Following the sorting and packaging of all Lofts Farm Project finds in 1996 a comprehensive archive was created for presentation on a CDROM. This first CD contained scans of all site notebook pages, all slide photographs, all site drawings along with copies of all site interim reports. The site notebook scans were also interlinked with context numbers and descriptions.

The first structure of the presentation was set up using Microsoft Frontpage software. Most of the changes since have been manually added with extensive use of the image viewer IrfanView. The main problem with the first CD was its actual capacity. All images had to be of the very lowest acceptable resolution. Notebooks were readable but photographs lost a lot of detail.

In 2006 I was able to scan all colour slides at a much better resolution and had the ability to write to DVDs which have a much greater capacity. The high resolution slide images were then added to my archive data and a newer DVD version was created.

I felt that my notebooks' low resolution rendering should be improved so in 2020 all the notebooks were re-scanned. Since there was no room for the new scans on the earlier Lofts DVD I compiled a new Notebook HR scans CD. A repeat of the site drawings, interims and a 10 minute Lofts Farm video was also added so this new CD could stand alone - all be it without context linking and site photographs.

In the absence of a specialist pottery report and the prospect of a formal final report fading this Blu-Ray disc or USB draws together my records and gives me an opportunity to add my thoughts and interpretation of our discoveries.

The USB stick provides a very portable medium for a record of this size but unfortunately has a relatively limited life span. I have therefore moved on to M-DISC DVDs which claim a life span of 1000 years.

Paul N Brown - April 2025