The Annotated USENET: A Cultural Coredump of the Early Information Age
Jay R. Ashworth
}
} The notion of "checking the net" brings up a number of interesting questions:
}
} Can all USENET articles that have ever been posted be collected? Has
} any site, possibly in the course of its usual backups, saved
} essentially all articles over some long time period? Or, does all this
} wisdom, wit, blood, sweat, tears and bullshit just evaporate? Who
} volunteers to reconstruct the entire USENET corpus and put it on
} CD-ROM?
[ Me! ]
} Surely this is more important than Stargate or GNU or SDI or
} archiving LANDSAT data or geneologies or stockpiling Helium.
} [ ... ] Can we deprive armies of future scholars of
} publishing "The Annotated USENET: A Cultural Coredump of the Early
} Information Age", in 4,312 volumes?
[ Permission to use this title, please? ]
} Should we tell the FBI that this
} is a den of sedition and evil conspiracy so they will get their tapes
} rolling, then request copies via the FOI act?
[ What a great idea... ]
}
} ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
} ( Alan Filipski, GTX Corp, 8836 N. 23rd Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85021, USA )
} ( {allegra,decvax,hplabs,amdahl,nsc}!sun!sunburn!gtx!al (602)870-1696 )
} ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm (fairly) sure Alan was mostly kidding, but his is a helluvan idea,
folks! Of course, it would probably take 3 or 4 CD's, but hey, why
not. Let's start some discussion on this, as a serious project. As
Alan pointed out, there's a whole lotta good stuff in the past.
Reply via email, especially if you keep thorough backups...
Cheers,
-- jra
--
Jay R. Ashworth ---+-- Suncoast Television Productions--+ ...!uunet!codas!
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Robert Heinlein, 1901-1988, alas, not as long-lived as Lazarus Long. R. I. P.
Nate Hess
>I'm (fairly) sure Alan was mostly kidding [...]
Actually, I think Alan's article was about 105% in jest.
>Reply via email, especially if you keep thorough backups...
Nah. Reply to the net. That way, your words will be saved for
posterity...
--woodstock
--
"How did you get your mind to tilt like your hat?"
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Brad Templeton
that anybody takes the time to type for another person will be stored
permanently. Storage is certainly getting that cheap, if it isn't
already.
This means that those who study history, news, current affairs, literature
and urban folklore will have a sudden change in their environment.
Information will no longer disappear by accident.
But it will become almost as hard finding the right information in a sea
of noise as it is finding vanished information today.
What really needs attention is the question of organizing the information
we do have so that we can use it.
--
Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473
Glenn R. Stone
>There will come a time, in the not too distant future, when everything
>that anybody takes the time to type for another person will be stored
Let's just hope that no one with Orwellian tendencies
worms their way into the power structure and begins
changing the past.... If we keep our heads on straight
and are aware of such possibilities, this won't happen,
but we must never forget, and always be aware.
--
Glenn R. Stone (..gatech!gle...@pipe.gatech.edu) BITNET : CCASTGS@GITNVE2
USNAIL: P. O. Box 30372 Atlanta, GA 30332 VOICE : (404) 873-1525
"I know it's impossible.... now how's the best way to go about doing it?"