Back in October last year, I wrote a blog entry about the fact that I was gradually having the text of all my blog entries printed and bound as hardback books. At the time I stated that it was an example of pure self-indulgence ... and it still is!
I've just received the latest batch of books from Lulu.com. The twelve volumes cover the years 2016 to 2018 inclusive, with each volume containing three months-worth of blog entries. They have been put onto my bookshelves next to the existing books that cover 2008 to 2015 inclusive, and they now form a valuable archive that I can dip into whenever I need to.
I've just received the latest batch of books from Lulu.com. The twelve volumes cover the years 2016 to 2018 inclusive, with each volume containing three months-worth of blog entries. They have been put onto my bookshelves next to the existing books that cover 2008 to 2015 inclusive, and they now form a valuable archive that I can dip into whenever I need to.
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Amazing ! Now there's something that never crossed my mind to do, but sure - why not ?!
ReplyDeleteCorporal_Trim,
DeleteIt only crossed my mind after a visit to the a National Archives. They were bemoaning the fact that modern electronic storage systems were not robust, and that a lot of early digital data is no longer readable whereas written and printed records hundreds of years old were preserved.
All the best,
Bob
That was certainly true of old storage media such as tapes and disks. But with the transition to the cloud, data is easily preserved across platforms in multiple storage media types.
DeleteMike,
DeleteMy understanding is that no thought was given until relatively recently to preserving the means to read some data. The data itself might not be corrupted, but the hardware and relevant programs that can use the data have not been preserved.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
DeleteExactly. It's one of the resaons there has been such a rapid transition to cloud based atorage since that gets round the problem.
Mike,
DeleteOne hopes that it will ensure that records and data aren’t lost.
All the best,
Bob
Personally I don't think that is self-indulgence at all - that is your heritage for future generations of Wargamers
ReplyDeleteIan Dury,
DeleteI hope that it will be useable source of ideas for future generations.
All the best,
Bob
Good idea! How do you capture your entries?
ReplyDeleteJonathan Freitag,
DeleteI understand that there is a program that will do this for you, but all I've done over the years is copy and paste each entry into MS Word and formatted it. If done every couple of days, it never becomes a chore to do.
All the best,
Bob
Not a self indulgence at all. This shows that we have come full circle and feel that there is value in archiving the digital to analog. Despite prognostications, it is the digital that is more ephemeral and also often more limiting (unless you search for it, you don't see it). And a server or hard drive crash won't wipe these out.
ReplyDeleteEd M,
DeleteVery true. When digital data becomes unreadable - as so much early stuff has - a printed hard copy becomes worth its weight in paper if not gold!
All the best,
Bob
If you click on the links in the posts, do you get sent a book of the target web-page? :-D
ReplyDeleteKaptain Kobold,
DeleteI only wish that it was possible to do so!
All the best,
Bob
Wow! What a good idea.
ReplyDeleteWhiskers,
DeleteCheers! It's not a cheap option, but it does work.
All the best,
Bob
And when the local thermo-nuclear strike wipes the internet you can sit in your bunker and mull over the good times.
ReplyDeleteWhiskers,
DeleteVery true! Mind you, I think that my wife believes that when I'm in my toy/wargame rom, I am in my own little bunker, and that it would take a nuclear blast - or the promise of food - to get me out of it.
All the best,
Bob
What a great idea! Is this expensive?
ReplyDeleteRay Rousell,
DeleteIt is not cheap, and averages out at about £15 for each book. The cost has been met by sales of redundant wargames stuff on eBay.
All the best,
Bob
I must confess I was thinking of making at some point a digital backup ... having fallen foul of so many Hard Disk crashes I still think the best backup (of last resort) is paper. You know where you with something physical ;)
ReplyDeleteGeordie an Exiled FoG,
DeleteThe big advantage of a digital record is the ease with which it can be searched ... but a PC, tablet, or Kindle don’t yet have the tactile quality of a printed book. That, and the fact that a book never needs recharging, give books the edge in my mind.
All the best,
Bob
What a cool idea! I like occasionally to go back over some of my blog entries - usually by topic (label), but that often requires a bit of a hunt for what I'm really looking for. I may have to do a re-visit to all my blog entries with a view to re-labelling, to see if that's a help.
ReplyDeleteHard-copy has an accessibility and charm of its own, don't you reckon?
Archduke Piccolo,
DeleteEarly on in my blogging career I created quite a few labels, but after a year or so I rationalised them somewhat, and that seems to have worked quite well.
That said, I really enjoy taking one of my blog diaries off the shelf and opening it at a random page; it never disappoints me, always revives my wargaming mojo, and I’ve rediscovered several lost ‘gems’ in the process.
All the best,
Bob