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Documenting the present for the future

History enthusiasts must be delighted with the way the world is heading.

Our record of the past is pretty low resolution, grainy, static and distorted, thanks mainly due to the fact that until a little more than a century ago, we were limited to sketches, paintings crude photographs or the written word whenever we wanted to document places, events and people.

Today however, we're archiving things at an unprecedented rate and with a degree of accuracy and fidelity that beggars belief.

With almost every man, woman and child snapping hi-resolution images or 4K video using their phones whenever something interesting or eyecatching happens, we're collecting an invaluable archive of contemporary life and events that will prove of immense value to future historians.

The value of this has been highlighted to me by a series of video documentaries being published on YouTube right now.

It is quite surprising that even though the electronic digital computer is a relatively recent invention, our image and film/video archives of the early days are so very poor in quality and quantity.

It would appear that our ability to take good quality images and moving footage has grown at a rate not too dissimilar to computers themselves. This means that when we go back to those early days when a computer occupied an entire building and consisted of rack after rack of hot valves, the footage we have is awful by comparison to modern-day recordings.

The YouTube channel State of Electronics has done a fantastic job recently of documenting the very first computers to arrive or be built in Australia and these documentary videos clearly demonstrate the dearth of good quality images and movie footage from those early days.

They've created a playlist that currently holds nine videos with some fascinating glimpses at those early days, focusing on the machines and the people who built and used them.

Sadly, the amount of actual movie footage from the 1950s and 1960s is pretty minimal and not of particularly high quality. Some of those who were "movers and shakers" back in those days have also shuffled their mortal coils so even the interview material is sometimes far from the buttery-smooth HD footage we expect today. However, that's all the producers had to work with in some cases so I think they've done a great job.

Fortunately, when someone decides to look back at the third decade of the 2000s in another 50, 60 or 70 years' time, they'll likely have much better source material to work with and odds are it'll also be much easier to find... at least if YouTube is still online.

Of course to throw in my usual "hard to believe but true" element when comparing yesterday's computers to todays, I have to draw a comparison betwen those purpose-built computers of half a century or more ago and what you can buy today.

My gob was totally smacked this morning when I came across this smartwatch for NZ$1.66 with free shipping on AliExpress. If the price you see is different then they may have changed it since the "special introductory offer" was sent to me.

Remember... this tiny watch you can buy for less than two bucks has more raw processing power, memory and speed than those giant computers of yester-year that cost orders of magnitude more to buy or build.

Progress... sometimes it's a wonderful thing.

Carpe Diem folks!

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