The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced yesterday that they have launched a program aimed at determining the usefulness of DVDs and CDs as archival storage media and at setting standards for media that would be appropriate for keeping data for 50+ years.

According to information on the Data Preservation Program page at NIST, scientists will be testing the media using some sophisticated techniques and equipment, including a temperature and humidity chamber which will be used to age disks at an accelerated rate.

Included in the program is the development of software to test media and drives to ensure compliance with standards and suitability for certain purposes.

Now, this is one government study area that I can happily pay my taxes for.