The huge collection of digital data will provide the blueprint for future generations to read data stored using defunct technology. The sealed box containing the key to unpick defunct digital formats will be locked away for the next quarter of a century behind a 3-1/2 ton door strong enough to resist nuclear attack at the data storage facility, known as the Swiss Fort Knox.
The capsule is the culmination of the four-year "Planets" project, which draws on the expertise of 16 European libraries, archives, and research institutions, to preserve the world's digital assets as hardware and software is superseded at a blistering pace. The project hopes to preserve "data DNA," the information and tools required to access and read historical digital material and prevent digital memory loss into the next century.
"Einstein's notebooks you can take down off the shelf and read them today. Roll forward 50 years and most of Stephen Hawking's notes will likely only be stored digitally and we might not be able to access them all," said the British Library's Adam Farquhar, one of two computer scientists and archivists entrusted with transferring the capsule.
You can read more at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2363904,00.asp.
My thanks to Jeri Steele for telling me about this article.