Many people says that history is the teacher of life. If people don't know own history then they are forced to repeat the same mistakes. Maybe that's the goal.
You may find interesting that this kind of history is not just "freelance history". There's a specific field of research, started from the Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg, which is entirely devoted to explain small things in order to change our understanding of the big picture: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microhistory
“ It’s a bummer that we’re not making a concerted effort to catalog and preserve this knowledge”
Oh, but we do! I mean, they do! At archive.org. It’s unbelievable how many weird knowledge and hobbies can be found there for free. And they still lurk for more. They call for support and it’s definitely worth it, if you care about “retro”.
Sort of. The main problem with archive.org is that it's more of a dumping ground than a structured catalog, especially the Wayback Machine. You don't go there and say "I want to learn the history of <x>, give me your best". You kinda need to know the exact URL or the exact book title. They have some search, but it's not good.
Any preservation is better than none, especially as natural-language data mining tech improves, but right now, the discoverability isn't there.
Ah…. But those are three problems masked in one. The first is: “can this information be accessed sufficiently easily if coordinates are known” and then “how would I found out these coordinates” and finally “how would i know to ask the right question”. The LLMs could be an answer to the third problem: increasingly I can ask them questions with phrases of lyrics or vague descriptions and they come up with keywords I wouldn’t know I had to type into Google”
True, the wayback machine is only for the exact urls. However, they do have a search with extensive filters for books, audio, apps, (e.g. https://archive.org/details/books). But I get your point. To my surprise, LLMs are terrible at lurking the old internet.
Great job on those banknotes and comic books, btw! I too, archived, unified to mbox and posted online, two old polish usenet groups on science-fiction & fantasy - pl.listserv.sf-f and pl.rec.fantastyka.sf-f. Well, it's seems we need to continue that Indiana Jones-like adventure saving old treasures.
I like it that you don't directly call for funding the internet archive. But it made me look up their about page and surprisingly to me, there seem to be no national or global institutions funding it - only private ones. So yes, maybe the easy way is to fund them. But if one knows a historian it would be better to show that person, how one values their work.
This article resonates with me, as I come from a similar background, and am one of those obscure historians (WW2 radio gear). I like how you've set the stage and described the value.
Many people says that history is the teacher of life. If people don't know own history then they are forced to repeat the same mistakes. Maybe that's the goal.
You may find interesting that this kind of history is not just "freelance history". There's a specific field of research, started from the Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg, which is entirely devoted to explain small things in order to change our understanding of the big picture: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microhistory
I hope to one day visit your museum of extremely large bank notes.
One treasured 20+ y/o site is https://yarchive.net/home.html a collection of Usenet articles that I still visit occasionally.
“ It’s a bummer that we’re not making a concerted effort to catalog and preserve this knowledge”
Oh, but we do! I mean, they do! At archive.org. It’s unbelievable how many weird knowledge and hobbies can be found there for free. And they still lurk for more. They call for support and it’s definitely worth it, if you care about “retro”.
Sort of. The main problem with archive.org is that it's more of a dumping ground than a structured catalog, especially the Wayback Machine. You don't go there and say "I want to learn the history of <x>, give me your best". You kinda need to know the exact URL or the exact book title. They have some search, but it's not good.
Any preservation is better than none, especially as natural-language data mining tech improves, but right now, the discoverability isn't there.
Ah…. But those are three problems masked in one. The first is: “can this information be accessed sufficiently easily if coordinates are known” and then “how would I found out these coordinates” and finally “how would i know to ask the right question”. The LLMs could be an answer to the third problem: increasingly I can ask them questions with phrases of lyrics or vague descriptions and they come up with keywords I wouldn’t know I had to type into Google”
True, the wayback machine is only for the exact urls. However, they do have a search with extensive filters for books, audio, apps, (e.g. https://archive.org/details/books). But I get your point. To my surprise, LLMs are terrible at lurking the old internet.
Great job on those banknotes and comic books, btw! I too, archived, unified to mbox and posted online, two old polish usenet groups on science-fiction & fantasy - pl.listserv.sf-f and pl.rec.fantastyka.sf-f. Well, it's seems we need to continue that Indiana Jones-like adventure saving old treasures.
I like it that you don't directly call for funding the internet archive. But it made me look up their about page and surprisingly to me, there seem to be no national or global institutions funding it - only private ones. So yes, maybe the easy way is to fund them. But if one knows a historian it would be better to show that person, how one values their work.
yet another... great article!:)
This article resonates with me, as I come from a similar background, and am one of those obscure historians (WW2 radio gear). I like how you've set the stage and described the value.