Time trial for digital files

Yesterday, the Swiss Fort Knox alpine mountain bunker laid the time capsule of the Planets Digital Genome project - a box with five digital objects: a JPEG photo, an executable code in Java, a short video in .MOV format, a web page in HTML and a book in PDF format.



Each object is also duplicated in a different format, more suitable for long-term storage: PDF / A, TIFF, JPEG2000 and MPEG4. Files were burned onto a CD, DVD, USB flash drive, hard drive, 3.5-inch floppy disks, microfilm, paper, magnetic tape and punch cards.



Inside the Planets Digital Genome TimeCapsule capsule, they also placed devices for reading each carrier, detailed instructions for using devices, a detailed description of each file format, software for decoding file formats, special software for converting formats if necessary, detailed manuals for each software sample, and so on. d.

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Capsule contents will be shown to surprised viewers after 10, 20, 30, 50 and 100 years. For them, the same Java code will be akin to a cipher, as for us, manuscripts from extinct civilizations.



Below is the scheme of the Swiss Fort Knox bunker, which is used as a commercial storehouse of valuables.







Identical copies of time capsules will be sent to the museums, archives and libraries of the world, and the contents duplicated on the Internet. Since in 20-30 years all digital media will become unusable, this exhibit will be an excellent demonstration of how fleeting all the achievements of modern “digital civilization” are, if you do not take care of their reliable preservation in analog form. The project must prove that it is practically impossible to preserve information in digital form due to the rapid change of devices, formats and self-destruction of information carriers. After 100 years, only microfilm and punched cards can be read from the capsule.



European scientists worked on the creation of the “digital genome of mankind” for four years and spent 15 million euros on it. The project coordinator was the British Library.