Michael Jensen, the always-ahead-of-the-curve Director of the National Academies Press gave a stunningly original speech at the recent AAUP (American Association of University Presses) which, in his words, "allowed me to talk about the two issues that matter most to me: saving scholarly publishing, and saving civilization. In 16 minutes."
LAST spring, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas acquired the papers of Bruce Sterling, a renowned science fiction writer and futurist. But not a single floppy disk or CD-ROM was included among his notes and manuscripts. When pressed to explain why, the prophet of high-tech said digital preservation was doomed to fail.