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Twitter / X - Thread by The Rogue Archivist on old media preservation

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The Rogue Archivist Follow @RogueArchivist_ Sep 4 18 tweets 3 min read Bookmark Save as PDF + My Authors Old, forgotten media evokes such a powerful feeling in me. Where many people just see "X program that nobody has ever heard of", I see something that has an unknowable story in countless ways. First, there's the often untold background of the media's creation. Every single program, audio CD, game, has a backstory. And only a select few ever get in-depth coverage of their creation. Even for the most cookie-cutter media imaginable, someone dedicated a part of their life to making it. Whether as a quick duty of part of their job forgotten within a week after it's release, or as a passion project that went nowhere. Every single of piece of media has it's untold, unknowable story. That story could be positive or negative, but it's there. And most any media, aside from unfinished releases or the most limited and unfruitful of production runs, will have at least one person who has a story about it. Whether it's an obscure childhood game someone remembers fondly, or the software someone used to do their taxes once. Something may be exactly what someone has been looking for for decades, something they've never been able to find. Something that's been on the edge of their memory but never fully formed, or something that they can vividly recollect but can never find online. Basically, every single piece of media out there has an untold number of stories, essentially none of which will ever be known. And although each piece of media has had it's own distinct history, that's rarely (if ever) considered. That's one of the great things about digital media, every copy is capable of giving the same experience. Technically, most any media is capable of giving the same exact experience to anyone, even to this day. This means that while each is different, they share a common history. And if you've ever owned any of this media and eventually lost track of it, it may even be yours you find online. As a digital copy, it may just as well be. That isn't even to mention what others may find useful in the future. I've found myself searching far and wide for extremely specific discs, mostly due to trying to find a specific copy protection. These are often specific releases, or obscure games. And hell, maybe it's a completely "useless" piece of media by any reasonable standard. Uninteresting historically, no historical significance, as boring as you can get. Just maybe, someone else decades later may find it and create new memories with it. I've been enthralled by countless videos and stories about the most obscure of media, that's been given a second (if not even a first) chance. Something that brings a large amount of people joy, like a playthrough of an old video game. So everything has it's own history from it's creation, to it's use and memories created associated with it, to it's future potential. And all of it, practically speaking, is completely unknown. One day, all the memories of these will be gone, and never recorded. Nobody will know that someone out there had pleasant memories playing X, or found new ways to express themselves using Y, or even were simply able to get an important job done using Z. Disappeared forever, without a trace. And maybe something I upload is a treasured memory. Maybe it will be significantly important to someone's research, or offer some sort of valuable insight into a moment in history. Just maybe, it might becoming new memories for entirely new people. And if it doesn't? If nobody is left to remember or care for the stories? If not a single person cares about it's existence and it's forgotten once again, left to dust on the shelves of the Internet Archive ad infinitum? Well, that's fine too. After all, that disc that's been uploaded will still have memories with it, infinitely many unknown stories, uninteresting as they may be. That also, funnily enough, includes my own memories and experiences of archiving it. Everything online has it's own story, and though they may be forgotten, it isn't my job to find discover these stories. I allow other people to find these so that they may remember their own stories, or so that they can make new ones. And in the process, I create my own. If you'd like to browse through some of these memories, feel free to browse through my uploads on IA And while you're at it, browse through their catalogue as a whole, it's truly fascinating stuff! https://archive.org/details/@the_rogue_archivist

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