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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. Your tax dollars at work... by Third+Position · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Given the signal to noise ratio for most tweets, I'm not convinced this is a particularly good use of resources...

    Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you have to!

    --
    American Third Position
    Finally, a real choice!
    1. Re:Your tax dollars at work... by sopssa · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not like it takes a lot of space to archive them, it's just 140 characters per tweet. There's a lot of useless information in the newspapers and books too, but they have archived them too because some of that info is valuable or might become valuable.

    2. Re:Your tax dollars at work... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      And just because you don't have to, doesn't mean you shouldn't!

      This is probably the best way to capture a snapshot of our current society. Sure, the barrier for entry is a little lower, but I think this will be invaluable for historians who look back and try to understand us.

      Or, if anything, it'll confuse the hell out of them .

      Everyone wins either way!

      captcha: formally

    3. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. I tweeted about this. by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 4, Funny

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

    It had to be done.

  4. Re:hmm... by natehoy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They were probably too busy watching Medieval Idol to even realize who Shakespeare or the King was ;)

    A jest, I know, but it does demonstrate a serious point.

    Our history books are based on records maintained by the winners of wars, the leaders, the successful, etc. We know a lot about Shakespeare. We know relatively little about how his audiences actually felt about his work.

    We largely speculate as to how life was for the ordinary folk during historical periods based on writings about them, not writings from them. The exception to this is diaries, and now many people maintain those any more. Twitter can help replace some of that perspective.

    Admittedly, Twitter is not an ideal way to get a picture of a society, but you get to hear historical events told from a very different perspective. Actually, you get to hear them from LOTS of perspectives. They may not be an accurate portrayal of the events, but they are a snapshot of how a society reacts to and perceives events.

    Who will represent the narcissists in society for future generations?

    --
    "This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."