Archivismi: Cassandra among the ice

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The articles of Cassandra Crossing I'm under license CC BY-SA 4.0 | Cassandra Crossing is a column created by Marco Calamari with the "nom de plume" of Cassandra, born in 2005.

The end of archivism with a nice surprise: the PDF of the whole story!

This article was written on January 12, 2024 from Cassandra

Cassandra Crossing 570/ Archivismi: Cassandra among the ice

We have seen that century-proof storage in the ice really exists. But how can Cassandra "freeze" her utterances?

In 10 episodes of the first campaign Archivists we reported on the archiving of 566 issues of Cassandra Crossing on the Internet Archive. In the next two episodes we told the story and technologies that make long-term archiving possible in the Arctic, with conservation periods estimated between 500 and 1000 years.

The most important point remains to be addressed; how to archive there.

The good news is that it is simple and relatively cheap, the bad news is that you have to understand and adapt to a process that is as slow as it is "alien", and therefore apparently unnatural in its slowness if you don't know it in detail.

It is explained, in a somewhat scattered manner, on the website ofArctic World Archive. We summarize the main phases here, to clarify the process. To archive information you need:

• Open an account on the AWA portal, which is free for the first 45 days, then 9 Euros/month.
• Create a virtual movie, load the files and folders to be archived; if necessary also upload the metadata, both standard and customized in case of particular needs. The data will always remain available on the AWA portal cloud, for as long as the account is active.
• Finalize the film, paying the amount by credit card (139 Euros for a 1 GB film).
• Wait for the next round of depositing the films in the archive and the related ceremony, which for obvious climatic and distance reasons happen rarely, typically once or twice a year (but we are in no hurry anyway because we are working for the centuries to come) . The ceremony can be attended remotely or, if you have the time and money for a complicated but fascinating journey, even in person. And if you have even more money you can have a deposit and a ceremony organized whenever you want, for your exclusive use and consumption.

At this point, if your storage needs are over, the account may even be closed. In this case, the possibility of accessing the data in the cloud is lost, and a small financial support is no longer provided to the Archive.

It should be borne in mind that, given the nature of the project, unless otherwise agreed, the archived data will eventually become public.

The memory of the planet.

If this is not what you need, ad-hoc arrangements can still be made. However, remember that in these cases encryption is always your best friend.

If you have much greater or particular needs, explore the higher-end accounts, and possibly contact the company via email.

And what has Cassandra done for now? He instructed his alter ego in the material world to perform these tasks.

So the unfortunate person had to:

• Create a minimal account (45 days free, then 9 Euros/month)
• Create the smallest possible film, 1 GB, with “eternal” duration. The “small” virtual films are written all together on a single physical film, which contains 120GB. You can also buy a whole one of your own, in which case you can also physically handle it. In addition to finding useful things to fill it with, remember that you will have to pay around 9000 Euros.

• Insert Cassandra Crossing's articles, taken directly from the Internet Archive. However, I strongly suspect that he inserted some personal, or rather "romantic", files together with those in the address book.
• Find out about the date of the next filing, not yet set but expected in June.
• Enter your credit card information and place your finger on the “enter” button.

Then stop, because there are still two months to use the next filing date, and he and I still have to decide how to finish filling the film, which is still two-thirds empty.

Do you have any suggestions? Anything to include in the free space in Cassandra's film? Let us know by writing to Cassandra or a Marco.

Cassandra thanks those who have had the patience to follow her this far and announces the suspension of the story of the third Archivismi campaign.

But archivism continues; they must never stop!

Messages from Cassandra 013/ From San Francisco to the Arctic, read the full story

We have reached the end of the Archivismi "campaign", and Cassandra Crossing is safe.

Archivismi, a journey from Italy to Funston Avenue 300 San Francisco and to Longyearbyen, Svalbard Islands, Arctic Circle.

And all to archive Cassandra. Download the full story.

Marco Calamari

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