David S. H. Rosenthal
Chief Scientist, LOCKSS Program
Stanford University
Attempts have been made, for various types of digital content, to measure the probability of preservation. The consensus is about 50%. Thus the rate of loss to future readers from “never preserved” vastly exceeds that from all other causes, such as bit rot and format obsolescence. Will persisting with current preservation technologies improve the odds of preservation? If not, what changes are needed to improve them?