Saving digital content for future generations

They're trying to save the news. Among other things.

No, this isn't yet another thumb-sucking cogitation about the future of journalism, at least not the kind we typically see these days. Rather, this is about a different issue: How do we save journalism (and other media) that's already been created -- including the all too ephemeral information that we're creating online?

This week in Washington, DC, the Library of Congress is gathering its "Digital Preservation Partners" for a three-day session -- one of a number of such meetings the library has been holding under a broad initiative called the "National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program." Its multi-year mission is: "to develop a national strategy to collect, preserve and make available significant digital content, especially information that is created in digital form only, for current and future generations." To learn more, read Dan Gillmor's column in Salon online.