Saving our digital history

I've posted many articles that point to archives of work done at the Tutor/Mentor programs I led from 1975 to 2011 and of the Tutor/Mentor Connection since 1993. They are part of over 1200 articles posted on this blog since 2005, which have thousands of embedded links.

Thus, when I read articles like this from the NiemanReports site, titled, "Saving the First Draft of History", I pay attention. 

Just last week I saw another article, from the Pew Research Center, titled "When Online Content Disappears".  The subhead in this was "38% of webpages that existed in 2013 are no longer accessible a decade later."

The first article is an interview with Mark Graham, director of the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive.  I've used it often to find links to articles in my blogs where the links have broken.  I've also used it to show web pages from Cabrini Connections and the Tutor/Mentor Connection, created as early as 2000.  

This is a topic that should be of concern for all of us. The two articles clearly emphasize what's at stake. We've come to depend on the Internet so much for collecting, sharing and storing information and history, we've overlooked the danger of it all disappearing.  

A thousand years from now people will know about ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire, and even William Shakespeare, but may not know anything about the years from 1990 to 2050 or later....because nothing was preserved!  

Obviously, this concerns me on a personal level. 

I have been trying to find people who would help preserve my history and continue my work in future years.  Out of my vast network of family, friends, college, work, fraternity, tutor/mentor, connected learning and social enterprise people, there must be a few who will take on that role.

Reading these articles and others like it, is a starting point.  I've added the links to this section of my library.  

If you know people who are discussing this, and finding answers, please introduce them to me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Mastodon and/or other social media channels.  This needs to be a worldwide discussion.

I found the post titled "Saving the First Draft of History" on this Twitter post. That might be a good place for you to join the conversation.

7-10-2024 update - Battle for Libraries. Save the Internet Archive - click here