[Bell Historians] An IT ringing trust? [was Musical scales, bell register]

[ALANAJ BUSWELL]

I agree 100% with John Camp. Not now being in my youth, I too am wondering what to do with my historical records, both manual and on data bases.

Alan Buswell
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John Camp 
  To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2006 3:17 PM
  Subject: [Bell Historians] An IT ringing trust? [was Musical scales, bell register]


  At 12:22 on 05 December 2006, Mike Chester wrote:

  > A quick look at the amount of updating work John Baldwin has to do
  > at the moment would show just how much time he has to spend on Dove
  > as it is.

  I think there is a wider problem here. There are numerous individuals
  (and I use the word advisedly) who devote time and often money to
  maintaining databases, websites, email lists, and other manifestations
  of information technology for the benefit of ringers in general. I
  imagine that all of them do it because they enjoy it and because it is
  part of their contribution to ringing.

  But what happens when someone becomes unable to carry on or drops
  dead? Perhaps arrangements have been made for someone else to take
  over, perhaps not. There may or may not be someone else who knows how
  the set-up works.

  Could there, I wonder, be a small group of people with the requisite
  skills with whom individuals could register the details of their own
  particular internet presence, including such things as passwords,
  hosting arrangements, payments made and so on? This would include some
  information about how the application in question functioned, in
  practical terms. I am thinking only in terms of IT applications which
  are provided by one person for use by other ringers.

  This group of 'trustees' would be low-key, but would be able to step
  in if the individual for some reason became unable to carry on and at
  least keep things ticking over until other arrangements were made. It
  would also be able to inform ISPs, hosting providers and other
  relevant people about the existence of such a problem. It would
  probably need to be modestly funded in some way.

  This may not be the right list to bring up this matter, but historians
  are concerned with maintaining records and continuity of information.
  Any thoughts?

  John Camp



              
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