The Wayback Machine; A Solution to the Loss of Written Correspondence

Just after blogging my thoughts on the loss of our written correspondence I came across a little article about The Wayback Machine. Seems this group is trying to archive all the webpages and versions of webpages that have ever been posted on the Internet. Right now they have a collection of 85 BILLION (!!!) webpages archived. They started in 1996 and are still going strong. This is a great place for research and a great place to find information that "I know was just here....hmmmm...where did it go?" For example, in their archive they have millions of pages that were posted in the aftermath of 9/11 and a ton of coverage on the 2000, 2002, and 2004 elections. (Want to check what that politician posted on his website one day before changing it the next...check this website out).

If you go back to the home page for the group doing the work you will find out about several other projects they are working on. For instance, the group is also working to record and archive live music performances (yeah, the Grateful Dead will live for ever...). Most of the live performances are from smaller bands but there are hundreds of bands with live recordings. They have over 65,000+ live shows so if you missed your favorite Agent Moosehead show you can check it out online.

They also have a "moving images" archive of hundreds of thousands of videos. Missed MacWorld 1998's Keynote Speaker...no problem. Missed one of the 2000 presidential debates? Missed some of the 1950's anti-communist propaganda cartoons? Check all of it out online.

There is also a text archive of all kinds of strange and wonderful documents.

While it might not be a true "hard copy" of our lives and times, it appears to be a somewhat enduring copy. Not sure it soothes my concerns or eases my lamentations but at least someone recognizes the importance of archiving our digital world.