Although some companies like Google want to let cloud-based gaming services like Stadia disappear, groups working to protect digital information are becoming more and more sophisticated. The nonprofit Internet Archive is one of them, and is now working to build a huge library of amateur audio and early digital releases.
The Internet Archive has begun collecting content for the Amateur Radio and Communications Digital Library (DLARC), which will be a massive online library of materials and collections related to amateur radio and digital communications. DLARC is funded by a substantial grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), a private foundation to create an open access digital library that documents and preserves the history of this community.
The library will be a free online resource that brings together archived digitized print materials, digital content, websites, oral histories, personal collections and other relevant records and publications. DLARC’s goal is to document the history of amateur radio and provide freely accessible educational resources for researchers, students and the general public. This project includes:
- A program for digitizing printed materials such as newsletters, magazines, books, brochures and other records from institutions, groups and individuals alike.
- A digital archiving program for archiving, curating and providing access to “digital born” material such as digital photos, websites, videos and podcasts.
- A personal archiving campaign to ensure that both the print and digital archives of key people and stakeholders in the amateur radio community are preserved and made available for the future.
- Conducting oral history interviews with important members of the community.
- Preservation of all physical and print collections donated to the Internet Archive.
According to the announcement, the new project will feature vintage digital photos, websites, videos, podcasts and more.
Kay Savetz, a technology historian and leader of the Internet Archive’s new project, told Gizmodo in a phone interview that it had the flexibility to include virtually any form of digital communication, from the early days of computer use in the 1970s to the ’90s. This can include old videos posted on YouTube or digital newsletters that are no longer available. He said the archive project is of particular interest, with old podcasts that were once available but lost over time due to servers or hosts being out of use.
“In things like video games, businesses’ job is to create content and get it to market as quickly as possible,” Savetz said.
If you want to help with this project, you can find more information about the process here.
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