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Planets TimeCapsule Deposit

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Posted on 12th May 2010
On Tuesday 18 May 2010, Planets will deposit a TimeCapsule to draw widespread attention to the physical and electronic challenges around preserving digital information for the long-term.

Media have been invited to attend the deposit from 10:00 CET deep within the Swiss Alps at Swiss Fort Knox, Saanen, Switzerland – one of Europe's leading secure data storage facilities.

The TimeCapsule contains five of today’s most common types of digital objects. Each is converted into formats to help preserve them for the long-term and stored on a range of media from punch-cards to paper, microfilm, floppy disc, audio tape, CD, DVD, USB and Blu Ray.

While facilities such as Swiss Fort Knox can safeguard the physical data, the TimeCapsule will demonstrate the impact time and technological change has on our ability to access and use it. From the files down to the 1s and 0s the Planets TimeCapsule documents the genome of the five objects to potentially enable their reconstruction in future.

Researchers will be able to investigate how much of the TimeCapsule's content will or can be made accessible and usable with the information provided. An online version will make it possible to experiment with technology to preserve its contents. The TimeCapsule lends itself to replication for libraries, archives and museums for research or public exhibit to demonstrate the scale of the task to be mastered. Find out more about the Planets TimeCapsule and see the latest news and photographs