Treating the Web As an Archive

An anonymous reader sends a link to a blog post by David Eaves discussing how the ease of finding information on the web affects how we analyze history. "... nothing is different per se — the same old research methods will be used — but what if it is 10 times easier to do, 100 times faster and contains a million times the quantity of information? With the archives of newspapers, blogs and other websites readily available to be searched, the types of research once reserved for only the most diligent and patient might be more broadly accessible." As an example, he points to an almost 10-year-old article detailing the events surrounding the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which some believe was a significant contributing factor to the current financial crisis.

Comments

Re:This History... It's Iffy

[Coopjust]

True, but looking back at verifiable events can give us some real insight.

Try looking at the Slashdot archives on September 11th, 2001. I was in middle school when the attacks happened, and I wasn't a Slashdot reader. Even more than the articles, the comments are very interesting. Panic. First hand accounts. Anger (We're going to bomb them into oblivion, we'll have Osama in a week, etc.)

While you can't trust old information on the internet, it does have a wide variety of verifiable information that is more accessible digitally than it ever has been before.

Re:Huh

[Knave75]

Also from the article

I think we will look back in 10 years' time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930's is true in 2010,'' said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota.

That is almost spooky. We need this guy to be running the country.

There is also the Memory Hole Problem

[Ralph Spoilsport]

Back when the Bush Junta decided to invade Iraq, the article on Time MAgazine's website by George HW Bush as to why deposing Saddam would be a Really Bad Idea disappeared. As far as I know it still isn't there.

I think Archive.org is a good online archive, but its actual mission is impossible: it would automatically require a doubling of the size of the interweb thingie.

So, combine that with the Memory Hole problem, and you have a precarious situation: not a good formula for notions of an archive, where consistency, completeneess, and reliability are paramount.

RS