Having done a lot of archiving, I will tell you that shoving papers in a drawer is not a good way to ensure availability to future generations.
I hope I have not been conflating my different points. My comment about shoving a paper in the file cabinet or putting a book on a shelf was only in reference to the ease and speed of it relative to storing and retrieving things with my computer. I know it's not the way to most securely and reliably preserve information for future generations.
Look, I don't mean to be snarky here, and I also understand that electronic log keeping isn't for everyone. But I think that you are bringing up problems that aren't necessarily insurmountable.
Who said anything about "problems" being "insurmountable"? They are not even problems, they are more like inconveniences. And I am more than capable of surmounting them--I just do not yet feel the benefit to me outweighs the inconvenience to me. Again, I'm only saying that for those of us who don't already have other data archiving going on in our lives--cloud-based, external drives, or whatever--it may be easier, faster, and cheaper to keep a paper dive logbook.
I don't have different processes for backing up my dive log and my email - it's all one simple background process that doesn't require specific intervention on my part.
If it's an automated process done by another party, then don't you have to pay for that service? If you want that service to continue for decades, don't you have to keep checking on it periodically to make sure your payments are being made and the service is doing what you pay them to do? Or if it's free software running on your own computer or in "the cloud," then don't you still have to keep checking on it periodically to make sure it's working? I don't want to spend my money or time on that sort of thing, or worry about it working as expected.
Sure, cloud services rely on a physical storage medium too - with incredible redundancy at that point, but I suppose that it is possible that something like an EMF attack or nuclear war could make that inaccessible as well.
As I thought I said, I am certain cloud services are physically secure against any foreseeable event. No debate. All I meant was that at the very root, there is still some human involved who has to periodically keep track of the cloud service to make sure you are still getting the service you think you are paying for. If there's background software running on your computer,
you still have to check up on it now and then.
You still have to turn on the computer or some other device now and then. I don't like the idea that I can never go "off the grid" for a few months if I want to. Sometimes a week goes by without me using my personal smartphone or home computer.
As for the comparison with diving, it occurs to me that one of the aspects of diving that attracts me to it is that it's so refreshingly low-tech. I use a dive computer, but that's about it for electronics. I enjoy the mechanical gear that's involved, and everything involved in the act of diving, as it's a refreshing change from the many aspects of my life that rely on electronics and computers. Perhaps for me, the paper logbook goes hand in hand with that. Come to think of it, when I go traveling, I'm generally off the grid and keep a travel diary on a
Moleskine notebook. I realize that relates to the one point that nobody seems to disagree with: if you enjoy the paper aspect of it, that's a good enough reason. Someone--perhaps it was you--said that that is the ONLY reasonable justification for a paper logbook rather than an electronic one. In this thread I dared to raise one other possible reason: the simple ease of it for those of us digital Luddites who don't rely on computers much at home. I have nothing more to say on it.
I'm not REALLY a digital Luddite. I have been involved with computers and electronics since the early '80s, first as an engineer designing the stuff, and then in another tech-focused career. I can explain the intricacies of the latest flash memory technology. I just don't want it to follow me home from the office. When I leave the office, my mind turns to low-tech pleasures such as diving.
