No, I don’t think I’ll actually be able to link all the items in the post’s title together, but those are the topics to be discussed today. I saw a lot of random articles I had been saving and just had to add my 2 cents.

First, the article, Is the Internet the Start of History? This is a very interesting article and I give the author full-props for writing about how the Internet changes the very meaning of archives and archival appraisal (even if he doesn’t say it in this way). However, like so many that do not have a preservation background, he gets a few things wrong. Changing movies from analog to digital can help with access and can, sometimes, help with preservation. But preserving things on cds or dvds is really not a good idea as the media degrades quickly and formats change. Really, you don’t want to get a person who works in preservation or digital archives to get started on this topic. They could talk about it for days and days! It is a huge archival issue. But the concept of the Internet starting a new page in human history is a very cool one.

Here is another article on Google vs. the Libraries in the realm of the Google Books project. Interesting read and argument of private versus common good. That argument reminds me of the whole argument about the commons in England.

And, to end, an article about how the United States lags behind other nations in the graduation rate of students from universities. Interesting read.

And, so as to not end on a pessimistic note, it is a beautiful sunny day and we have the weekend to look forward to. Enjoy!