Fascinating… I had not spent much time thinking about the archiving of all these internet postings we do. The following excerpt is from a good article posted July 22, 2016 at The Irish Times.
With about 10 million objects from nearly 1,000 years of Irish history, archiving the internet isn’t the first thing that jumps to mind about the National Library of Ireland.
Nestled in the centre of Kildare Street since 1890, the Library’s treasured materials constitute the most comprehensive collection of Irish documentary material on the planet. But what of its future? If, say, our distant descendants wanted to research what life was like for us all way back in 2016 – say February’s general election, or even last year’s Marriage Equality referendum, with all their social media feeds in-tow – internet archives will likely be their default option.
“How we are collecting in the National Library is obviously changing, but it’s the same principles,” says Maria Ryan, a web archivist in the Digital Collections Department. “What newspapers were 20 years ago, websites are now. So we’ve recognised that need to collect and preserve that information for the people of Ireland, but in an ever-evolving form.”
Thanks to ResearchBuzz for the heads-up.
