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Broadband... a black hole of lost information?

Where the Doomsday Book, written on sheepskin in 1066, is a valuable insight into British history, historians looking back at the 21st century may be staring at a blank canvas.

A void of lost material could be all that remains of the digital era, as broadband sites are constantly deleted, warns the head of the British Library, Lynne Brindley.

As reported in the Guardian, Brindley illustrates her concerns about broadband with two examples. Firstly, the inauguration of US President Obama. As George Bush stepped down from office, all traces of the former president vanished from the White House broadband website. A book available over broadband, entitled 100 Things American May Not Know about the Bush Administration, simultaneously disappeared.

Archivists looking at the Sydney Olympics face a similar headache – 150 broadband websites providing documentation of the Olympics were also taken down.

Broadband could leave grandchildren ‘bereft’

Commenting on broadband and digital technology, Brindley said: "Historians of the future, citizens of the future, will find a black hole in the knowledge base of the 21st century." She also raises concern that grandchildren will be left "bereft" as thousands of digital photographs are left stored on computers rather than being printed.

Steps have been taken, however, to preserve broadband records. The British Library plans to create an archive of "notoriously ephemeral" material from the UK broadband domain - there are currently about eight million ‘.co.uk’ broadband websites.

29/01/2009
Author: CompareBroadbandUK staff writer

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