Beginning this class I wasn’t sure what to expect and how we would learn about digital history because I never thought of it as a big thing in the world; however, now we’re a few weeks from the end of the semester and I have really got a hold on what we’re going over and what we can do to be a part in this epic digital era. This article, by Roy Rosenzsweig, addresses the topic of preservation of history in the digital era. How can we make sure that we will always be able to access to the digital version, like the analog version?
One thing that really caught my eye was when fragility was discussed. This is very true, anything digital can be very fragile because just as easy as it goes up, it can come down. The article addresses the specific example of the Bert is Evil website. The creator began the site in 1996, accruing many fans as it progressed; however, on October 11, 2001, the site was deleted spurring interest in the fragility of the digital era. This just goes to show that we are living in a time where one can simply remove what has been done and this poses a serious problem to the digitization of history. In the future, if we want to have the possibility of digitizing history and putting the analog copies in storage, we need to address how we can preserve these, especially if its with important books or documents.
I believe that true preservation will only be possible when the government takes a step in this digital era. Today, people can still take down websites, removing the past from our life. The government should address this issue with caution because seeing as this era is only beginning, we need to make sure that our digital rights are not impaired through action. Besides the government, it is one of our responsibilities to work towards preserving the past in this digital era. The article really offered some good information on the preservation of the digital past.