Okay, stay with me here. Lotta concern about open documents–being able to get content out of old formats no longer supported by vendors. Lotta concern about legacy applications and hardware–some of it mission critical. How are you going to get info off your floppy disk in five years?

The National Archives could have a digital division dedicated to supporting both issues, right? Their website has a section already about electronic records management, saying “The National Archives is looking to improve its processes and procedures with regard to appraisal, selection, transfer, storage, sustainability and delivery. It has instigated a programme of work under the Seamless Flow banner to bring increased automation to these areas.”

Would this be a viable solution to a pressing problem? It’d be nice to be talking about solutions instead of problems for a change.