(I'm going to abbreviate Internet Archive as "IA" because I say it so much.)
When I was a wee lad on the internet I didn't pay much attention to the Internet Archive. Everything I wanted was already readily available if I knew what to look for.
As I get older though, I have come to appreciate the Internet Archive much more. The internet has become more closed off. Websites and especially older videos and games have been lost to time. Streaming services have rotating, often exclusive libraries behind a paywall. Also the whole websites needing identification debacle which I could write a whole different journal entry for. Even IRL libraries are losing funding based on what books they have available, and have been on the decline for years simply due to less traffic.
Aside:
Most (USA) Libraries get funding from patron donations and through township boards. My local library lost funding from one of the townships it serves a few years ago, due to having LGBT books. Luckily a local celebrity donated and asked others to donate & the library was able to receive an astounding amount of donations from the public to keep running. Not all libraries are so fortunate :(
If it weren't for the Internet Archive, I would not have been able to watch MASH. I don't have a Hulu account and I could not find the show anywhere else in its original quality & without laugh tracks. If it weren't for the IA, my friend who lives in Eastern Europe would not have been able to read Frankenstein in English. Recently I've started to read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? through the Internet Archive's Open Library. I would not have been able to access it conveniently otherwise unless I requested it from my local library. (Please support your local libraries if you can, I have no form of transportation so it's not very easy for me to access it.)
The Internet Archive has everything you could think of. Missing an old computer game you played when you were a kid? Check out the Internet Archive's Software Collection, or its Internet Arcade. Want to watch something but it was only released on VHS? Look at the VHS Vault. (Plus, VHS tapes degrade very easily and only last 10-25 years. IA is great at preserving what will one day become lost media.) Can't afford to go to an art museum? IA has galleries from the Metropolitan. Researching something and want to find a news broadcast from that event? IA is likely to have it.
Speaking of news, major media outlets are blocking the preservation of news on the Internet Archive. Since February, NYT has told the IA to stop the Wayback Machine from saving their website. There is currently a petition running to keep news on the Wayback Machine.
The archive has thousands of user-curated and official collections and you can almost certainly find your niche on there. The preservation of media is so important, especially in the digital age where websites disappear and photographs can be deleted forever. (38% of webpages that existed in 2013 are no longer accessible) I've always been passionate about free access to the internet and information. So websites like Wikipedia and Internet Archive are quite special to me.
I've run out of steam and I'm not sure what else to say, but I just wanted to yap a little about how much I love this service. ^.^ My dream job is to become a librarian & I love old media so IA is like a playground for me.
Hey!!
I am currently into my yearly 3DS obsession and I finally got pretendo working :D
Was wondering if anyone on here also has pretendo and would like to add each other? Especially my art mutuals!
I don't play a whole lot - tomodachi life, pokemon, style savvy, and I'm trying to get into animal crossing. I'm always open to hear game recommendations though.
2162-9499-2076
Hey all,
Been away for a week or so to work on the house my boyfriend just got (still there, gotta lock in)! But I wanted to quickly advertise @Gin's challenge for SheezDecember :) If you are missing the challenge this month, go check theirs out!
Hi Sheezy friends!
I have been out of work all Fall. I tried opening & advertising my commissions on my own, but it has not been fruitful. Now that I'm going into Winter without work; I would like to try out VGen, but I don't have an invite code. Please let me know if anyone has codes they'd like to offer! I would be very grateful :)
I don't know if it's customary to offer anything in return, but I would happily draw a sketch or an icon for you. Otherwise I am going to try and participate in the monthly VGen challenges for a code, as I don't have a Twitter or Instagram.
Thank you! I hope you are all having a great week :)
I'm going to see Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein in theaters tomorrow and I'm so excited! There is only one theater showing it in my whole state and it's near me! Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is one of my all time favorite classic novels and I've heard the film will be book accurate? Honestly I'm really easy to please so even if it isn't- I think I'll still enjoy it since I have enjoyed GdT's previous work. Oscar Isaac is one of my favorite actors too and I'm looking forward to seeing him play Victor Frankenstein.
EDIT: I have seen it and OMG it was so, so good!!! I have to see it again. It is not fully book accurate though if any of you were hoping. There are some pretty significant changes!
This weekend has been busy for me so I'm not sure I'll get my Sheeztober stuff out until Monday but I'm looking forward to what I have planned. If you're thinking about participating, please go for it!! It isn't too late to make something. It's been super fun seeing which prompts people choose and how they interpret them. My site subscription will be running out soon and I want to give out awards to my fellow participants this week!
I hope you are all having a great weekend :]