One day left to help Internet Archive reach its donation goal
I really dig the basic idea of the IA and I'm an avid user of the site. But, it kind of scares me that they in one sentence say that they will "make our cultural treasures accessible to everyone. Forever." and in the next one asks for money to make it happen. "Forever" is a bold statement and I can't be the only one that sees a contradiction in this. I guess what they're saying is: if the money runs out the data will disappear.<p>I've worked closely with archivists and preservationists in the cultural heritage sector and I know that to keep the sacred promise of saving something for an eternity you have to have strategies for what you save in the first place. However, I don't see a clear strategy with the IA. The Internet Archive (not the Wayback Machine part of it) is basically a site where I can upload whatever digital litter I like as long as it's not protected by copyright and they (without questions asked) store it "forever". It's fantastic in a sense. But is it sustainable in the long run?<p>For the the Wayback Machine I can force a snapshot of a site whenever I like and as often as I please. I stumbled across the snapshot for this page today [ <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140415000000*/http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/02/economist-explains-16" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20140415000000*/http://www.econo...</a> ] and I think it illustrates what I'm trying to say. During march 2014 there was up to 4 snapshots a day, while august did not have a single snapshot. I guess people where trigger happy with the "Save Page Now" [ <a href="https://archive.org/web/" rel="nofollow">https://archive.org/web/</a> ] feature when the article got publicity. Could it perhaps be a better idea to snapshot at certain times and find smart algos that can detect important changes in the page?<p>I'd love to hear some replies to my criticism. I say what I say because I love the IA and I hope it's being taken care of in a way that will truly make it be there forever.