Corporations Are Crappy Archivists
Not just archiving of published documentation - they’re poor at archiving internally too.If you’ve ever been to some old heritage industrial site like a textile mill or other Victorian-era factory, you’ll notice them displaying old records like lists of customers, the employee payroll, notes between managers discussing events, and other items of historical interest.None of that will exist to future historians of our current industries. Privacy regulations, data lifecycle policies, absence of respect for corporate memory, and fear of legal discovery - these are all going to leave a black hole.The only things that will get preserved are the “important” things like board papers and financial statements. But those are not the things that give insight into corporate life.