MIT Technology Review Narrated

The race to save our online lives from a digital dark age

28 snips
Feb 6, 2025
In a world where data is growing exponentially, preserving our digital legacy is becoming increasingly vital. The podcast delves into the challenges of ensuring future generations can understand and access our memories. It highlights past losses from platforms like MySpace and discusses tools like the Wayback Machine. Innovative preservation methods, including advanced film technology, are explored to combat a potential Digital Dark Age. The conversation contemplates how future historians might piece together our fragmented digital past.
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ANECDOTE

Shifting Storage Methods

  • Niall Firth recounted storing his daughter's photo on various devices, highlighting the increasing data volume.
  • He contrasts this with his parents' simpler photo albums, emphasizing the shift in storage methods.
ANECDOTE

Digital Data Loss

  • MySpace inadvertently deleted user content before 2016, demonstrating data ephemerality.
  • Usenet newsgroups and MTV News Archives also vanished, underscoring the risk of digital loss.
ANECDOTE

GeoCities Rescue

  • Yahoo's planned shutdown of GeoCities prompted archivists to save its unique web pages.
  • Jason Scott led the effort, recovering much of the site's user-generated content and early internet history.
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