Reading Comprehension

PT135 · S3 · P2 · Q13 Information Archival

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While recent decades have seen more information recorded than any other era, the potential for losing this information is now greater than ever.

Topic

The risk of losing modern information due to the fragility and rapid obsolescence of recording and storage technologies.

Framework

Problem / Solution

Main Point

Although we now create and save more information than ever, the materials and technologies we use to store this information are increasingly fragile and quickly become outdated, making it very challenging for archivists to preserve important records for the future. (The key sentences summarizing this idea are in the first paragraph: )

P1: The Fragility of Modern Storage Media

We learn that even though we're recording tons of information these days, we're at greater risk than ever of losing it, mainly because modern recording materials (like acidic paper, color photos, and videotapes) are way less durable than the old stuff (like clay tablets or parchment). So, archivists are stuck dealing with this paradox of more information but less reliable media.

P2: Technology's Double-Edged Sword

It might seem like saving everything digitally would solve this problem, but rapid changes in technology can make stored information inaccessible surprisingly quickly. For example, data saved on older computer disks can become unreadable as the software and hardware change, and even new digital tapes only last about ten years. Archivists are feeling the pressure as time runs out for both old and new media.

P3: The Tough Choices Archivists Face

Even if we develop storage tech that finally lasts, archivists will still have to decide what is worth saving—fast—since things are deteriorating all the time. Figuring out the value of each item is tricky, as history has already lost some great works simply because no one realized their importance at the time. The real danger now is that there is just so much stuff, stored on media that doesn't last, that archivists might not be able to sort and save what's most important before it's too late.

13.

The passage most strongly suggests that the author holds which one of the following views?

  1. Future electronic information storage systems

    Contradicted

    The first sentence of the last paragraph says that "new computer technologies are emerging that may soon provide archivists with the information storage durability they require".

    9% picked this

  2. As much information should be

    Too Strong: no way to predict

    The author never says anything as hopeless as "there is zero way to predict which pieces of info will someday be considered a great work". In fact, given that she's saying "Ideally, these decisions [on what information to archive] should be informed by an assessment of the value of each document" implies that she does think there would be a way to try to predict which stuff is most worth saving.

    8% picked this

  3. The general public has been

    Too Strong: misled

    There's no accusation being made by the author that the manufactures of storage systems have actively misled consumers.

    2% picked this

  4. Distinguishing what is dispensable from

    Too Strong: only recently

    Because of the strong emphasis of "only recently", we would need to find a line reference to feel good about picking this answer. The first sentence of the passage is only saying that the potential for losing information is "now greater than ever". We'd be able to say that distinguishing dispensable from essential is more of a concern now than ever, but we can't say it was not a concern before. The last paragraph offers some examples of archivists having been concerned with saving the works of Homer, Virgil, and others, so there's even counterevidence towards the idea that archivists have never been concerned with distinguishing dispensable from essential until now.

    28% picked this

  5. Correct

    Value judgments made by today's

    Why this is right

    There is very weak support for this, so this is just winning compared to the other answers. In the last paragraph, the author is talking about archivists deciding what to keep and what to discard, ideally by making assessments of the the value of each document. She is underscoring the need for this by citing examples in archivists from the past saved works by Homer and Virgil and Plato. Had it not been for those archivists, the implication goes, we wouldn't know anything about Homer or Virgil or Plato (some of us like me still don't know anything about Virgil. Who's Virgil?) So there's no individual line to point to that supports this answer choice; it's more just from the internal logic of the conversation. Since archivists try to assess (make value judgments) about what should be saved and what shouldn't, and since future generations will view and understand the past based on what information from this era gets saved, the value judgments being made by today's archivists will have some effect on how future generations understand our times.

    Skill tested: Author Opinion · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    54% picked this

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