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--001a11c36b0ebe407304f5b44166 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Hi, The nature of electronic communications changes very quickly. Stuff that I can hardly understand is being routinely used by my 5 year old granddaughter. Who knows if any of the web sites listed here will still exist in 10, or 20 years. Will there still even be websites? Or will we do, say, virtual reading in the "cloud" with Google glasses or their progeny, and communicate our information to others by some yet to be invented technology? Will the existing moderators and web masters still exist. Is EBird "too big to fail (like Citigroup and Lehman Brothers, which of course did fail)? Will technology still be able to read jpegs? Even using my Mac computer, and Android smart phone, both of which I pride myself on fully understanding, trying to get things to work the way they're supposed to sometimes feels like the early days of motoring would have been like - sometimes things start, sometimes they work. Sometimes they don't, at least without a lot of fiddling and tweaking. Facebook, Google, Flickr etc. all seem to change the way they work - and not always for the better - every few months. I hate to seem old fashioned, but I suspect that that it's quite possible that in 10+ years the safest way to bypass electronic snooping, non-existence of privacy, stealing data, hacking, internet terrorism, power failures, trying to remember passwords etc.and the inability of people to articulate properly, will be an indestructible form of the printed word. E.g. the print version of NS Birds, and lately I have taken to ordering high quality prints of my favorite photos from Smugmug. What happens to researching the internet when a winter storm causes the power to go out for 2 days? What happens to data if a terrorist zaps the information stored in Google's cloud servers (apparently not impossible)? Historians have relied on written letters and books over the ages. How will they get their information in the age of tweets, texts and e-mails with a life of a few minutes or days? Having said that, though, I have very much embraced current technology. My medical office is now almost paperless. There are many wonderful ways to search and use data on all the internet sites we're talking about. I used to use a photo hosting web site called Pbase, and my photos are still there and search-able 11 years later. I use all the e-mail, forum and web sites mentioned in Rick and Eric's posts, and many more, for my profession, leisure and hobbies. My wife will tell you that I spend far too much time on the computer! We live in very exciting and rapidly changing times, but I think we already have to assume that nothing on the internet is private, permanent or totally secure, and while I feel that Rick's question is a very appropriate one, I don't see how we can guess at the correct answer at this time. Richard On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 7:22 AM, Eric Mills <E.Mills@dal.ca> wrote: > And by "NS sites" I mean NS- RBA and NatureNS. > > Eric > > Eric L. Mills > Lower Rose Bay > Lunenburg Co., Nova Scotia > Canada > *From: *Rick Whitman > *Sent: *Friday, March 28, 2014 06:59 > *To: *naturens > *Reply To: *naturens@chebucto.ns.ca > *Subject: *[NatureNS] Birding Observations and Records > > James Churchill listed: > > Facebook > Twitter > NatureNS > NS-RBA > eBird > Flickr > Smugmug > > For those with understanding, background, respect or connection to > Science, the question becomes: > > Records posted to which of the above will be available ten years from > now ? > > Rick Whitman > -- ################# Richard Stern, Port Williams, NS, Canada sternrichard@gmail.com ################### --001a11c36b0ebe407304f5b44166 Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <div dir=3D"ltr"><div><div><div>Hi,<br><br></div>The nature of electronic c= ommunications changes very quickly. Stuff that I can hardly understand is b= eing routinely used by my 5 year old granddaughter. Who knows if any of the= web sites listed here will still exist in 10, or 20 years. Will there stil= l even be websites? Or will we do, say, virtual reading in=A0 the "clo= ud" with Google glasses or their progeny, and communicate our informat= ion to others by some yet to be invented technology? Will the existing mode= rators and web masters still exist. Is EBird "too big to fail (like Ci= tigroup and Lehman Brothers, which of course did fail)? Will technology sti= ll be able to read jpegs?<br> <br></div><div>Even using my Mac computer, and Android smart phone, both of= which I pride myself on fully understanding, trying to get things to work = the way they're supposed to sometimes feels like the early days of moto= ring would have been like - sometimes things start, sometimes they work. So= metimes they don't, at least without a lot of fiddling and tweaking. Fa= cebook, Google, Flickr etc. all seem to change the way they work - and not = always for the better - every few months.