X-Message-Number: 2665
From:  (Thomas Donaldson)
Subject: CRYONICS Re: Picture Encoding Methods
Date: Sat, 26 Mar 1994 14:12:19 -0800 (PST)

Hi!

My message in this group was not oriented to long-term storage of pictures but
instead to communication of pictures between us.


However, a thought does occur to me. Suppose that the image is stored digitally.
This means:
1. It can be compressed to a smaller size without loss (yes, I know there are
   compression methods which DO cause losses).
2. Since it is digital, if necessary the digital code can be quite literally
   WRITTEN OUT on paper or some other material KNOWN to survive a long time.
   (Depending on its chemical composition, the paper decays either fast or
   slowly --- you have to be careful, of course).

Naturally a record of the coding and decoding methods would need to be kept.
It would also be useful to have a scanner capable of reading in this digital
printing, but that is likely to improve with time. The method would probably
work as long as we kept the coding scheme and algorithms.

And yes, I know that this is not a very compact representation. But if you
want it to truly last a long time ...  After all, we still have books from
the Middle Ages in fully readable condition (once you learn to read the 
scripts they used).
			Long long life,
				Thomas

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