In this post I’d like to write down some thoughts on helping an IYPT Team with their preparation.
In the last years the amount of data produced in the preparation has grown exponentially. Georg still has a CD (700mb) with all the files from several IYPTs and AYPTs – dating back to ~2002. In 2009 the Austrian Team’s final presentations were stored on a 8GB USB Stick. But the amount of data that was produces is more in the range of several hundred GB. Even short videos can grow to some hundred MB.
The ideal solution would be a (distributed?) versioning system that is able to handle large binary files and is easy to use. Such a thing does not exist. Ok, than let’s at least just use FTP or WebDAV? Not a great idea eihter, because sadly the Internet just isn’t there yet (not yet fast enough). Still in 2009 we’ve setup a svn repo on you server. “Do not upload any video files or other large binaries!” Well… they did.
So I guess in 2010 we’re back to using USB Sticks. Easy to use, cheap, fast – the only problem: No automatic versioning and no auto backup. I’d recommend to have either one of the Teamleaders or the Captain responsable for keeping an eye on all the files. And a strict backup plan would be a good idea…
Now this is probably a good spot to say a big “thank you!” to Heinz. In the last years (always?) he’s been doing a great job collecting, sorting and archiving all the files that the teammembers created while working in Vienna. I don’t even want to think about how much work would have been lost in those chaotic sessions without him.
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