SUSTAINABILITY:+SOME+

MORALITY+TALES+

Early+Modern+Digital+Agendas+

29+June+2015

TALE+NO.+1:+THE+WEB+IS+LOST

Brian+Herzog,+404+Error+page+for+Chelmsford+Public+Library

3

Earliest+surviving+web+page.+A+backup+made+by+Paul+Jones+(UNC)+of+a+

demonstration+by+Tim+BernersXLee+for+the+1991+Hypermedia+conference.+BernersXLee’s+paper+had+been+rejected+for+the+conference.++

http://www.ibiblio.org/pjones/old.page.html+

• Brewster+Kahle+(founder+of+Internet+Archive):+the+

average+life+expectancy+of+a+web+page+is+100+days+

• Jim+Boulton:+Printed+in+1455,+fortyXeight+copies+of+the+

Gutenberg+bible+exist,+yet+not+one+copy+of+a+website+

made+twenty+three+years+ago+survives.+

• Yet+already+the+complexity+of+the+archaeology+of+the+

early+web+starts+to+rival+that+of+printed+incunables+

• How+valuable+would+it+be+to+have+that+first+page,+since+

it+was+always+updated+daily?+

• Is+it+more+significant+that+it+is+impossible+to+

reconstruct+that+early+experience+of+using+the+web?

4

5

One+of+the+earliest+mentions+of+the+World+Wide+Web,+in+a+Usenet+posting+by+Tim+

Berners+Lee+in+August+1991.+NB+Usenet+archives+were+acquired+by+Google,+so+we+

now+access+this+text+in+Google+Groups:+does+that+affect+our+engagement+with+it?++

6

Snapshot+of+the+CERN+website+as+it+appeared+in+November+1992+

http://www.w3.org/History/19921103Xhypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

7

Reconstruction+of+first+web+page:+info.cern.ch+

Shown+in+a+restoration+of+the+lineXmode+browser,+the+first+readily+available+

web+browser,+launched+in+1992

8

BernersXLee’s+original+WWW+browser+running+on+a+NeXT+computer+in+1993

9

How+I+first+saw+the+World+Wide+Web:+Cello+browser,+popular+because+it+ran+on+PCs

• Do+we+need+the+starting+point,+or+is+it+more+

important+to+have+a+sense+of+the+movement?+

• If+so,+what+do+we+throw+away?+PaperXbased+

decision+making+systems+may+not+be+

appropriate+here.+

• Authority?+How+do+we+know+which+is+

authentic?+Does+it+matter?+

• D.+F.+Mackenzie:+‘Form+is+content’,+but+can+we+

ever+recapture+digital+form?+Should+we?

10

TALE+NO.+2:+SHUTDOWN

Information+courtesy+of+Simon+Tanner’s+blog,+‘When+the+Data+

Hits+the+Fan’:simonXtanner.blogspot.co.uk

http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/metsXschemadocs.html

http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/profiles/00000024.xml

Government/Shutdown:/the/morals

• Problems+can+be+unexpected+

• They+may+not+be+technical+

• The+weakness+may+be+in+our+very+

connectivity

TALE+NO.+3:+WHAT+HAPPENS+WHEN+I’M+NO+

LONGER+HERE?

21

Robin Alston (1933-2011). Lecturer in philology at the University of New Brunswick (1958–60) and the University of Leeds (1964–76). Founder of the Scolar Press. In 1977 he became a consultant to the British Library and from 1978 to 1989 he was editor-in-chief of the Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalogue, now called the English Short Title Catalogue . He was Professor of Library Studies at the University of London from 1990 to 1998.Among Alston’s many publications were A Bibliography of the English Language !om the Invention of Printing to the Year 1800 (18 vols, 1965–2006).

http://www.rXalston.co.uk,+as+it+appeared+on+7+March+2001,+the+Wayback+Machine

What/Happens/When/I’m/No/Longer/Here?/The/Morals

• A+great+deal+depends+on+continued+

intervention+by+the+individual,+regardless+of+

standards+

• Even+then,+without+strong+institutional+

support,+it’s+difficult+to+ensure+that+resources+

will+continue+to+be+there+if+you+have+moved+on

TALE+N0.+4:+UNDERSTAND+YOUR+BLACK+BOX

Google+NXgram+viewer+shows+an+apparent+rise+in+the+use+of+‘politeness’+and+

‘courtesy’+from+about+1760.+

However,+this+apparent+shift+may+simply+reflect+the+decline+of+the+long+‘s’+form+

in+printing

Understand+Your+Black+Box:+The+Morals

• Understand+what+external+tools+are+doing+

• As+we+become+more+dependent+on+corporate+

services+and+clouds,+there+are+more+risks,+often+

completely+outside+our+control+

• Increasingly,+it+will+be+difficult+to+assume+that+

results+can+be+replicated+by+others+(e.g.+as+

Google+searches+become+more+personalised)

TALE+NO.+5:+TURN+SETBACKS+TO+ADVANTAGE

Screengrabs+from+Electronic+Beowulf+2.0

Electronic+Beowulf+3.0

Turning/Setbacks/to/Advantage:/The/Morals

• Importance+of+continued+curation+and+involvement+by+the+lead+investigator+

• Kiernan’s+editorial+role+has+involved+continued+revamping+and+improvement+through+3.1+versions+

• With+intervention+and+collaboration,+apparently+devastating+problems+can+seem+to+be+opportunities+

• But+how+do+we+keep+that+going?++

The+Most+Important+Moral+of+All:+Open+Up+

Your+Data

http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/hartlib/

http://emlo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/

• Follow+Golden+Rules:+use+open,+accepted+

standards;+avoid+proprietary+software;+

document;+archive+and+share+

• Migration+is+a+vital+strategy+

• Emulation+another+possible+technique+

• But+many+risks+are+not+technical+and+can+only+

be+addressed+by+accepting+that+digital+

resources+need+continued+and+unceasing+TLC

50

Useful+Addresses

• JISC+Guide+to+Research+Data+Management:+

www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/researchXdataX

management+

• Digital+Curation+Centre:+www.dcc.ac.uk+

• Digital+Preservation+Coalition:+

www.dpconline.org+

• University+of+Cambridge+Research+Data+

Management+guide:+www.data.cam.ac.uk+

51