Barriers To Genealogy In The Future

[KGarrad]

P.S. I have worked in IT since I left school, so I am tech-savvy!

What do you think of archiving old sites , or even a site like Rootschat? Will server space allow this?
Old = a site today in 5 years time etc

Having worked in IT since leaving school, you will recall the millennium project (I forget who did it) which was carefully turned into an electronic time-capsule; only the technology needed to read it is now obsolete.  So we need to be careful how we 'archive' stuff for the long (or even medium) term.  There is still something to be said for hard copy ....

Sorry, never heard of it!

But then, I've been working since 1971, and in 1999 I was too busy fixing commercial systems!!
(I assume that by "Millennium" you were referring to 1999/2000? Rather than the true Millennium in 2000/2001? )

[Andrew Tarr]

Sorry, never heard of it!

But then, I've been working since 1971, and in 1999 I was too busy fixing commercial systems!!
(I assume that by "Millennium" you were referring to 1999/2000? Rather than the true Millennium in 2000/2001? )

I think it was a biggish school somewhere in UK, and IIRC they stashed everything on some kind of big disk drive.  That's what became obsolete.

My little systems weren't troubled by the infamous 'bug'.  Were yours? 

[pinefamily]

I'm hearing you, KGarrad! We refused to acknowledge any so-called millenium celebrations 1999/2000. The folly of it was even more obvious when our local newspaper, as part of their "millenium" celebration, published the front page from their 1900 edition. On it was an editorial talking about the change of century in 1901!

Regarding the change of technology, perhaps we may continue to have hard copy storage, but we will end up a digital society. In our lifetime, I expect we will see the demise of newspapers, magazines, CD's, and DVD's/Blu-Rays. All of these will become totally digital.

[Andrew Tarr]

.... I expect we will see the demise of newspapers, magazines, CD's, and DVD's/Blu-Rays. All of these will become totally digital.

CDs and DVDs have always been totally digital ..   

[DavidG02]

P.S. I have worked in IT since I left school, so I am tech-savvy!

What do you think of archiving old sites , or even a site like Rootschat? Will server space allow this?

Old = a site today in 5 years time etc

What you mean like the Internet Archive (Wayback machine) no it will never happen

http://web.archive.org/web/20050328015619/http://www.rootschat.com/

Cheers
Guy

I do know of the Wayback Machine

And that goes to my point. A dedicated website set up to store information BECAUSE of the lack of storage , dead links and other reasons why search sites hate going back more than 5 years.

I also recognize Andrews point about obsoletion. Guy , you yourself have talked of destruction of paper records and what it could mean for future genealogists/historians. I did agree with your point on that thread and I understand the concerns about readable storage.

3SD - for some reason I am not a fan of cloud storage. I must be a Neanderthal

[ScouseBoy]

Can we be confident resources will be available? If places like FindMyPast and Ancestry go bust will someone else step in? Highly likely but at what cost or how much damage to personal records etc

I have a feeling that the current genealogy thing may turn out to be a generational fad.  It's popular now because of the steady growth of new info on the relatively new internet.  Twenty years on that will all have changed, with ever more ridiculous electronic gizmos becoming trendy.  Perhaps we can click an icon and the 'net will do a two-minute search going back 6 generations.    Will there be any hard copy? 

Hard copy?!  What a quaint old-fashioned idea!

In 100 years nobody will be doing hard copy of anything!

   How do you arrive at that prediction, I wonder?

[DavidG02]

I'm hearing you, KGarrad! We refused to acknowledge any so-called millenium celebrations 1999/2000.

We arrived in Perth on Dec 31 1999 - so we had an extra 2 1/2 hrs to live if anything went wrong

[KGarrad]

Hard copy?!  What a quaint old-fashioned idea!

In 100 years nobody will be doing hard copy of anything!

   How do you arrive at that prediction, I wonder?

Simply extrapolating from observations of the youth of today!
They don't read books or newspapers.

They do everything online.

Do you not see them walking down the street glued to their smartphones?!

[Andrew Tarr]

Simply extrapolating from observations of the youth of today!
They don't read books or newspapers.

They do everything online.

Yes, they do.  But as a rule those aren't the ones doing genealogy.  Maybe when they develop an interest their habits may have evolved a bit.