Keeping stuff: How to preserve course papers despite technological change

This is an extended version of an informal and anecdotal talk that I gave at Grinnell College on March 16, 2001, and again (with revisions) on April 13, 2005 and on February 12, 2009.

Executive summary

Introduction
Papers and pencils
Typewriters
Teletypes
Usability of computer programs
Punched cards
Success with SNOBOL4
Dittos
Disk storage
Portable disks
Text editing and formatting
Rainbows
MASS-11
T_EX
HTML
Course management
Microsoft Office
Lessons
Digital restrictions management and software patents
Conclusion

List of slides
All-in-one version in Open Document Format (.odt)

This document is available on the World Wide Web, beginning at

http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~stone/essays/keeping-stuff/

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

created March 11, 2001
last revised February 10, 2009

John David Stone (stone@cs.grinnell.edu)