Re: VMs: Q. is there a to-do list?

[Nick Pelling <nickpelling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Brett,

At 10:44 20/08/2004 +0100, Brett Cotton wrote:
> > Examine "hundreds of undeciphered documents" for similarities with the VMS
> > Glen Claston/Nick Pelling
> > Find them, scan them in, and post them to the web!
> What does this refer to? I did a quick search of the email archives but 
> couldn't find a reference to this one.

There is anecdotal evidence (OK, "a bloke told me in a pub" - sorry to be 
unspecific, but it was a long time ago) that there are possibly thousands 
of undecoded cipher letters pre-1600 languishing in archives. Archivists 
are (generally) happy not knowing what they say, as long as they can find 
them OK - breaking codes isn't a thing you typically learn at archivist 
college. :-)

GC and I discussed this, and I suggested the idea of providing an online 
cryptography forum for archivists and manuscript librarians to scan and 
upload images, to give (for example) student cryptographers and amateur 
sleuths the opportunity to break unbroken codes etc, and so to add to 
historical knowledge. You only have to look at the (relatively recent) 
press coverage given to Professor Marcello Simonetta's cipher-breaking 
exploit to know that there could be many items of great interest within 
those messages - they were generally enciphered for a good reason. :-)

This is still a good idea, though I'm not sure how one would best promote 
it within the manuscript community, nor how much server space would be 
required for the images. Perhaps it's an "if you build it they will come" 
kind of idea? :-o

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling..... 


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