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I wrote a book in 2010. It had a references section with links to about 100 websites. When I wrote the second edition only about five years later, 50% of those
by InsideOutSanta 2y ago
I wrote a book in 2010. It had a references section with links to about 100 websites. When I wrote the second edition only about five years later, 50% of those links no longer worked.
What we're doing right now is borderline insane. We're putting all of this information on the web, but almost each individual bit of information is dependent on either a company or a human being keeping it online. It's inevitable that companies change their minds, and humans die, so almost all of the information that is online right now will just disappear in the next 80 years.
And we essentially only have one single entity that tries to retain that information.
- throwaway48476 2y agoThat entity goes out of its way to hide information if you're friends with the owners.
- jazzyjackson 2y agoAll the more reason not to rely on it, hard to complain when no one else is willing to do what they do
- walterbell 2y ago> references section with links to about 100 websites. Books deserve a github repo with PDF web archives of referenced links, the same way that Wikipedia mirrors the content of cited links.
- ekianjo 2y agocertainly not GitHub
- walterbell 2y agoWhat would you recommend instead?
- Intralexical 2y agoCopyright permitting, big QR code containing the plain text.
- SirMaster 2y agoBut wouldn't that be a big waste if everyone who references the same thing is then keeping a copy of it.
- progbits 2y agoBetter many copies than none. References usually mean written text and maybe some figures, cost of storage is going down, we can afford the duplication.
- throwup238 2y agoOne person’s waste is another person’s resilience.
- walterbell 2y ago> big waste Storage cost has fallen exponentially for decades, https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/the-price-of-computer-storage-has-fallen-exponentially-since-the-1950s https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/the-price-of-comput...
- Bluestein 2y ago> everyone who references the same thing is then keeping a copy of it. ... and it would serve as a form of redundancy, imitating the fungible nature of physical media: In order to cite the latest, copied, manuscript (for example) you needed to own a physical copy. They existence of these has enabled survival of works that would otherwise have been lost, or even reconstruction through ecdotics.-
- JohnFen 2y agoRedundancy isn't really a waste.
- InsideOutSanta 2y agoThere are all kinds of publisher and legal issues. Trust me, I did my best.
- walterbell 2y agoCould Wikipedia or Archive.org offer references-as-a-service to book publishers for a small fee? They already have the infrastructure and legal cover.
- Bluestein 2y ago> so almost all of the information that is online right now will just disappear in the next 80 years. > And we essentially only have one single entity that tries to retain that information. Will future ages find ours a dark age, a gap in their records, a void ... ... up until the point - if ever - where a sufficiently advanced solution for permanence is found and comes online?
- Intralexical 2y ago> ... up until the point - if ever - where a sufficiently advanced solution for permanence is found and comes online? Like the laser printer? The cost of permanent, physical preservation is pennies. People just don't do it for most things. And it doesn't guarantee accessibility, which has hosting costs.
- Bluestein 2y ago> Like the laser printer? Sure. Whatever works.- But I meant one that is systematically and systemically and widely used.-
- JohnFen 2y ago> Will future ages find ours a dark age, a gap in their records, a void I think this is a very likely future, yes.
- Bluestein 2y agoGrim, indeed.-
- Bluestein 2y ago> wrote a book in 2010. It had a references section Out of curiosity, may I ask what it was about?