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Topic: Hard Copy Advice/Experiences? (Read 6174 times) previous topic - next topic

Hard Copy Advice/Experiences?

Greetings ALL
We are working on a set of musical language translations and we are nearing the stage when we must cast the work into the world.
We have begun to wonder what everyone else has found practicable.

The folks we are working with are language and culture History types with little or ZERO tech/computer skill or in some cases even exposure.

We want to give them hard copies that are easily reproducible as well as digital copies most useful to professional pressmen and lastly a set of copies for long term storage in the unpredictable conditions of unpredictable future archives.

Have any of you had experiences positive or otherwise that you would be willing to share?

What formats and media have you found practicable or not?

Thank you for your time and "Good Holidays" to you All!

Re: Hard Copy Advice/Experiences?

Reply #1 –
Quote
We want to give them hard copies that are easily reproducible as well as digital copies most useful to professional pressmen and lastly a set of copies for long term storage in the unpredictable conditions of unpredictable future archives.

On the digital side, get a program like PDFCreator.exe from (sourceforge.net and just create pdf files. They can be passed to anyone by email, ftp, downloads, on disc, whatever, and should be easy to open on most computers.  They would just print hard copy from that.




Re: Hard Copy Advice/Experiences?

Reply #2 –
If you are looking for retention times > 500 years, IMO the best option is archival ink on archival paper stored in a cool, dry environment. Back-up with microfiche stored off-site in a fireproof safe.

I wouldn't count on any digital format lasting more than 50 years. Half inch magnetic tape was once thought to be a long term storage medium. Try transferring that to a computer today :)
Registered user since 1996

Re: Hard Copy Advice/Experiences?

Reply #3 –
Quote
musical language translations

I'm interested in learning what this expression means.

Re: Hard Copy Advice/Experiences?

Reply #4 –
Rick is certainly correct about the effervescence of digital media. On the other hand, if you pay attention and don't mind doing the work, there's usually enough time and hardware overlap that you can transfer files to any new media that come along. I have some files that started out on 5-1/4" floppies formatted on a Tandy 1000, went from there to 3-1/2" floppies (IBM desktop), then to CDs (IBM laptop), and now reside on a USB external drive backed up on DVDs (Dell laptop). However there are limits: my old TRS-80 Scripsit files are no longer accessible, though I still have the TRSDOS-formatted floppies and presumably the data is still on there.

Thanks for the memories.....

Bill

Re: Hard Copy Advice/Experiences?

Reply #5 –
Quote from: William Ashworth –
my old TRS-80 Scripsit files are no longer accessible, though I still have the TRSDOS-formatted floppies and presumably the data is still on there.
If accessing the data is important to you, I have a working Model 4P in the attic.
Registered user since 1996

Re: Hard Copy Advice/Experiences?

Reply #6 –
Thanks much for the offer, Rick, which I will keep in mind if I ever need the data. I don't think there's anything important on there that I don't have in hard copy. However....side issue (sort of)....as I went looking for the disks just now I ran across a stash of unformatted DS/HD 5-1/4 discs in pristine condition. If you (or anyone else) have a use for them, let me know.

Cheers,

Bill

Re: Hard Copy Advice/Experiences?

Reply #7 –
Thank you for your time ALL.
I do apologize. English is not my first or last language and there are two of us.
To be as precise as possible the expression should be something like this:

We are translating and recording the translations of the musical component of a native language.


The language is all but extinct. We are translating both the language and the "music" to form a record that is "singable" to future generations who will never hear the language naturally in the hopes that some of the wisdom and culture contained in it will survive. We are betting that traditional Western musical notation - thus our use of Noteworthy - will survive for at least two generations more and provide an audible skeleton for this language record.

Our current plan is to leave behind both digital and acid free paper copies, bound and loose. We will leave 24bit images of the musical notation as well as Noteworthy files. We wondered about other formats and what Pressmen now and in the future would need and what types of viewing formats would have long lives etc.

Vaults are not practicable but we can create hundreds of DVD and CD recordings and salt the most likely mines of the next generations.

Thanks again for your time ALL!
Good Holidays

Re: Hard Copy Advice/Experiences?

Reply #8 –
Sounds very much like the projects the Lomaxes did in the US and what Grainger did in Scandinavia and Britain.  Lomax made sound recordings of folk music, and Faith used traditional music notation that ended up with really wierd time signatures.  You can read about John A. Lomax's project here
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/lohtml/lohome.html and his son Alan's work here http://www.rounder.com/series/lomax_alan/ and Grainger here: http://www.percygrainger.org/catalog.htm

I suggest using some sort of audio medium; use simple technology such as a record but mastered on a durable material such as aluminum.  That way, anyone will be able to replicate the technology with a platform with old, tried and true technology that can be operated with simple equipment no matter what changes take place in the digital world.

Re: Hard Copy Advice/Experiences?

Reply #9 –
Thanks for the links.
We are in fact working with the developers of an audio dictionary to be "printed" concurrently with a traditional written dictionary.
We will look into metal discs they are unknown to us.

Re: Hard Copy Advice/Experiences?

Reply #10 –
I only mentioned aluminum because I think the record makers of 70 and 80 years ago used to mould aluminum casts of the records to use as masters.  I think many still exist although I understand many were melted down during the second world war so the metal could be used in aircraft. 

I am not knowledgeable about the technology, and I may be absolutely wrong.  However, you may find some useful info here http://www.flickr.com/photos/12998963@N03/1873946206/ or hear http://www.mftjazz.com/2008/10/record-making-with-duke-ellington.html (the Ellington recordings are my passion). 

And I see I have the wrong metal...