How Can You Help the Internet Archive?
blog.archive.org
blog.archive.org
I am also a nonfiction author who was disappointed that the Internet Archive launched its national emergency library with flagrant disregard for copyright.
Indeed, as this comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23521019 on a previous HN thread pointed out, the choice to move from controlled digital lending to uncontrolled digital lending was especially foolish because now the publishing industry is going after it not only because of uncontrolled digital lending but also because of controlled digital lending. And while there is solid rationale for why CDL should be considered legal, there isn't yet any legislation or case law that makes it clear.
So the IA put itself in a position of having to defend itself against the inevitable lawsuit from the publishing industry, and as a result, it potentially put its entire operations at risk.
There is just a conflicting set of goals between being an activist freedom of information non-profit and being a stable repository of knowledge for future generations. Right now the former is in charge, it seems, and so it's just a matter of time before they bite off too much.
edit: Interestingly the mission statement of the IA is to "provide Universal Access to All Knowledge." So the leadership is arguably following the mission statement. So, really, the problem is that the IA is simply not a good custodian for long term knowledge storage and should step aside for a better aligned organization to take that over.
It's hard work to create a book. I'm happy to ignore the technical violations of copyright when the archive is being an archive. But when it's destroying the livelihood of the authors, I know that we'll have fewer good works from professionals.
The leadership needs to recognize that the authors are people and are often very small businesses who feel they are being crushed. If they're counting on the authors being too small to fighting an effective suit, that's very sad.
> In our software collections, we have brought back thousands of hypercard stacks[1] that used to be easily available for Macintosh computers in the 1980s and 1990s – they will boot in your browser and let you enjoy them near-instantly.
The collection is certainly something that couldn't exist in it's current form without the Internet Archive. Sure, there are collections of .sit files sitting in old FTP mirrors, but it's the Internet Archive's in-browser emulation that makes them accessible. (It's unlikely that someone is willing to download an emulator and configure ROMs / system disks, just to play with a stack for 15 seconds).
Now for my usual shout-out: if you have some old stacks sitting around that you want to add to the collection, there's an online uploader[2]. I'm always pleased to see more stacks!
[1] https://archive.org/details/hypercardstacks?sort=-publicdate
They have a dedicated taper following and their own sound man for nearly every show resulting in at least 1 high quality recording for nearly every show they’ve played in the last 20 years. And the vast majority of their shows are at a small venue in Cambridge Ma.
I strongly recommend them.
But there’s lots of other good stuff on the live music archive.
* any mention of funding
* any mention of legal issues with controlled sharing
And I think that's deliberate.
I'm going to read this as "It's OK. We've got this. (But we don't want to say that too explicitly for legal reasons)."
> While your donations during this time have been appreciated, there’s actually many things you can do beyond that, which will have a lasting effect.
> Take a walk through our stacks, browse, meander… enter a search term of something that interests you and see what pops up and what collections it’s part of.
> Become a Patron
> Curate and Upload to the Archive
> Tell People That the Internet Archive Exists
> Get Involved In Our Many Projects, Including The Wayback Machine
> But Most of All, Please Help Yourself First.
> We’re touched by everyone who has spoken of their love and support of the Archive and its many missions, but this is also a time of much general uncertainty: economic, health concerns, and upheaval in society.
> The Internet Archive is our job and mission. Your job and mission is to take care of yourself and those closest to you. Without you, we’re a bunch of hard drives on the Internet.
> We’ll be here when you’re ready.
What do you people use it for?
I ended up going on the repo and asking them to undelete it, which they did, but in that moment I was lucky waybackmachine had it. This is one of hundreds of times I've used it.
[0] i.e. instantly and free.
Losing the IA would be a big loss for humanity, but the blame for that rests squarely with the IA leadership. Hopefully a more stable group is able to continue the efforts somehow.
That said, the IA shouldn't have sold itself as a long term archive if it's mission statement contradicted that goal. So, I agree, that another organization with a more aligned mission statement should take over as a long term archive.
They waver between flighty utopian idealism and arrogance and self-justifying activism.
It’s getting old. For every “practical” use of the IA, there are just as many concerns.
No one really needs the old internet or all the old Geocities website and first design interactions or personal blogs. There’s no market for it and no one would pay for it.
If these folks had to hand-copy items or make photocopies, they would have quit a decade ago.
They use scraping and cheap hardware to “brag” about their massive knowledge base in the petabytes. Honestly, no one cares.
Outside of the circles of other digital borders and some tech circles, everyone else is playing with their kids, mowing their lawns, reading books, and such. Try to get your neigbor to go look at an IA website from 1996. They’ll just go watch Netflix instead.
But at least you made my point. IA is a museum, but run by amateurs displaying not Egyptian history, but homepages of 13-year olds from 1997.