I think your concerns about the longevity of any non-print media are well founded. However, this should not dissuade you from using current CD technology -- as long as you maintain a means to 1) access what you have stored, and 2) convert what you have stored to a future more stable environment. For Powerpoint (and related electronic slide representations) there is a means to produce 35mm slides that I believe Polaroid and others market. It's a simple PC attachment -- a film canister -- that will create 35mm slides from Powerpoint. Using it is as simple a clicking on "file print" (it just prints to the slide maker). The result is a roll of 35mm film to be processed as slides. What this does not preserve are the "on-screen" fades, dissolves, arrows, etc. that a live Powerpoint presentation offers. My short-term suggestion is to store the presentation on CD along with a Powerpoint viewer program and revisit the issue in 3-5 years. Bob Kudlay Springfield College Springfield, MA 01007 rkudlay@spfldcol.edu Lynne Wohleber <wohleber@PGH.ANGLICAN.ORG> on 12/07/2000 04:13:49 PM Please respond to Archives & Archivists <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU> (Embedded image moved to file: pic05039.pcx)From:(Embedded image moved to file: pic00745.pcx)Lynne Wohleber <wohleber@PGH.ANGLICAN.ORG> on 12/07/2000 04:13 PM To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU cc: (bcc: Robert Kudlay/Springfield College/US) Subject: PowerPoint vs CDRoms The staff of the Diocese has prepared many presentations on PowerPoint over the past two or three years. These should be set up for archiving, but given the questionable shelf life of cd roms, I was wondering if anyone out there had some reasonable suggestions as to the best way to preserve them. It seems that if the information alone were enough to archive, a printed version of the slides and text would be sufficient. However, the interaction of the slides and text make the presentations intrinsically unique. Will there be equipment to read a CD-RW in 30 years? Will they have to be reformated and when? Anything EXPENSIVE is out of the question. How say you in the know???? Lynne F. Wohleber Archivist Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh 325 Oliver Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15222 412-281-4928 x138 FAX 412-471-5591 wohleber@pgh.anglican.orgTitle: PowerPoint vs CDRoms
The staff of the Diocese has prepared many presentations on PowerPoint over the past two or three years. These should be set up for archiving, but given the questionable shelf life of cd roms, I was wondering if anyone out there had some reasonable suggestions as to the best way to preserve them. It seems that if the information alone were enough to archive, a printed version of the slides and text would be sufficient. However, the interaction of the slides and text make the presentations intrinsically unique. Will there be equipment to read a CD-RW in 30 years? Will they have to be reformated and when? Anything EXPENSIVE is out of the question. How say you in the know????
Lynne F. Wohleber
Archivist
Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh
325 Oliver Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
412-281-4928 x138
FAX 412-471-5591
wohleber@pgh.anglican.org