Andrew wrote:The list is endless, it could all be done with the data on another (cloud) server, but the barriers and the speed degradation would be terrible
Well, obviously it depends on what youre doing. For your 'specialised' uses it may not work, but its fine for lots of other things where you are just fetching data - e.g. scans of publications, photos, e.g.
http://bcra.org.uk/pub/candks/catalogue.html
Andrew wrote:Using a cloud server for the other data is similar to sticking it in a loft and waiting for it to be lost.
Hmmm. What happens to the data is a "management" issue, I think; not concerned with where it is stored. For example, I keep a mirror of my cloud site on a local 1TB network drive, which is synchronised daily to what's in the cloud storage. People who dump data on
any sort of server and forget about it are just asking for trouble?
Andrew wrote:The BCA and BCRA should have the foresight to have archiving as a priority, and online and available. Both organisations should be encouraging data storage on there servers, with the ability to enhance the information but having excellent access, maybe a discussion to be had at HE.
I agree.
When I originally asked for "more space" and Cookie suggested that I used Memset's cloud storage his philosophy was, IIRC, that BCA neednt be involved because Memset's cloud storage was free, so there were no accounting issues. (Memset is BCA's service provider for web space). However, I found that the free service was not sufficient and so Im now using paid-for cloud storage. This is a nuisance because every month I get a bill for a few pounds (download access is something like 10p per MB IIRC) which I need to remember to claim from BCRA (or BCA?). So, now that Im having to
pay, I think it makes more sense for BCA to manage the payments. So,how about it, Cookie?
I request that BCA manages a cloud storage system for its members.