A self-rendering digital image encoding

Without careful long-term preservation digital data may be lost to a number of factors, including physical media decay, lack of suitable decoding equipment, and the absence of software. When raw data can be read but lack suitable annotations as to provenance, the ability to interpret them is more straightforward if they can be assessed through simple visual techniques. In this regard digital images are a special case since their data have a natural representation on two-dimensional media surfaces. This paper presents a novel binary image pixel encoding that produces an approximate analog rendering of encoded images when the image bits are arranged spatially in an appropriate manner. This simultaneous digital and analog representation acts to inseparably annotate bits as image data, which may contribute to the longevity of so-encoded images. 1. Introduction The long-term preservation of digital data meets challenges on multiple fronts. First, the physical media on which we store data are volatile, with magnetic tapes and DVD-R's having lifetimes measured only in decades [1] [2]. Second, the equipment needed to read raw data from these types of media become quickly obsolete: Locating hardware to read a 1980's era 8-inch floppy disk is not at present easy to do. Finally, even given the ability to read raw data it may not be obvious how to interpret them. This last problem becomes compounded when centuries or millennia of time elapse and it may not be obvious that the media contain data at all. Labels on digital media will eventually disintegrate or fade and collections of microscopic data bits will then appear to the naked eye simply as attractive chromatic reflections.