About two years ago, when I began sending a weekly email newsletter, I took screenshots of it and printed them each week. I have 100+ newsletters currently in a binder. I didn’t start it with this type of archiving in mind—it was more for posterity and tangibility. But now I’m even more glad that I do it.
Last year, I went through an old website and copied every post to a larger Google Doc for "safekeeping," because at some point, because of some such GoDaddy was unable to explain to me like I'm 5, the website went offline and I basically had to delete all the images and buttons off to be able to get it back up.
The plan was to rebuild the site on IPFS, but I have yet to do that...
It's crazy how much information we offer up regularly and scary how if you let your domain expire or leave it up, it might not be there when you look again! IPFS would definitely be a better option for safekeeping but keeping a local copy is also a good call.
I was so pissed when I found out it was 404-ing! Because I had no idea how long it had been doing that (like I was linking to the site regularly but never really looking at) and I had been posting monthly for it.
I wouldn’t argue the collective we need a new hosting provider that actually alerts you when things look off. They could probably figure out some way to use AI to look for issues and send you notices… I think.
Actually that's true, I could probably figure out how to do it myself, but also, I'm recently raging against the onus being on the customer to make applications that they typically pay for (with money or data) better, while the companies develop them into the dang ole ground. But that's a rant for another time... ;)
I lost about 5 years of photographs due to theft and it really stung. You make a good point about making physical archives. Aside from preservation, there is something sacred and elevated about that which can be felt, handled, held. Also, you are such a great writer Jaime. Your ability to break things down in such a clear and poignant way strikes me as a dynamic contrast to your art. :) I love this quality in a human.
I am so sorry you had to go through that, Anna! That's terrible and heartbreaking.
I do love something tangible, I think as humans we prefer to remove the barrier of a screen whenever possible, even though they sometimes make our lives easier... in other ways I think they make it harder to be human...
I appreciate the comment about my writing so much because I am constantly concerned I'm not communicating myself well, or organizing things enough... I tend to ramble and have a hard time editing unless I have a lot of distance between me and my words. This is not always possible when you want to talk about timely events!
Not familiar with Three Body, but in all seriousness, I do think it's important for designers to create some sort of physical archive, usually a book of some sort. Been thinking about this a lot with the rise of AI and constant rewriting of internet of the past
Yes - exactly. I’ve been talking a lot to my friends about this topic… like, how will people know what was made by us? How do we prove anything?
Also, I advise reading the Three Body trilogy. It’s excellent and they touch on rock carvings, and it was initially what got me thinking about human creative preservation when I read it a few years ago.
About two years ago, when I began sending a weekly email newsletter, I took screenshots of it and printed them each week. I have 100+ newsletters currently in a binder. I didn’t start it with this type of archiving in mind—it was more for posterity and tangibility. But now I’m even more glad that I do it.
Yes, I am lamenting not saving many of my old notebooks, and also my LiveJournal (cringey as it may have been!)
Last year, I went through an old website and copied every post to a larger Google Doc for "safekeeping," because at some point, because of some such GoDaddy was unable to explain to me like I'm 5, the website went offline and I basically had to delete all the images and buttons off to be able to get it back up.
The plan was to rebuild the site on IPFS, but I have yet to do that...
It's crazy how much information we offer up regularly and scary how if you let your domain expire or leave it up, it might not be there when you look again! IPFS would definitely be a better option for safekeeping but keeping a local copy is also a good call.
I was so pissed when I found out it was 404-ing! Because I had no idea how long it had been doing that (like I was linking to the site regularly but never really looking at) and I had been posting monthly for it.
I wouldn’t argue the collective we need a new hosting provider that actually alerts you when things look off. They could probably figure out some way to use AI to look for issues and send you notices… I think.
That would be excellent 👍
You could probably set that up once AI gets better at everything. I’m sure there’s already a way…
Actually that's true, I could probably figure out how to do it myself, but also, I'm recently raging against the onus being on the customer to make applications that they typically pay for (with money or data) better, while the companies develop them into the dang ole ground. But that's a rant for another time... ;)
Agree! We have to do everything ourselves now 🫤
I lost about 5 years of photographs due to theft and it really stung. You make a good point about making physical archives. Aside from preservation, there is something sacred and elevated about that which can be felt, handled, held. Also, you are such a great writer Jaime. Your ability to break things down in such a clear and poignant way strikes me as a dynamic contrast to your art. :) I love this quality in a human.
I am so sorry you had to go through that, Anna! That's terrible and heartbreaking.
I do love something tangible, I think as humans we prefer to remove the barrier of a screen whenever possible, even though they sometimes make our lives easier... in other ways I think they make it harder to be human...
I appreciate the comment about my writing so much because I am constantly concerned I'm not communicating myself well, or organizing things enough... I tend to ramble and have a hard time editing unless I have a lot of distance between me and my words. This is not always possible when you want to talk about timely events!
I'm gonna start carving my chair designs into granite slabs
This is the way
Also, is this a Three Body reference? If so you get a gold star.
Not familiar with Three Body, but in all seriousness, I do think it's important for designers to create some sort of physical archive, usually a book of some sort. Been thinking about this a lot with the rise of AI and constant rewriting of internet of the past
Yes - exactly. I’ve been talking a lot to my friends about this topic… like, how will people know what was made by us? How do we prove anything?
Also, I advise reading the Three Body trilogy. It’s excellent and they touch on rock carvings, and it was initially what got me thinking about human creative preservation when I read it a few years ago.