Difference between revisions of "Internet Archive"
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
([[Topics|back to index]]) | ([[Topics|back to index]]) | ||
| − | [[File:internetarchive.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Internet Archive Logo]]'''The Internet Archive''' is an online library that contains books, movies, audio files, and software items. The Internet Archive also hosts the [http://www.archive.org/web/web.php Wayback Machine], a tool that allows a user to view web pages in | + | [[File:internetarchive.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Internet Archive Logo]]'''The Internet Archive''' is an online library that contains books, movies, audio files, and software items. The Internet Archive also hosts the [http://www.archive.org/web/web.php Wayback Machine], a tool that allows a user to view web pages in the state they were at previous dates. It functions as a 501(c)(3) non-profit and offers permanent access for researchers, historians, and the general public to view the historical collections online <ref name="ref"> http://www.archive.org/about/about.php </ref>. The Internet Archive serves as an activist operation for a free and open Internet. |
==History and Overview== | ==History and Overview== | ||
Revision as of 05:28, 18 December 2011
The Internet Archive is an online library that contains books, movies, audio files, and software items. The Internet Archive also hosts the Wayback Machine, a tool that allows a user to view web pages in the state they were at previous dates. It functions as a 501(c)(3) non-profit and offers permanent access for researchers, historians, and the general public to view the historical collections online [1]. The Internet Archive serves as an activist operation for a free and open Internet.
Contents
History and Overview
The Internet Archive was founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle and exists in San Francisco [1]. In late 1999, the organization started to grow to include more well-rounded collections, and now hosts texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages [1]. The site includes over 150 billion web pages, about 240,000 movies, over 500,000 audio items including over 70,000 live concerts, over 1,800,000 texts, 1600 education items, and over 30,000 software items [2]. The collection is mirrored at the Bibliotheca Alexandria in Egypt, in order to ensure that the collection is maintained and stable [3].
Features
Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine lets users browse archived web pages beginning from 1996 up to a few months ago[4]. It works by having a user type a web address into the engine, and it searches for the dates it has archived. The resulting pages point to other pages archived around the same date [4]. The service has over 150 billion web pages archived.
Moving Image Archive
The moving image archive includes a library of free movies, films, and videos. It contains thousands of digital movies uploaded by Archive users which range from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to cartoons and concerts [5]. Many of the videos are up for free download to all users of the library [5]
Text Archive
The Internet Archive Text Archive contains a wide range of fiction, popular books, children's books, historical texts and academic books [6]. They are available for free download.
Audio Archive
This library contains over two hundred thousand free digital recordings ranging from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry readings, to original music uploaded by users [7]. Many of the audios and MP3s are available for free download [7].
Software Archive
The Software Archive is designed to preserve and provide access to all kinds of rare or difficult to find, legally downloadable software titles and background information on those titles [8]. The downloadable software includes computer games, open source software, and shareware.
Ethical Implications
While the Internet Archive is free to use, the content that exists in the archive all cost the creators time or money. While it is used with permission from the creators for free use, ethical issues could arise if users upload copyrighted material or material without the consent of the creator. In order to be ethical, the Internet Archive should monitor user submissions to the archive before putting them up for free use to ensure that all of the material available is legal to use freely. Ethical use of this site would include only contributing legal material to the site and working to make it better, not worse. Another ethical issue with the Internet Archive is the fact that it is free to use but contributes value to the user. In a recent blog post, the founder of the Archive asks for donations to keep the site running as it costs an enormous amount of money to archive all the material and keep the staff of 160 employees paid. The question of whether it is ethically right to use the site without contributing money toward it arises, as it costs the company a great deal to run it and users gain from it, but can pay nothing.
See Also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 http://www.archive.org/about/about.php
- ↑ http://blog.archive.org/about/
- ↑ Donation to the new Library of Alexandria in Egypt; Alexandria, Egypt; April 20, 2002. Bibliotheca Alexandrina
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 http://www.archive.org/web/web.php
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://www.archive.org/details/movies
- ↑ http://www.archive.org/details/texts
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 http://www.archive.org/details/audio
- ↑ http://www.archive.org/details/software
