Keeping stuff: How to preserve course papers despite technological change

Introduction

Since I'm in the field of computer science, I read a lot of articles written by enthusiasts for technology, and in particular the technology of communication, delighting in our recent accomplishments in making it easier for people to talk and think together, to cooperate on projects, and to exchange ideas and suggestions interactively, and celebrating the development of multimedia creations that are dynamic, constantly changing and improving as many hands contribute to them. Some also look forward to a future in which such works are the norm, and static, unchanging books and papers will be marginal, historical artifacts of interest only to a few specialists, like Sumerian clay tablets.

In general, though, I have found that people in academic life have good memories and a strong sense of history, both public and personal. Although we're not always good about keeping records, we like to review and reflect on our work -- sometimes in order to revise it, adding new discoveries and insights, adapting it to new circumstances, correcting occasional errors, but also sometimes to gain perspective and to make contact with the past, experiencing the small but distinctive thrill of knowing: This is how it was. This was real.

To make this possible, we want to keep our work intact -- our published research, of course, but also, for many of us, our course papers, even ones that might be thought ephemeral: syllabuses, homework assignments, examinations. This need is perhaps less urgent for undergraduate students than for teachers, since teachers are required to repeat courses more often than students are. On the other hand, I have often looked back on some of the work I did as a student, sometimes indulgently, sometimes with irritation, and sometimes with a spark of the feeling that Jonathan Swift expressed when, as an old man, he re-read his earliest book (A tale of a tub): He exclaimed, ``Good God, what genius!''

In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to preserve course papers in a usable form -- partly because our conception of usability has changed, as the technology of copying, editing, displaying, printing, and distributing course materials has improved, and partly because poor implementations of those same technologies have obstructed our preservation efforts. Today, I'd like to tell you a few stories about how I've tried to keep stuff through more than four decades of academic life, and then draw out the lessons that follow from my experiences.