British Library fears loss of history

THE BRITISH LIBRARY said that there is a danger of humanity "disappearing into a huge historical black hole" because information and communications, public and private, set out from the Internet, is not "saved" and archived.

Lynne Brindley, director of the British Library, said that data and information on our time that has been entrusted to the web is being lost as some sites close or the technology they have stored the information on becomes obsolete.

The British Library has established a department dedicated to the collection of all these digital materials which are stored on your computer in the same way that it stores books, newspapers, documents, maps, personal letters.

Quite what future generations might make of the INQ's Skype chats, or what use our emails will be to history, she didn't say. µ

L'Inq
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