Archival Value

Perhaps the main benefit of paper is in its value as an archival medium. Acid-free paper can last hundreds if not thousands of years, and the same can definitely not be said of digital media at present. For now, at least, there is clearly merit in thinking of how to assure that a printable summary of even a very interactive paper can be archived on paper. Services like the Internet Archive and Memento are improving year by year, but it is not yet clear when (if ever) electronic archiving will match physical archiving for long-term storage of information.