Digital vs. print - how to best preserve collected bead information and research?
Post Reply Edit View All Forum
Posted by: Rosanna Post Reply
12/07/2017, 22:11:11

Here's a question for the bead community - hope it isn't too boneheaded - what do you think about using the internet vs. using print publications to preserve existing and future bead information? The easy answer is "use both" but the time, effort, and financial resources involved have to be considered.

The reason for my question is that I decided it would be a good idea to publish photos and information about my investigations into old plastic beads on a web site, as sort of an ongoing blog while information is collected and organized. This web site is currently active - for only another couple of weeks though - at oldplasticbeads.com if you want to check it out. Just a few photos and my instructions for the bead reamer test.

After I spent a few hours setting it up, I learned a few things about web sites that I didn't fully appreciate:
1) The site will only remain active as long as I pay the monthly fee. I thought I only had to pay for the domain name, not the site itself. So that means after I depart this mortal vale, all my work will disappear unless I bequeath enough money to a legacy organization (yes they exist) to keep up the payments. Then hope the legacy organization stays in business.
2) There is no guarantee that the organization currently hosting my site won't go belly up and all my work will be lost. This could be avoided (I think) if I start over using more universal site building software that allows me to keep a copy of my site as backup.

So now I'm trying to decide the best way to proceed - and it seems that print publications that are also available online would be the best approach, although that means that interim results would not be available. I also thought it would be nice to upload a ton of bead photos to a web site just to share them - but I don't like the idea of doing all that work only to have it evaporate at some future date.

A number of BCN members have web sites as well as publications, and I'd like to know theirs, and everyone else's thoughts for that matter, about the ultimate longevity and usefulness of digital vs. printed work.


RFOldPlasticBeads.jpg (41.7 KB)  


© Copyright 2017
All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users
Followups