commit f52abcb1f5e80a21a9e29671460e4e80558b0491
parent 81b7e1acd54f26241cde8489fb6330dfdfe37908
Author: viznut_web <viznut_web@web>
Date: Sat Aug 20 14:34:47 +0200
grammar etc
Diffstat:1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/file_collection.mdwn b/file_collection.mdwn
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
File collection
===============
-A **file collection** is a set of computer files deliberately maintained by someone. In today's computing, most non-personal files can be considered temporary: they have been downloaded from somewhere and can always be redownloaded if needed again. The practice of actual file collection is becoming ever more marginal, but it has a place in permacomputing for increasing resilience and reducing network [[dependency]].
+A **file collection** is a set of computer files that is deliberately maintained by someone. In today's computing, most non-personal files can be considered temporary: they have been downloaded from somewhere and can always be redownloaded if needed again. The practice of actual file collection is becoming ever more marginal, but it has a place in permacomputing for increasing resilience and reducing network [[dependency]].
Before the ubiquity of the broadband Internet, users of personal computers usually had files of all the software they used (and usually a lot of software they never used), often on physical floppies or CDs. These collections were cared for, and even the decision to delete a rarely played PD game could be painful. While people had their private file collections, there were also public file collections, such as [[BBS]]es, which often served as repositories of commonly needed PD software and much more.
While broadband networking is probably the most important reason for the marginalization of file collection, another reason may be "[[obsolescence]] thinking" that assumes files to [[get bad|software rot]] if they are not constantly "updated". Keeping a computer offline for a long period of time often brings up large batches of automatic updates; experiences like this may contribute to the illusion of "file rot".
-Today, many people have small personal servers or websites, but they are rarely used to share any files other than those directly related to the maintainer. However, they could also easily serve larger collections of files, including copies of all kinds of online resources the maintainer considers important. A lot of resources are released on licences that allow unlimited redistribution, but this right to redistribution seems to be quite underused.
+Today, many people have small personal servers or websites, but they are rarely used to share any files other than those directly related to the maintainer. However, they could also easily serve larger collections of files, including copies of all kinds of online resources the maintainer considers important. A lot of resources are available with licences that allow unlimited redistribution, but this right to redistribution seems to be quite underused.
In a file collection culture, nothing that is published is supposed to only stay in one place. A resource stays in one place only if it is too obscure or uninteresting to anyone else, maybe even the author. Even the kind of files that in the [[WWW]] culture could be called blog posts or social-media posts get spread to multiple places if they are considered of any interest at all. From the permacomputing point of view, a file that is only available on one server has a hard [[dependency]] on that server, and hard dependencies are supposed to be avoided.
