Getting necessary historical data out of deep freeze

Abstract

The changes which are brought about by natural evolution often have very long time-constants, and the data which are needed to capture and measure them can therefore span many decades, sometimes centuries. Most of the natural sciences have caches of analogue historical data that would add significantly to our understanding of the evolution of the objects in question, if only the information in those data were readily accessible in modern electronic formats. Unfortunately, many of those analogue data are in precarious physical condition and only very few have been digitized. We review briefly the global situation regarding the status of those “data at risk”, and suggest strategies that will ensure the preservation of the information that they contain, making it readily and easily accessible in the public domain for use in specific scientific research, disaster risk assessment, or citizen science projects.