Our head of libraries IT did have to create a defunct technology room for old computers that can read certain file formats, but we try not to inflict it on the researchers.
This reminds me of how Foone ran into needing to use something odd to support a particular flavor of tiff image that was never supported by anything after win 98
(Or was this straight up inspired by that story? I'd believe that)
This makes me think of Musk’s young wunderkinder in his Doge gang not knowing the COBOL significance of using May 20,1875 as a placeholder date when the real birthday is unknown.
I once told a researcher about a technical upgrade we were planning that would make research easier. She said that she hoped we wouldn't make it too easy, because then everyone could do it. Another one told me he was worried there wouldn’t be enough for grad students to do.
Another that researchers would essentially run out of things to research too fast.
My takeaway: they need the enrichment. They don’t trust things that are easy.
The bit about Win98/XP requirements does have a ring of truth to it. How many libraries have the budget for the latest OS to run their software? Or to afford the hardware to run the latest OS?
Windows takes great pains to make sure as much old software works as possible (a Microsoft employee wrote about it, e.g. making a specific memory allocator for Windows 3.1 SimCity in Win 95). The archivists work hard in subverting these measures in their software.
Try medical records. I literally *just* printed out a form I have to sign, physically give to my patient advocate for her to sign, then physically take to the doctor's office so they can fix their digital record.
Meanwhile when I check in for an appointment, they make me sign a blank screen.
Sad fact: Archives below the federal level do not have everything in digitized from because the archives IT funding rates below (correctly) health and welfare, education, and roads.
The Archives slice of an annual budget dollar can barely be seen with a microscope.
Fill in the form, but also launch a ticket on a different system, and if you don't get a confirmation email within 48hrs then you need to repeat this process but you might get a terse email from the data gods about your inpatience
I’m sure that was the case before but I doubt they still do…or do they? Seems quite an obsolete method since most computers don’t have disk drives anymore.
It can take time. Archivists get lots of reference requests on top of doing their other tasks: preservation, arrangement, description, digitization, digital preservation, outreach, records management, financial accounting, staff supervision, ordering supplies, grant proposal writing, etc.
The big irony is that I could get the same info from the national registry within seconds. As it’s just part of my personal information that I can access through website/app. This matter just required going through the municipal office.
Municipal archives and research libraries or special collections are apples and oranges. The data contained and retrieved are way different as well as who is funding the whole thing
Heard a story from someone who worked in Congress that some agencies would deliver legislatively required reports on encrypted CD, but that for security reasons the congresspeople could not put the CDs in their computers. Enrichment for congressional IT in between teaching 80 YOs how to use zoom
I actually have a couple of Zip drives in the garage, but don't have an LPT1 or SCSI interface anymore. And I hear that USB adapters for them are inconsistent.
I really like how companies/corporations want you to do everything online. UNTIL its a mess up of theirs or could look that way then; " Umm did you fill out these form??"
When I had issues with one of my SSDs, I contacted support and they wanted me to install their approved software to do a SMART test (I already did one with another software but they wanted to make sure ig). Problem is their Linux version is garbage. This is why I still have a Windows boot drive lol
Ah yes, proprietary formats: where data goes to retire. Nothing says ‘cutting-edge tech’ like needing Windows XP to decode a digital fossil. What’s next, dial-up support?
I actually had someone come to me with a CD this week with an "swf" file on it. "Please use Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator to open this file..." (I recommended VLC, but haven't heard back.)
i second the flashpoint/ruffle reccomendations, but i also love that winamp supported swf files at some point and it just played in the little video player
i still dont know why they even "added" flash support, it doesnt even do anything interesting other than hooking flash to the video player and not much else with the main window, just perpetually showing "00:00" with 0 activity
My mistake: it's been so long since I've used Winamp that I forgot that it was paid software. You don't often see such weird features added into paid software.
Today I learned there are ways to still play Flash files! Thankfully I have not needed a Flash file since….. 2016? And that was dealing with antiquated web training data…
I had looked into Flashpoint a few years ago to browse some swf files from the Wayback, but had recommended VLC initially because I knew 1) it could play most Flash files, and 2) their next question was how to convert it to MP4/mkv; it was simply a video file. Good backup plan, though!
Could somebody give that person an award?
I mean, yeah, the CD was damaged, but you must be damn determined to actually get a staple through it.
Or have an unusually strong stapler.
I recall series of emergency recovery 8 inch floppy disks being kept easily available, attached to the side of a filing cabinet - using a magnet.
A team finding a folder in a cabinet with 52 photocopies of a floppy disk because no-one ever explained to the secretary what weekly backup copy meant.
A government department in the 80s faithfully following protocol when destroying confidential memos. Delete the file, but first print it out, and run it through the shredder, and place in the bags heading to the furnace. Then, and only then, sign the sheet testifying you had done your duty!