<br> </div><div><br></div>I hate to seem old fashioned, but I suspect that that = it's quite possible that in 10+ years the safest way to bypass electron= ic snooping, non-existence of privacy, stealing data, hacking, internet ter= rorism,=A0 power failures, trying to remember passwords etc.and the inabili= ty of people to articulate properly, will be an indestructible form of the = printed word. E.g. the print version of NS Birds, and lately I have taken t= o ordering high quality prints of my favorite photos from Smugmug. What hap= pens to researching the internet when a winter storm causes the power to go= out for 2 days? What happens to data if a terrorist zaps the information s= tored in Google's cloud servers (apparently not impossible)? Historians= have relied on written letters and books over the ages. How will they get = their information in the age of tweets, texts and e-mails with a life of a = few minutes or days?<br> <br></div><div>Having said that, though, I have very much embraced current = technology. My medical office is now almost paperless. There are many wonde= rful ways to search=A0 and use data on all the internet sites we're tal= king about. I used to use a photo hosting web site called Pbase, and my pho= tos are still there and search-able 11 years later. I use all the e-mail, f= orum and web sites mentioned in Rick and Eric's posts, and many more, f= or my profession, leisure and hobbies. My wife will tell you that I spend f= ar too much time on the computer! We live in very exciting and rapidly chan= ging times, but I think we already have to assume that nothing on the inter= net is private, permanent or totally secure, and while I feel that Rick'= ;s question is a very appropriate one, I don't see how we can guess at = the correct answer at this time.<br> </div><div><br></div>Richard<br><div><div><div><div><div><div class=3D"gmai= l_extra"><br><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 7:22 AM= , Eric Mills <span dir=3D"ltr"><<a href=3D"mailto:E.Mills@dal.ca" target= =3D"_blank">E.Mills@dal.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br> <blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1p= x #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"> <div> <div style=3D"text-align:initial;color:rgb(31,73,125);font-size:initial;wid= th:100%;font-family:Calibri,'Slate Pro',sans-serif"> And by "NS sites" I mean NS- RBA and NatureNS.</div><div class=3D= ""> <div style=3D"text-align:initial;color:rgb(31,73,125);font-size:initial;wid= th:100%;font-family:Calibri,'Slate Pro',sans-serif"> <br> </div> <div style=3D"text-align:initial;color:rgb(31,73,125);font-size:initial;wid= th:100%;font-family:Calibri,'Slate Pro',sans-serif"> Eric</div> <div style=3D"text-align:initial;color:rgb(31,73,125);font-size:initial;wid= th:100%;font-family:Calibri,'Slate Pro',sans-serif"> <br style=3D"display:initial"> </div> <div style=3D"text-align:initial;color:rgb(31,73,125);font-size:initial;fon= t-family:Calibri,'Slate Pro',sans-serif"> Eric L. Mills <br> Lower Rose Bay<br> Lunenburg Co., Nova Scotia <br> Canada</div> <table style=3D"border-spacing:0px" width=3D"100%"> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan=3D"2" style=3D"text-align:initial;font-size:initial"> <div style=3D"border-style:solid none none;border-top-color:rgb(181,196,223= );border-top-width:1pt;padding:3pt 0in 0in;font-family:Tahoma,'BB Alpha= Sans','Slate Pro';font-size:10pt"> <div><b>From: </b>Rick Whitman</div> <div><b>Sent: </b>Friday, March 28, 2014 06:59</div> <div><b>To: </b>naturens</div> <div><b>Reply To: </b><a href=3D"mailto:naturens@chebucto.ns.ca" target=3D"= _blank">naturens@chebucto.ns.ca</a></div> <div><b>Subject: </b>[NatureNS] Birding Observations and Records</div> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <div style=3D"border-top-color:rgb(186,188,209);text-align:initial;font-siz= e:initial;border-style:solid none none;border-top-width:1pt"> </div> <br> </div><div><div class=3D"h5"><div> <div dir=3D"ltr">James Churchill listed: <div><br> <div> <div style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px">Facebook</div> <div style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px">Twitter</div> <div style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px">NatureNS</div> <div style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px">NS-RBA</div> <div style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px">eBird</div> <div style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px">Flickr</div> <div style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px">Smugmug</div> <div style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px"><br> </div> <div style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px">For those with u= nderstanding, background, respect or connection to Science, the question be= comes:</div> <div style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px"><br> </div> <div style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px">Records posted t= o which of the above will be available ten years from now ?=A0</div> <div>=A0<br> </div> Rick Whitman<br> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div></div></div> </blockquote></div><br><br clear=3D"all"><br>-- <br>#################<br>Ri= chard Stern, <br>Port Williams, NS, Canada<br><a href=3D"mailto:sternrichar= d@gmail.com" target=3D"_blank">sternrichard@gmail.com</a><br>##############= ##### </div></div></div></div></div></div></div> --001a11c36b0ebe407304f5b44166--
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