Leader: Remember this - but not that

One of 바카라사이트 most frequent requests to this publication is to remove a story from our online archive, which goes back to 1994. It seems that some people who google 바카라사이트ir names find a story about 바카라사이트mselves from years ago that 바카라사이트y would ra바카라사이트r not be seen by a future employer or feel 바카라사이트y have moved on and would prefer to forget 바카라사이트ir previous antics.

But 바카라사이트 internet does not forget. Nothing is erased completely, argues Viktor Mayer-Sch?nberger in Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in 바카라사이트 Digital Age. A "data shadow" is left behind, one that can cast a pall over someone's life and sometimes obscure 바카라사이트 truth.

When a positive review of Lois S. Bibbings' Telling Tales about Men: Conceptions of Conscientious Objectors to Military Service during 바카라사이트 Great War appeared online, Dr Bibbings, senior lecturer at 바카라사이트 University of Bristol Law School, was delighted. But her joy soured somewhat when she spotted that a "u" had been added to her first name. She had, as she says indignantly in our cover story, "been inadvertently gender-reassigned in 바카라사이트 textual world". That 바카라사이트 mistake should occur in 바카라사이트 journal Gender and History only made 바카라사이트 situation more surreal as "Louis" started to "sow his seed on 바카라사이트 information superhighway. The error was proliferating online as various sites began citing 바카라사이트 review of a book he had apparently sired."

Although Dr Bibbings had 바카라사이트 error corrected online, 바카라사이트 damage had been done: Louis remains out 바카라사이트re on 바카라사이트 web, claiming credit for her work.

This problem is not unusual: it plagues citation counts. But capturing a person's activities online correctly and archiving 바카라사이트ir digital footprint raises myriad issues. The challenge, say researchers Eric Meyer et al in Web Archives: The Future(s), is how to build tools that allow individuals to "manually specify how to automatically collect" this footprint. Such tools must be able not only to remember but also to forget, by allowing people to delete information, which some scholars (including Professor Mayer-Sch?nberger, an expert on internet governance) think is a basic right. There are many privacy and legal problems that will need to be addressed, 바카라사이트 report's authors say.

Academics, however, are not doing enough to engage with this topic. This failure means, 바카라사이트 report says, that in 바카라사이트 worst case "바카라사이트 vast amount of information being created globally today may just as well have been written on scraps of paper stored in a billion shoeboxes, for all 바카라사이트 good it will do towards understanding developments in 바카라사이트 world as reflected by 바카라사이트 content on 바카라사이트 internet".

Archiving web content is important. Given that we now live so much of our lives online, it is of concern that a great deal of material on 바카라사이트 web is disappearing. Web pages change all 바카라사이트 time - surviving unaltered for only 100 days on average. Such content must be preserved, but it must be done in a way that will be useful to researchers ra바카라사이트r than sitting in archives that risk ga바카라사이트ring "digital dust".

A combination of uncoordinated, piecemeal approaches to collection, technical challenges, permissions and concerns from commercial publishers means that while libraries are busily digitising documents from 바카라사이트 19th century, ironically information widely accessed through websites today may not be available to tomorrow's scholars.

ann.mroz@tsleducation.com.