What would we put in a dotcom time capsule? Ironically, says John
Charlton, paper records, because magnetic storage will just not
stand the test of time
Time capsules - can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. Yes,
now that the Internet age has matured I think it's time that we
considered generations to come and buried some tangible evidence of
the dotcom era - short in human years but pretty long in budgie
ones.
Of course most of you, especially the ones who were once young,
will recall that Blue Peter (BP) presenters had a habit of burying
time capsules every other week during the John Noakes and Val
Singleton days, so they could have the opportunity of digging them
up every other week the following year. "My God isn't it amazing
what the price of a VW Combi was last year," said Nokesy as he
thumbed through a one-year old copy of Exchange and Mart.
I must confess I can't quite remember exactly what the BP team
shoved into their time capsules - the number of which must have
affected the gravitational pull of the Earth - but it usually
included a newspaper, the current number one hit single, a typical
toy or two and a Wagon Wheel biscuit. These were objects which
would, when the capsule was dug up, supposedly reveal the truth
about what really mattered to us back in 1975, such as proof that
Wagon Wheels were much bigger then, than in 2001.
Preservation Society
Back to the dotcom time capsule.
What should go in, where should it be buried, and for how long? All
weighty matters should go before the appropriate committee of
experts but, in the absence of a properly constituted one, I have
some suggestions.
It is important to establish some objectives, after all we don't
want someone opening up our capsule two hundred years from now, and
looking at a picture of Martha Lane-Fox with the caption -"Vem ar
den har smackligt flicka?". I should point out that by then
Swedish, and not English, will be the world's main language, and
it's best we recognise that from the outset. We all have to make
assumptions. This is essential in the world of time-capsule-ology.
Thus I've assumed that English will still be the world's second
language in 2202 - our year of choice - and that it will be the
linguistic medium used in cataloguing and explaining the objects in
the capsule so that all is clear to those who uncover our little
treasure. We don't want them caught in the Wagon Wheel dilemma that
confronted BP viewers.
Tech-heads may not like it but the storage medium for the message
must be paper, and not magnetic tape or optical disk, which tends
to have, in terms of historical durability and stability, the
half-life of a dragon fly. For evidence look no further than US
census data from the 1960s and 1970s, much of which can longer be
read because the magnetic media it was stored on has either
deteriorated, or cannot be accessed because there are no suitable
reading devices still functioning. Paper was good enough for the
Domesday Book and BP, so paper it is.
Using it or losing it?
So, what should we put in our
tin can? First, it is important that generations to come shouldn't
think that dotcoms were all about losing money and bringing the
Western World to its knees in that dreadful recession of the early
21st century, which eventually saw the seat of the global IT
industry switch from San Jose , Silicon Valley to Magnitogorsk,
Siberia - in 2201 the happening post-post industrial megalopolis.
Thus, a screen shot from the toyzforboyz site should go in there
with appropriate notation giving the site's turnover and operating
profit.
Naturally a WAP (wireless application protocol) phone should be in
there - one in mint condition shouldn't be too hard to find. We'll
also need a laptop, with spare batteries, which contains files of
the many wondrous porno sites such as bigguns.com, which, in the
early 21st century drove website design and technology forward.
A few books bought via Amazon.com along with a graph plotting its
share price should be included, together with recipes for various
forms of coffee - by 2201 it will be a banned substance following
medical proof that it can cause delusions of grandeur.
A few clothes will be needed to give the flavour of the dotcom
worker bees. A baseball cap with 'wear back-to-front' instructions
and a pair of combat trousers with a crotch stained with caffe
latte should do the trick.
If only Nokesy and Val could be around to open this treasure trove.