

British Library warns of 'black hole' in history if websites & files not preserved - thinkzig
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1127362/British-Library-warns-black-hole-history-websites-digital-files-preserved.html

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thinkzig
I found this article interesting because my parents just moved to a new house
after 20 years. The move unearthed photos that hadn't been seen in decades and
prompted hours of fun memories and discussions about good times past.

Those discussions happened because the pictures were there in huge boxes and
in our faces as we sorted through their stuff. It's hard to imagine that same
thing happening if the pictures had been locked away on a DVD or hard drive
somewhere.

I know archive.org is doing a good job of cataloging the history of web sites,
but what about all the un-archived pictures that people take and leave on
their hard drives until they crash? This article makes an interesting point.

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pwk
There are some benefits to digital content that might help work against the
"black hole" effect:

1\. It's much easier to create copies of digital documents. Looking at my own
data that I consider important, many photos I've taken of my family exist on
probably dozens of machines around the world belonging to relatives and
friends. Of course this also happened in the pre-digital age, but I don't
think to the same extent.

2\. It's easier to create digital content in the first place, so there will be
more of it. How many photos were snapped during the construction of, say,
Taipei 101 as compared to the construction of the Empire State building? I
don't know, but I'd guess orders of magnitude more. So, even if many are lost
and many are of low quality, there is still likely to be some preserved
historic record.

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anonyreliant
Stuff gets lost all the time. Deal with it.

