capsule on disk but its dawned on me that storing digital material intended for future generations to read may pose a bit of a problem. Sure it saves on space and paper but can you guarentee that when the capsule is unearthed, future technology will be able to read your digital photographs and videos?

You occassionaly hear about places like the BBC finding old material in outdated formats and having to build emulators or in some cases complete systems in order to read it because modern technology cannot. With the way technology is advancing these days, who knows what will be obsolete in generations to come.

I will still include a disk worth or photographs and videos don’t get me wrong but I think the main bulk of the capsule’s contents will have to remain paper based.