:PROPERTIES:
:ID:       7827b564-59ed-4604-ac2b-630c60c0a4ab
:END:
#+title: Use timestamps as a future-proofing method
#+date: "2020-09-16 23:09:01 +08:00"
#+date_modified: "2021-05-09 18:22:54 +08:00"
#+language: en


Datetime is extremely informative by itself:

- It is static compared to other data (e.g., title, IDs, language), not prone to change.
- It quickly informs us if our stuff is outdated.
- It lets us know of the related history.
- It relates to other resources we refer to at the time.

To make future references easier to make, we could create two timestamps: one for the creation date and one for the modification date.
This adds another point for useful comparison.

To start, we could interact with the [[id:ccb3bc14-a801-4ed0-b066-50b1bcd853aa][File metadata]].
This lets you quickly evaluate whether the information is up-to-date without relying on the filesystem.
It also lets you [[id:66337935-420c-40e6-81a6-f74ab0965ed5][Maintain your own digital library]] with relative ease if your focus is on up-to-date information.