Having fun at the flash mob dance-a video to archive
One of the concerns of archivists today is how to preserve access to the information with all the different formats that have been coming out. Technology changes so quick, how do we preserve the media and still be able to see it long after the machines that played it have died? This little video of a UDM flash mob dance is not in the archival collection in any form, yet it would be something that should be in the archives in some way. So far there is no standard procedure to have any of the university news, whether it be in print or other media, to be preserved in the university archives.
I have reel-to-reel tapes (audio and film), VHS and audio cassettes, vinyl records and floppy drives; who knows how long it will be before no one will be able to see or hear any of it because there is nothing to play the media. In fact I have thousands of these old keypunch cards used to create a database for the Callow Folklore Archive many, many years ago. Pretty sure there is no machine on this campus to read these now. Any one have some creative ideas on what to use them for now?
The ancient cultures got it right-they put their history in stone!
If you ever get a chance to take part in a flash mob-DO IT! I had a lot of fun participating in this flash mob dance.
Pat Higo, Archives and Special Collections Librarian
