Editing 1683: Digital Data

{{comic
| number    = 1683
| date      = May 20, 2016
| title     = Digital Data
| image     = digital_data.png
| titletext = Ã¢â¬ÅIf you can read this, congratulationsÃ¢â¬âthe archive youÃ¢â¬â¢re you're using still knows about the mouseover textÃ¢â¬Â!
}}

==Explanation==
In the first two panels, Cueball is discussing how precise and unchanging digital data is; how you can keep it exactly the same indefinitely, however from each panel to the next the comic becomes blurry, and in the last panel it is a screenshot with a watermarked, suggesting that even though we have powerful tools to maintain data, the average computer user does not favour quality in the face of copying ease.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

[Cueball and a White Hat are walking.]

Cueball: The great thing about digital data is that it never degrades.

[The next panel is slightly pixelated]

Cueball: Hard drives fail, of course, but their bits can be copied forever without loss.

[The third panel is more pixelated, the white is slightly discolored, and it contains part of the interface of some program]

Cueball: Film degrades, paint cracks, but a copy of a century-old data file is identical to the original.

[The fourth panel is even more pixelated and discolored, and contains watermarks and more 'frame' elements]

Cueball: If humanity has a permanent record, we are the first generation in it.

White Hat: Amazing.

{{comic discussion}}