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World Congress 2024 • Aug 20, 2024 • Session details

A Brief History of Data Storage

Eli (they/them)

Why do modern codebases retain limits inspired by 1800s textile looms? Discover the evolution of data storage and why physical hardware is useless without the language to decode it.

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#1 about 3 min

The challenge of data storage and durable encodings

Translating concepts into physical objects requires evaluating both medium resilience and the long-term accessibility of formats.

#2 about 3 min

Physical durability of ancient data storage mediums

Historical artifacts like clay tablets and paper manuscripts demonstrate vulnerabilities in both physical formats and lost linguistic encodings.

#3 about 4 min

Origins of automation and punch cards in textiles

Mechanical looms utilized early punch cards to automate complex weaving patterns and inspire computational data encodings.

#4 about 1 min

Vinyl records and the spinning disc storage paradigm

Analog audio formats introduced the concept of encoding data along continuous tracks on a rotating surface.

#5 about 2 min

Computer punch cards and terminal character limits

Tabulation systems utilized standardized electrical punch cards that permanently shaped line length conventions in software development.

#6 about 2 min

Changing magnetic states in core memory

Early magnetic random access memory relied on traversing currents to manipulate bits via a destructive readout process.

#7 about 1 min

Encoding software into core rope memory

Weaving specific wiring topologies into magnetic cores resulted in physically immutable software appropriate for spaceflight applications.

#8 about 3 min

Magnetic sector storage on floppy discs

Portable magnetic media divided rotating surfaces into sectors to manage varying storage densities relative to angular velocity.

#9 about 3 min

Using surface reflectivity for optical media storage

Lasers interpret variations in crystalline alloys or distinct physical indentations across polycarbonate surfaces to retrieve digital information.

#10 about 2 min

Durable cold storage with magnetic tapes

Ferromagnetic tape remains widely functional for robust cloud archives despite significant latency during sequential data access.

#11 about 2 min

Superparamagnetism constraints in dense hard drives

Advancements in magnetic density face fundamental limitations as heat fluctuations randomly flip intensely miniaturized magnetic bits.

#12 about 1 min

Storing charge in MOSFETs for flash memory

Solid state devices maintain states using sub-components capable of indefinitely preserving electrical charge despite eventual physical wear.

#13 about 1 min

High-density synthetic DNA for physical data storage

Engineering specific arrangements of foundational biological compounds yields extreme physical resilience capable of maintaining enormous data footprints.

#14 about 2 min

Engraving durable fused quartz for 5D optical storage

Creating multifaceted structural variations within transparent materials generates exceptionally stable long-term archives resistant to environmental deterioration.

#15 about 2 min

Exploring time crystals for quantum computing memory

Utilizing theoretical subatomic structures oscillating continuously at lowest energy states provides potential mechanisms to retain quantum information.

#16 about 2 min

The importance of documenting data encodings

Persisting data effectively demands strict comprehensive documentation of formats so future developers properly decode the preserved information.

Matching moments

2:06 min

Storing data in hardware and collaborative digital art projects

Chris Heilmann +2 · LIVE

2:45 min

Questioning the enterprise data hoarding mentality

Perf + AI

3:00 min

Preserving objective history on a distributed format

Evan Freeman · LIVE

4:53 min

Examining outdated interface element artifacts in modern software applications

Chris Heilmann +2 · LIVE

2:32 min

Economic incentives for verifiable permanent data storage

Evan Freeman · LIVE

1:50 min

Establishing systemic memory state for organizational digital employees

Dennis Zielke Dennis Zielke +1 · WWC 2025

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