And of course, 'market forces' are clearly beneficial to this world
(especially in terms of sustaining its resources...)
But to return to the point of what is considered wasteful or not on
the internet, I feel we should concentrate on what we as a broad
family of sectors (called 'heritage') can do, and here there is
another knotty clash of ideas. Do you delete content in order to free
up server space and therefore use less energy (and all those
benefits)? Or, do you keep it as an archival record of the evolution
of web dissemination and content change over the years?
Can you treat archiving web content in the same way as archiving paper
content? What about 'internal' content such as word processed files,
image files and other information held on intranets that no one ever
looks at any more? As most people on this list will know, when an
archivist goes on a site visit to collect or inspect a prospective
deposit, one of the first tasks will be an initial selection.
Similarly, museums offered a private collection which don't have
caveats to keep the collection whole, will select certain objects
only. Public libraries are constantly getting rid of out of date
books (and those not so irrelevant).
So the question returns, who's to decide? Should we be treating
content on the web in the same way as paper-based archives in terms of
their preservation? Does it matter who is responsible for selecting
how web content is archived? What kind of responsibilities should
organisations have for ensuring 'unnecessary' content is removed and
what happens to that stuff?
Oh.
Tehmina
On 14/02/07, Nick Poole <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> And so a thread is born...
>
> Should we delete the flotsam of decades of vision and revision from Local
> Authorities, QUANGOs, dead companies, bankrupt startups and pilot projects?
> Absolutely we should. Unfortunately, though, it's far, far easier to publish
> than it is to unpublish and at least there's a chance that those
> still-functioning organisations may self-regulate at some point and actually
> delete some of this stuff.
>
> The Internet is full of ghosts and, what is worse, it is very often
> impossible to tell them from the real, active, going concerns. Once the
> novelty of vanity publishing wears off and people realise that the
> blogosphere is spread so thin that the average audience is vanishingly
> small, which is more likely - that people will go back to that Wordpress
> blog and hit 'delete' or simply wander away and leave it undeleted until
> some admin does it for them?
>
> Who decides what's necessary or not on the Internet? In any other medium,
> it's the market. On the Internet, sometimes unfortunately, everyone decides
> for themselves.
>
> Nick
>
> Nick Poole
> Director
> MDA
>
> The Spectrum Building, The Michael Young Centre,
> Purbeck Road, Cambridge, CB2 2PD
>
> Telephone: 01223 415 760
> http://www.mda.org.uk
> http://www.collectionsforall.org.uk
>
> The revised edition of SPECTRUM, the UK museum documentation standard, is
> now available. Download it for free at:
>
> http://www.mda.org.uk/spectrum.htm
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Tehmina Goskar
> Sent: 14 February 2007 17:29
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: A greener internet?
>
> >If we are talking about the environmental impact specifically of
> digital publishing by
> >museums, then I would argue that this is offset by several orders of
> magnitude by the mostly
> >tedious and tangential blogosphere. If we're talking about personal
> choices, preventing
> >unnecessary blogging would probably be up there at number one on my list.
>
> Come, come. Should we not first get rid of the millions of
> antiquated, impenetrable static pages containing, lines and lines of
> thoroughly boring 'information' on obselete standards, policies and
> guidelines, particularly from local government and central government
> quangos?
>
> Anyway, who's judging what's necessary or not on the internet?
>
> Let's not fall foul of continually debating the principles and
> big-issues without doing the little thngs that do make a difference,
> many of which have already been mentioned.
>
> Better go and feed the horse, long journey tomorrow.
>
> Tehmina
>
> On 14/02/07, Kostas Arvanitis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > But, please spare our lives: http://digitalheritage.wordpress.com/
> >
> > Best wishes,
> >
> > Kostas.
> >
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > Dr. Konstantinos Arvanitis
> > Lecturer in Museology
> > Centre for Museology
> > School of Arts Histories and Cultures
> > Humanities Bridgeford Street
> > The University of Manchester
> > Oxford Road
> > Manchester M13 9PL
> > Tel.: +44 161 2753018
> > http://www.manchester.ac.uk/museology/
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Ottevanger, Jeremy
> > Sent: 14 February 2007 15:24
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: A greener internet?
> >
> > And kill bloggers
> >
> >
> >
> > Jeremy Ottevanger
> > Web Developer, Museum Systems Team
> > Museum of London Group
> > 46 Eagle Wharf Road
> > London. N1 7ED
> > Tel: 020 7410 2207
> > Fax: 020 7600 1058
> > Email: [log in to unmask]
> > www.museumoflondon.org.uk
> >
> > Visit Belonging: Voices of London's Refugees - a new thought-provoking
> free exhibition
> >
> > Glamour, grandeur, sleaze, disease - discover a great city in the making
> at the Museum of London -----Original Message-----
> > From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> > Ray Shah
> > Sent: 14 February 2007 15:23
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: [MCG] A greener internet?
> >
> > And cycle home or take the bus.
> >
> > --
> > - Ray
> >
> > Ray Shah - think design, inc.
> > museum education retail web open source
> > [log in to unmask] tel: 212.922.0952 x 212
> > http://www.thinkdesign.com mobile: 917.476.0952
> >
> >
> > On Feb 14, 2007, at 10:20 AM, Tony Gill wrote:
> >
> > > Turn your computer and monitor off when you go home at night, if you
> > > don't already.
> >
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