Might be timely to mention this one - <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/07/16/us-nasa-tapes-idUSTRE56F5MK20090716">http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/07/16/us-nasa-tapes-idUSTRE56F5MK20090716</a> - about the video data recordings of the first moon landing. You'd possibly expect NASA to be pretty good with backups, especially for something like an event of this magnitude.<br>
<br><span id="articleText"><p>"NASA admitted in 2006 that no one could find the original video recordings of the July 20, 1969, landing. Since
then, Richard Nafzger, an engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center in Maryland, who oversaw television processing at the
ground-tracking sites during the Apollo 11 mission, has been looking for
them. The good news is he found
where they went. The bad news is they were part of a batch of 200,000
tapes that were degaussed -- magnetically erased -- and re-used to save
money."</p><p></p><p>I've also heard an interview with one of Australia's first female TV comediennes, who indicated that only about 15 seconds of video recording remain of her lengthy TV career - the rest was dumped to save space. A number of other historic Australian recordings suffered the same fate:</p>
<p>"Sadly it appears that,
like so many ABC programs of the period, not all of Aunty Jack has survived.
It has long been rumoured that some episodes fell prey to the ABC's infamous
'economy drives' and that these tapes were erased. This shameful act of
cultural vandalism saw many priceless programs from the '60s and '70s
erased simply so that tapes could be recycled to save money on buying
blank tape. According to Bob Ellis' 1999 <i>Sydney Morning Herald</i>
article "The Lost Picture Show", many important ABC programs
have been destroyed or substantially lost. Apart from Aunty Jack, the
casualties include most of the 1969-71 episodes of MONDAY CONFERENCE,
most of the in-studio videotaped links, introductions and studio interviews
from THIS DAY TONIGHT, most of the first two years of COUNTDOWN, and all
but five of the 166 episodes of CERTAIN WOMEN." <a href="http://www.milesago.com/tv/auntyjack.htm">http://www.milesago.com/tv/auntyjack.htm</a></p><p>Similar losses of source materials (again, video recordings rather than digital data) happened with the original Doctor Who TV programs:</p>
<p>"The Engineering Department had no mandate to archive the programme
videotapes they held, although they would not normally be wiped or
junked until the relevant production department or BBC Enterprises had
indicated that they had no further use for the tapes.<sup id="cite_ref-interest_6-0" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes#cite_note-interest-6"><span>[</span>7<span>]</span></a></sup> The first <i>Doctor Who</i> master videotapes to be junked were those for the serial <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Highlanders_%28Doctor_Who%29" title="The Highlanders (Doctor Who)">The Highlanders</a></i>, which were erased on 9 March 1967, a mere two months after Episode 4's original transmission.<sup id="cite_ref-2book_5-1" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes#cite_note-2book-5"><span>[</span>6<span>]</span></a></sup> Further erasing and junking of <i>Doctor Who</i>
master videotapes by the Engineering Department continued into the
1970s. Eventually every single master videotape of the programme's first
253 episodes (1963–1969) was destroyed or wiped, with the final 1960s
mastertapes to be erased being those for the 1968 serial <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fury_from_the_Deep" title="Fury from the Deep">Fury from the Deep</a></i>, which were authorised for wiping in late 1974.<sup id="cite_ref-interest_6-1" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes#cite_note-interest-6"><span>[</span>7<span>]" "</span></a></sup></p>
</span><span id="articleText"><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes#cite_note-interest-6">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes</a><sup id="cite_ref-interest_6-1" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes#cite_note-interest-6"><span></span></a></sup></p>
</span><span id="articleText"><p>So as well as accidental data loss, there is a very real risk of intentional deletion by humans as part of our "tidying the nest " behaviour.<br><sup id="cite_ref-interest_6-1" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes#cite_note-interest-6"><span></span></a></sup></p>
<p></p></span>kp<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Aug 26, 2012 at 10:51 PM, Roland Gesthuizen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:rgesthuizen@gmail.com" target="_blank">rgesthuizen@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div>Here is a horror story from Pixar about ToyStory 2. Worth sharing with your students</div><div> <span style="line-height:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:arial,sans-serif"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL_g0tyaIeE" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL_g0tyaIeE</a></span></div>
<div><br></div><div>Regards Roland</div><div><br></div><div>PS: Don't laugh. That backup in the kitchen may be just what your organisation needs.</div><br><div name="sig_ef468b11ff" style="margin:0pt"></div><br clear="all">
</blockquote></div><br>-- <br>Dr Ken Price MACS ACCE Professional Associate.<br>President, TASITE<br>