The Idea Emerges, a LS 502 post

"Madness does not come by breaking out, but by giving in; by settling down in some dirty, little, self-repeating circle of ideas; by being tamed."
--G.K. Chesterton, Manalive

I have mentioned I'm a little freak out over my Research Methods class? I've done research before for my undergraduate degree, but I can't help but feel that I'm a little out of my depth.

But the Muse has struck!

As I was weeding a collection in the branch library I worked before my transfer, I found a book on Windows 3.1, complete with floppy disks. Now, when I say floppy disks, I mean floppy disks.

For your viewing pleasure:

Note: Advance claim no longer valid.

It struck me that there are people who probably never seen an actual floppy disk in there life. I remember explaining a floppy disk to a friend of mine who is only a few years younger than me and she gave me a confused look. So the thought in my mind is if there are no machines that can read these storage device how can we recover the information that is on there. The door is now locked, never to be open because we have lost the key.

So, with this class I want to look into how do archives make sure that the information, like recordings of oral history, that is saved on computers is not lost because of changes in technology.

I refused to be tamed!!