Bruce Springsteen (well, not him personally) recorded shows from his 2002-03 tour in a then-new digital format which is already obsolete. They have only been able to recover and release the recording from one show, and that was done in 2018. https://www.nugs.net/10-05-2018-were-gonna-play-until-the-sun-goes-down.html
NARA uses US Navy Mail. I had MP3s on a CD sent from DC on a plane to Pearl Harbor and from Pearl Harbor to San Diego on a ship. 21 USD in postage for MP3s. lol'
This isn't even funny to me. Other than the OS requirement, this is literally how to request a copy of an MRI from a supposedly leading hospital. I then just make an ISO from the cd that can be stored on my network.
Whenever I've requested a copy of imaging, it's been industry standard DICOM format files on a CD with some crusty viewer app. You can skip the software and use your own if, say, you want to 3D print a model of your brain out of squishy plastic.
Also the form is a plain text file that needs to be filled according to the syntax described in the header comment so it can be parsed by a perl script after upload.
Title text: "They just want researchers in the enclosure to feel enriched and stimulated. ('The Enclosure' is what archivists call the shadowy world outside their archives in which so many people are trapped.)"
*Client waving contract*
Hey, you have to provide us with 2 paper copies of the data, a 21-track reel-to-reel tape, 2 TIFFs at (72 and 300 dpi), a PDF, the raw HDF5 and an inscription on a grain of rice. The 72dpi TIF was missing from the data pack so we need a rebate for 50% of your invoice.
In 1992 I wrote to my MP asking why the "Income Support for Pensioners" form was 64 pages with insane questions like "Are you or your partner pregnant?" in it,
I got back a 3 page single space 10 point font answer on foolscap from the Southampton form office explaining why they were right...
Comments
(Or was this straight up inspired by that story? I'd believe that)
Our motto: move slow and preserve things.
My takeaway: they need the enrichment. They don’t trust things that are easy.
Meanwhile when I check in for an appointment, they make me sign a blank screen.
The Archives slice of an annual budget dollar can barely be seen with a microscope.
> insert disc into drive
There is no disc drive on your laptop.
> search ebay for zip drive
You find an advertised zip drive from a seller in Romania who has only one star reviews and only accepts bitcoin.
> send bitcoin
Except when you get fired by someone who’s supposed to be making you great. Kinda seems like the opposites
It's time for hacker mode now.
winamp isnt exactly free software (not open source) so i'm not sure where the correlation is, i might just be missing something here
https://flathub.org/apps/com.adobe.Flash-Player-Projector
I got through most of Star Control II whilst in Covid isolation.
https://www.archives.gov/frc/smartscan
I mean, yeah, the CD was damaged, but you must be damn determined to actually get a staple through it.
Or have an unusually strong stapler.
A team finding a folder in a cabinet with 52 photocopies of a floppy disk because no-one ever explained to the secretary what weekly backup copy meant.
Choose your job wisely. 🙊🙈🙉
I tried reading this "coordinated raccoon attack" article. But it just sends you to a login for Fermi lab now
http://www.fnal.gov/pub/today/archive/archive_2006/today06-06-19.html
https://www.nugs.net/10-05-2018-were-gonna-play-until-the-sun-goes-down.html
What it isn't is an instruction set emulator.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_(software)?wprov=sfti1
See Backward compatibility heading.
https://youtu.be/vXYvQdQEt00?si=IxNhKWUtTLXNK8v8
Invisible disabilities must be seen.
GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/83582d3e
Thank you to everyone with an open heart and empathy.
Lukasz Kludczynski
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lukasz-kludczynski_why-do-we-have-to-hide-who-we-are-at-work-activity-7297644714365739011-4tOM?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAAA3i4IUBnBNsH3VmyXQu-U48MGBD-ZUbpKE
@gerthuskens.bsky.social
*grote bulderlach*
Alt text: https://explainxkcd.com/3052#Transcript
"Have you ever read the instructions on a packet of toothpicks?"
- Douglas Adams, So Long and Thanks for All The Fish"
Does anyone have Wonko’s address? I feel like leaving. And the dolphins wouldn’t give me a lift.
Are we sure Elon isn’t a laboratory mouse in a costume?
Wowbagger is a close second.
I'd love to see the two meet.
Hey, you have to provide us with 2 paper copies of the data, a 21-track reel-to-reel tape, 2 TIFFs at (72 and 300 dpi), a PDF, the raw HDF5 and an inscription on a grain of rice. The 72dpi TIF was missing from the data pack so we need a rebate for 50% of your invoice.
I got back a 3 page single space 10 point font answer on foolscap from the Southampton form office explaining why they were right...