Digitising Reality: Analog To Digital Preservation

by: COMMANDER ENTERPRISE & Rx Zenabi

“Whence things have their origin, thence also their destruction happens, according to necessity; For they give to each other justice and recompense, for their injustice in conformity with the ordinance of Time.”

Leviathan (Massive Conspiracy Against All Life)


Not all things that are physical and temporary can be easily destroyed by time and the item’s inherent physical properties. There is a way to have it live on in another form, free from the temporal, even mortal properties of its original form. The answer is just under our noses or in many cases in our hands right now as we read this article.

Digitisation is one, if not, the best options we have to help preserve all forms of knowledge and culture. It also help in its proper use and distribution as well.

The transition and preservation of (some) analog (formats)

Digitisation involves turning an original analog source to an intangible digital copy that doesn’t fade, and doesn’t deteriorate over time due to physical and material limitations. It can be copied instantly with a single click, and just as easily distributed and multiplied. The only way to destroy it is to actually delete the file or the storage medium and even then, it can still be recovered under certain conditions, or it may already have already been backed up somewhere else.

This format is also highly portable and can be easily stored in multiple devices, making information easily available. It can also produce copies that are also still bound in its original limitations and subject to degradation over time. Today, the digital format is the current standard we all use for a lot of applications in our daily lives, personal, work and otherwise.

The physical format used to be the be-all end all of everything that we have here in this plane of existence. Books, journals, photos, images, artwork, layout, reports, studies, evidence, sound recordings, films, videos, and so many other important documents existed on a tangible, physical format, THE only format, as far as the people back then were concerned.

But for those who saw the last decade of the analog format of the 90’s, the somewhat revolutionary decade was not only for pop culture and the birth of the internet. The transition from the old analog format to digital started happening right around the turn of the new millennium.

Those who were there back then were in the unique position of seeing and living through the transition – digital evolution – when analog became digital, when the old ways were systematically replaced by a digital standard that is a hundred times faster, more portable and more convenient than the analog model can ever be. Many floppy disks, VHS tapes, old computer monitors and other obsolete formats later, people are now enjoying the benefits of the digital format without a need to backtrack.

Digital Immortality

Digitisation has many uses, and all old analog sources that are important to us are faithfully restored and digitised in order to save these materials and have them exist as digital copies that will live on free from the debilitating ill effects of its inherent properties. History and important documentation is easily saved and processed to preserve knowledge and culture, while information is saved and retained for the future without any worries that can be found in physical, tangible objects and their limitations.

Scanners and cameras have become the eyes of the digital format. It scans and converts the “image” made under it as a digital representation of the original, with a few benefits that cannot be achieved from any original analog source.

The digital format has become a global standard, and just a few solid examples can be found in MP3’s and digital music formats, E-Books, multimedia instructional videos, 3D rendering, multimedia, printed media; even the majority of art, layout and design don’t go through pen and paper basics anymore, unless it’s an idea being hurriedly noted on paper as a reminder before it becomes full (and also digital) reality.

All information is now in digital form over the internet. All types of content are ever present in countless smartphones, phablets, tablets, laptops and personal computers everywhere. Data is freely and conveniently distributed faster than ever, destroying the limits of its original analog form.

Today we have the convenience of the USB portable storage, hard drives, and cloud storage facilities that can keep these files almost forever, better than a controlled storage for physical media.

A History Available On-File

In the future we might even be able to preserve the ideas, thoughts and maybe even the consciousness of a person – as a digital file that can even be visualised as a hologram representation of the person, much like how Jor-El, the Man of Steel’s biological father was preserved and digitised in an intergalactic USB drive from Planet Krypton.

However, despite all forms of digital transfers, conversions and what not, certain analog sources and formats co-exist with the digital standard. While digital may have no ill effects from the physical format, and may provide a lot convenience, it doesn’t have the practical properties of the former as well. There are certain physical formats that are considered essential, and would always accompany their digital versions.

A concrete example would be vinyl records that come with digital file downloads of the record and are sold and packaged as one record available in two formats: physical and digital. Books and all types of printed material are widely available alongside their digital counterparts such as E-Books and digital comic books and graphic novels, found in tablets and smartphones or phablets.

The same goes for printed material that is used equally alongside its digital counterparts. Since both formats do have their own limitations, combining both versions as one presents one solid solution for all of these limitations. This concept preserves the great qualities of the traditional format, while providing the advanced benefits and convenience of the digital, as one complete package that completes the overall experience.