Thinking About Internet History • Hacker News Board

Re: Thinking About Internet History

#21

Post by jackstraw14 » Sun, Dec 31, 2023, 8:00 AM UTC

DougEiffel wrote: post #4

Mizza wrote: post #3

I've been thinking a lot about this too. I was thinking people should start collecting written histories of their recollections of the internet, so future historians can understand the dynamics which shaped their future-present, like the "Great Digg Migration" and the "Tumblr Exodus", etc.

Even with written recollections and archives, it's going to be so difficult to follow. Things just change so quickly. The irony and memes that require you to understand 5 other memes are just going to be so difficult to capture in any meaningful way. I also think people might not care that much. They'll have an even more sophisticated and oversaturated version of the internet and I'm thinking they'll only really care…

It's going to take a while to explain for the obvious reasons but all the extra stuff makes in incomprehensible imo.

Re: Thinking About Internet History

#22

Post by jcowienh » Sun, Dec 31, 2023, 2:15 PM UTC

ggm wrote: post #10

I have come to the conclusion this will best be left to professionals, and a significant amount of oral history has in fact already been collected and curated, by professionals. I wanted it to be me. The more I thought about it, the less equipped I felt. In some ways, it's the technologists curse, to believe your meta sense informs "the best way" when in fact, you're disrespecting another disciplines praxis assuming…

Hey, original author here. I feel your comment. I should note that the goal here, as I drew it narrowly, was a technical one: to curate some very specific datasets (the "names and numbers and routes" that describe Internet infrastructure), generate some interpretative metrics that describe the network in various places at various times, and then to get the heck out of the way and let professional social scientists use this evidence to actually write papers and do history.

tl;dr: There's a lot of meaning locked up in historical Internet measurement datasets that is totally inaccessible to the real experts who study society. Technologists need to be respectful, preserve it, unlock it, and make it accessible outside the technical community.

Re: Thinking About Internet History

#23

Post by j45 » Sun, Dec 31, 2023, 2:36 PM UTC

ggm wrote: post #20

j45 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world would be more boring with only professional stories and films. Telling your experience of a story always has merit. Adding something to the world isn’t solely for professionals. It’s not about being the first, or the last.

Tell your story to the pros. Archivists know how to filter. I've done some.

Llms can filter too.

Re: Thinking About Internet History

#24

Post by DougEiffel » Mon, Jan 08, 2024, 2:30 AM UTC

marttt wrote: post #18

DougEiffel wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even with written recollections and archives, it's going to be so difficult to follow. Things just change so quickly. The irony and memes that require you to understand 5 other memes are just going to be so difficult to capture in any meaningful way. I also think people might not care that much. They'll have an even more sophisticated and oversaturated version of the internet and I'm thinking they'll only really care…

Reminds me of this excerpt in Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy": "Ford!" Ford looked up from where he was sitting in a corner humming to himself. He always found the actual travelling-through-space part of space travel rather trying. "Yeah?" he said. "If you're a researcher on this book thing and you were on Earth, you must have been gathering material on it." "Well, I was able to extend the origin…

So glad you shared this. Been too long since I read this book. Love this part and it's very relevant.