What does digital preservation have to do with the moon landing?
The television images of the moon landing are known worldwide. However, nobody can access the high-resolution images and data that are even more important for research today. Nobody really knows why this is the case. It is likely that the tapes on which the data was stored were simply overwritten. This disaster could have been prevented by systematic digital preservation. Behind the term lies a multitude of challenges: Data itself must be backed up in such a way that it cannot be overwritten or deleted and that it is protected against fire, water and even cyber attacks, the data formats must remain readable and the data carriers usable. Who remembers floppy discs or VHS tapes and could still use them now? The current topic page on digital preservation explains how we at ZB MED are mastering these and other challenges.
The microsite DARUM ZB MED! bundles topic-specific tips and information for scientific work in the life sciences. Already online, for example, are topic pages on good scientific practice, research data management or data literacy. The microsite will be gradually expanded.
To the Digital Preservation topic page (mostly in German)
To the microsite DARUM ZB MED!