Previous |
Next Tracy Mitrano: Privacy Becomes Biggest Issue of the Information Age |
January 29, 2009, 09:33 AM ET
Head of British Library Warns of 'a Black Hole' in the Digital Record
Lynne Brindley, the chief executive of the British Library, is worried about whether we’re saving enough—not enough money, but enough of the digital evidence of our times. In an essay in Sunday’s Observer, Ms. Brindley worries that whole chunks of national memory are being lost and that “historians and citizens of the future will find a black hole in the knowledge base of the 21st century.”
She cites two examples (no jokes about the ephemeral nature of the Bush legacy, please):
At the exact moment Barack Obama was inaugurated, all traces of President Bush vanished from the White House Web site, replaced by images of and speeches by his successor. Attached to the Web site had been a booklet entitled 100 Things Americans May Not Know About the Bush Administration—they may never know them now. When the Web site changed, the link was broken and the booklet became unavailable.
The 2000 Sydney Olympics was the first truly online games, with more 150 Web sites, but these sites disappeared overnight at the end of the games and the only record is held by the National Library of Australia.
Ms. Brindley writes, “If Web sites continue to disappear in the same way as those on President Bush and the Sydney Olympics—perhaps exacerbated by the current economic climate that is killing companies— the memory of the nation disappears too. Historians and citizens of the future will find a black hole in the knowledge base of the 21st century.”
Her warning appeared as the British government prepares to release a much-anticipated report
Add Your Comment
Commenting is closed.