The Quest for Digital Preservation: Will a portion of mathematics history be lost forever?

Abstract

Libraries, archives, and museums have traditionally preserved and provided access to many different kinds of physical materials, including books, papers, theses, faculty research notes, correspondence, and more. These items have been critical for researchers to have a full understanding of their fields of study as well as the history and context that surround the work.

However, in recent years many of these equivalent materials only exist electronically on websites, laptops, private servers, and social media. These digital materials are currently very difficult to track, preserve, and make accessible. Future researchers may very well find a black hole of content: discovering early physical materials and late electronic records, but little information for the late 20th through early 21st Centuries. In other words, a portion of history—including the field of mathematics—may be lost unless this electronic content is cared for properly.

This article will cover the issues surrounding digital preservation, including recommendations to make sure data is reasonably safe. Additionally a small number of discrete challenges and unsolved problems in the field of digital preservation will be posed, which mathematicians may be able to help with analysis and new algorithms.