Digital Imaging and a Balanced Preservation Program

摘要

This quotation is from an author whose views tend to arouse passionate and diametrically opposed opinions, not only about the subject of digital information but also about the author himself. It is often assumed that anyone who quotes Mr. Stoll favorably must be at the very least a hopeless computer conservative or at worst a digital Luddite bent on wrecking the brave new world of networked . information. And yet it is worth remembering that, however overstated the views of some cautionary voices may be, there is usually a kernel of truth nested within the hyperbole. Moreover, it is often necessary to overstate a case when the countervailing opinion has already been couched in terms that, directly or indirectly, seek to preempt the argument before it has gotten started. Internet detractors like Mr. Stoll may well take a hyperbolic approach to their subject, but there is every reason to grant them license when the pitchmen on the other side have already anointed the Internet with the oil of salvation.