Mark Graham

And once we've digitized it, then we can preserve it and organize it and make it available. At the end of the day, this is what this is about. This is about the voices of humanity expressed in a variety of medium that in many cases are being stored and made available on a series of platforms that are inherently ephemeral. that have a history of disappearing. One of the terms is link rot.

That's talking about the material that may have been available at a given URL and a given address on the web at a given point in time is no longer there. You go to that URL and one of two things are going to be true. Well, three things, I guess. The first thing is that what you're looking for is their success.

That's talking about the material that may have been available at a given URL and a given address on the web at a given point in time is no longer there. You go to that URL and one of two things are going to be true. Well, three things, I guess. The first thing is that what you're looking for is their success.

That's talking about the material that may have been available at a given URL and a given address on the web at a given point in time is no longer there. You go to that URL and one of two things are going to be true. Well, three things, I guess. The first thing is that what you're looking for is their success.

But the second is that you get a page not found or some other error message, a 500 error message, maybe something like that on the server end. So you just can't get the material. It's just no longer there at that URL. Now, that material might be available via another URL. It may have been moved somewhere, but you may not necessarily know that if there's no redirect in place.

But the second is that you get a page not found or some other error message, a 500 error message, maybe something like that on the server end. So you just can't get the material. It's just no longer there at that URL. Now, that material might be available via another URL. It may have been moved somewhere, but you may not necessarily know that if there's no redirect in place.

But the second is that you get a page not found or some other error message, a 500 error message, maybe something like that on the server end. So you just can't get the material. It's just no longer there at that URL. Now, that material might be available via another URL. It may have been moved somewhere, but you may not necessarily know that if there's no redirect in place.

But the other thing that can happen is that at that same URL, there may be different material. That's referred to as content drift. Same URL, different material. Well, how would you even know what the prior material was or that there even was prior material at that URL? You wouldn't. Why? Because there's no version control system for the web.

But the other thing that can happen is that at that same URL, there may be different material. That's referred to as content drift. Same URL, different material. Well, how would you even know what the prior material was or that there even was prior material at that URL? You wouldn't. Why? Because there's no version control system for the web.

But the other thing that can happen is that at that same URL, there may be different material. That's referred to as content drift. Same URL, different material. Well, how would you even know what the prior material was or that there even was prior material at that URL? You wouldn't. Why? Because there's no version control system for the web.

I go to a URL, I may get something, and then five minutes later, I go to the same URL, I may get that same thing, or I may get nothing, or I may get something different. And it just is. It is what it is at any given moment. That's what the web primarily is. There are exceptions to this, of course. There are applications on the web, like Wikipedia, for example.

I go to a URL, I may get something, and then five minutes later, I go to the same URL, I may get that same thing, or I may get nothing, or I may get something different. And it just is. It is what it is at any given moment. That's what the web primarily is. There are exceptions to this, of course. There are applications on the web, like Wikipedia, for example.

I go to a URL, I may get something, and then five minutes later, I go to the same URL, I may get that same thing, or I may get nothing, or I may get something different. And it just is. It is what it is at any given moment. That's what the web primarily is. There are exceptions to this, of course. There are applications on the web, like Wikipedia, for example.

which is fundamentally based on a version control system. And you can go back and you can see all the various representations of what was available from a given URL. But for the web overall, it's not like that. And so that's where the Wayback Machine steps in. That's where we provide a time-based view for...

which is fundamentally based on a version control system. And you can go back and you can see all the various representations of what was available from a given URL. But for the web overall, it's not like that. And so that's where the Wayback Machine steps in. That's where we provide a time-based view for...

which is fundamentally based on a version control system. And you can go back and you can see all the various representations of what was available from a given URL. But for the web overall, it's not like that. And so that's where the Wayback Machine steps in. That's where we provide a time-based view for...

for URLs that we have been able to access and that we've been able to archive and then organize and make available to our patrons.

for URLs that we have been able to access and that we've been able to archive and then organize and make available to our patrons.

for URLs that we have been able to access and that we've been able to archive and then organize and make available to our patrons.

Where to start? I mean, those are some big questions. A very general statement that I can make is that about a third of the old web measured in, say, 10 or 15 years or something like that is gone. So about a third. In some cases, it's less, and in some cases, it's more. And certainly for an individual website that may have had millions of pages, like GeoCities, for example, It's 100% gone, right?