Monday, June 12, 2006

Back up and write on

SideLines, June 2006
Musicians encourage the speakers at the start of a research conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in June.

How many individual scientists, research facilities and universities have all their computer records (digital archives) backed up at a distant mirror site?

It may seem an obvious and feasible requirement among wealthy universities in wealthy countries, but in many parts of the world, there is probably very little real security for records that are stored at one physical location, even if there are multiple copies at that location.

Most active writers are keenly aware of the need to back up manuscript files frequently, and at more than one location. One benefit of sending out drafts for review is that the circulating copies can serve as distant back-up copies if disaster strikes (disk failure, theft, fire etc.).

Getting an almost-finished paper safely to an editor or other person should allow the writer to sleep more easily - and there is nothing better than a good sleep to discover that a paper has major holes and needs drastic repairs.

For any enquiries about this site, please contact Peter, c/o The Research Cooperative (NZ): pjm (at) gol (dot) com).