For any number of good reasons - the weather's nice, it's International Day against DRM, it's tres de mayo, I've got an ad running in The Tech today - I've put Files that Last on sale today at 60% off on Smashwords with the coupon code TT58QIf you've been undecided on getting a copy, here's a chance to get it for just $3.20. If you already have it ( Read more... )

Finally, after a wild Kickstarter campaign, lots of writing, and a last-minute change of proofreaders, Files that Last is here! You can now buy it on Smashwords; and if you buy it today or tomorrow, enter coupon code TL36C for 20% off. The code expires April 20; I don't know whether than means the beginning or the end of the day, or in what time ( Read more... )

I'm going through the proofread copy and making final corrections. You don't want to know how many embarrassing typos Terri Wells has saved me from. After that, it's a matter of getting it up on Smashwords and satisfying all their formatting requirements, and on April 18 it will be available for purchase! Everyone who pledged on Kickstarter at the ( Read more... )

With the holidays out of the way, it's time to get the Kickstarter campaign for Files that Last back in motion toward a successful conclusion. Reaching the $2000 goal will mean professional proofreading and cover design - in other words, a better book that will get the ideas and techniques of digital preservation to more people.


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After lots of planning, preparation, and nervousness, today I'm launching a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the completion and publication of my e-book, Files That Last! This is a book to explain the importance of keeping digital data alive for a long time and how to do it. I'm dragging preservation out of the library niche where it's been so ( Read more... )

Recently I signed up on Stack Exchange to help out an "Area 51" group that's working through the recognition process. More than one person has said it resembles an RPG, and I'm having trouble understanding the rules. According to the moderators on one group, questions about whether software exists to solve a particular problem are disallowed ( Read more... )

There are distinct prospects for me to do a Kickstarter project for open source software and get backing; see the discussion. I know next to nothing about Kickstarter, though. If anyone reading this has Kickstarter experience, can you offer any tips or pointers to tips?

Currently I'm working on a Java application to take the XML output of jbackup and turn it into readable HTML. It will create one file per post plus an index.html file. Posts will be linked so you can start at the first post and walk through them all by clicking "next."

Jbackup produces one huge HTML file; I think this is an improvement. ron_newman has ( Read more... )

Things may be going downhill rapidly for LiveJournal, if this report is accurate. (I haven't seen confirmation anywhere else and don't know how reliable Daily Dot is.) Even if that doesn't affect its US functionality, it's clearly becoming less and less usable as its managers "improve" it in the face of massive user protests ( Read more... )

I don't usually link from here to my File Formats Blog, but my new article on the confusing array of ASCII-like formats might be of interest to some, and it includes a filk song.