Week 3 Writing Assignment

Dear Professor Brooks,

The Internet Archive sure is a neat place. I've always wanted to take a stroll down memory lane and go to the boring old Yahoo of my childhood. Thanks to the IA, this dream can now become a reality.

A simple click on the "About Us" link leads any of the IA's visitors to their agenda and purpose. To quote directly from the IA, "the Internet Archive is working to prevent the Internet... from disappearing into the past.... we are working to preserve a record for generations to come." Now, perhaps the generations to come won't find it particularly useful to see what Yahoo was like back in the late nineties, but surely the oodles of information the library contains will come in handy to any student of the future writing a research paper on life in the late twentieth century and onward (assuming of course that the robots haven't yet taken over and enslaved the human race).

The question isn't what information does the IA capture, it's what information doesn't it capture? However, since the original question was the former, the answer is loads of info. Aside from checking out what websites throughout the internet's life-span looked like and contained, one can peruse many of the myriad works of literature that fall under the public domain. Sure, you could always just head to your local library, but with the IA, you don't even have to leave your house you dirty shut in. If books aren't your thing, there's always music. The IA hosts a number of concert bootlegs; they even have a whole section dedicated to the Grateful Dead. Interestingly enough, most people old enough to have actually seen the Dead perform live probably aren't internet savvy enough to stumble upon such a website. If you can't afford to go to college, just check out the IA's Education section, which contains university lectures and free courses. The best part is, no homework.

There are many uses of the IA based on the amount of content alone. Aside from the occasional nostalgia trip, the IA is an important tool for historians. Much of American society revolves around the internet and other forms of media, so it is vital to understand the web in order to fully grasp current affairs. The IA gives documentary film makers easy access to video clips that fall under the public domain; the same goes for electronic musicians who use samples in their music. The IA also seems like a great place for a bored internet user to waste hours of time. It might not ever become as big as Youtube, but anybody who visits the IA will surely leave slightly more knowledgeable.

Love,
James