More Than a Warehouse
Traditional archives are often viewed as "final resting places." In our discipline, The Archive is a Seed Bank. We preserve artifacts not just to look at them, but to potentially replant them in the future. This difference in intent shapes our methods.
Structure of the Archive
- The Deep Freeze: Long-term cold storage for Petribytes.
- The Greenhouse: Active maintenance environments for Vivibytes.
- The Reading Room: The user-facing interface for accessing the collection.
Field Notes
The "Black Hole" Problem: An archive that no one can access is just a landfill. Access is as critical as preservation. "If it isn't findable, it doesn't exist."
Custodial Duty: When you bring an artifact into The Archive, you assume a moral duty to defend it. This includes defending it against legal threats (copyright strikes) and technical rot.