Todd Townley (12/3/2013)
Most interestingly, they also stated that, regardless of the digital storage, all records also had to be stored in a "human-readable" form - micro card or microfiche or something along those lines.In the article referenced, they mention that in some ways an older movie on film is more stable and safe than a 2-year-old movie stored digitally, because of this same "human-readable" concept.
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Years ago I was on a tour of the Paul Garber facility near DC. This is where the National Air and Space Museum warehoused and restored much of its collection (A large part of which is now in the Udvar-Hazy annex out at Dulles).
A researcher on the tour explained the #1 archival medium is microfilm/microfiche. The reason is simple: it is technology-independent. All you need to retrieve the data is a candle and a magnifying glass. Someone asked about digital storage and he held up an old 12" laser disc (yeah, this was quite a while ago). He said, "In 10 years or so, you'll have yourself a very pretty frisbee."
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Just my $0.02 from over here in the cheap seats of the peanut gallery - please adjust for inflation and/or your local currency.