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Library of Congress To Archive All Public Tweets

Posted by timothy on from the he-ain't-heavy-he's-less-than-140-chars dept.

After the recent announcement that Groklaw will be archived at the Library of Congress, mjn writes with word that the push to archive more digital content continues: "The US Library of Congress announced a deal with Twitter to archive all public tweets, dating back to Twitter's inception in March 2006. More details at their blog. No word yet on precisely what will be done with the collection, but besides entering your friends' important updates on the quality of breakfast into the permanent archival record, the deal may improve access for researchers wanting to analyze and mine Twitter's giant database."

7 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Diabolical Intentions by Ordonator · · Score: 5, Funny

    Clearly, once they've finished, they plan to destroy the entire world so that they can claim to have truly archived all human knowledge, forever.

    1. Re:Diabolical Intentions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Shut up and get on the Scootie-Puff Jr.

  2. Re:hmm... by Shakrai · · Score: 2, Funny

    They should get a copy of the internet archive while they're at it.

    And alt.binaries too. Think of the "research" potential there... ;)

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  3. I tweeted about this. by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://twitter.com/mzzt/status/12179834899

    It had to be done.

  4. Re:Your tax dollars at work... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hi, @librarycongress! I just took a shit. I am honored that you will be archiving this momentous occasion for future generations.

  5. Re:Your tax dollars at work... by russotto · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now, if the LOC would archive /., the historians would know there was a Little Dark Age in the early part of the 21st century (and this post would be evidence that the denizens of the Little Dark Age even knew they were living in such a time).

    When the historians of the 50th century unearth the records of /., they'll realize the Final Dark Age came upon humans in the early part of the 21st century, and that while many saw something happening, none realized the extent. And then they'll click their mandibles in sorrow over what could have been, and move on to the next planet.

  6. Re:Your tax dollars at work... by RealGrouchy · · Score: 3, Funny

    50 million tweets/day
    140 characters of message
    60 bytes of metadata (timestamp, sender id, etc.)

    10 GB of twitter archive per day
    10 TB per 3 years

    Yes, but how much is all of that in Libraries of Congress?

    - RG>

    --
    Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!