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I decided to warm up to my writing this morning by relaying a conversation I had with Laura about Erin O'Connor's blog, then sharpening my critique of a few days past. But I used the free software I use to post entries to LiveJournal instead of my word processor and, right as I was finishing, the program crashed and I lost everything.
Anyone who used computers a decade ago -- or, worse still, two decades ago -- remembers how common it was to lose hours of work and never get it back. Nowadays, though, barring hard drive, failure people have become accustomed to the automatic-save feature and take it for granted that they will be able to retrieve most of their work.
So when they can't, it's unsettling.
But there may also be something liberating about it.
Michael, the man who made our wedding rings and a variety of other jewelry for us once told Kim that if a ring got lost, it was time for it to get lost.
Since we're in full Lord of the Rings mode around here, I find that idea even more comforting than before.
Sometimes it's good for the archivist to have a fatal data error.
Anyone who used computers a decade ago -- or, worse still, two decades ago -- remembers how common it was to lose hours of work and never get it back. Nowadays, though, barring hard drive, failure people have become accustomed to the automatic-save feature and take it for granted that they will be able to retrieve most of their work.
So when they can't, it's unsettling.
But there may also be something liberating about it.
Michael, the man who made our wedding rings and a variety of other jewelry for us once told Kim that if a ring got lost, it was time for it to get lost.
Since we're in full Lord of the Rings mode around here, I find that idea even more comforting than before.
Sometimes it's good for the archivist to have a fatal data error.