O Internet Archive é uma NPO (non-profit organization) que foi fundada com o objectivo de criar uma das maiores e mais proliferas bibliotecas digitais da internet, oferecendo acesso permanente a pesquisadores, historiadores, e académicos a conteúdos históricos que existem em suporte digital e que estejam livres das restrições genéricas do copyright, sob a doutrina “Fair Use” ou a recém-concebida Creative Commons License.
Fundado em 1996 e sediada em San Francisco (CA), o IA vive de donativos de documentos de organizações conceituadas como a Alexa Internet, entre outros. A partir de 1999, o IA começou a incluir diversos suportes multimédia, como ficheiros de texto (p.e. livros digitalizados e jornais), ficheiros audio (p.e. registos de musica ao vivo), imagens (p.e. fotografias ou scans), videos/filmes (p.e. cinema sem copyright por ser independente ou ter expirado) e software (aplicações open-source), assim como paginas Web extintas e que foram arquivadas.
Aqui fica um pouco do mantra desta instituição:
Libraries exist to preserve society’s cultural artifacts and to provide access to them. If libraries are to continue to foster education and scholarship in this era of digital technology, it’s essential for them to extend those functions into the digital world.
Many early movies were recycled to recover the silver in the film. The Library of Alexandria – an ancient center of learning containing a copy of every book in the world – was eventually burned to the ground. Even now, at the turn of the 21st century, no comprehensive archives of television or radio programs exist.
But without cultural artifacts, civilization has no memory and no mechanism to learn from its successes and failures. And paradoxically, with the explosion of the Internet, we live in what Danny Hillis has referred to as our “digital dark age.”
The Internet Archive is working to prevent the Internet – a new medium with major historical significance – and other “born-digital” materials from disappearing into the past. Collaborating with institutions including the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian, we are working to preserve a record for generations to come.
Open and free access to literature and other writings has long been considered essential to education and to the maintenance of an open society. Public and philanthropic enterprises have supported it through the ages.
The Internet Archive is opening its collections to researchers, historians, and scholars. The Archive has no vested interest in the discoveries of the users of its collections, nor is it a grant-making organization.
Open and free access to literature and other writings has long been considered essential to education and to the maintenance of an open society. Public and philanthropic enterprises have supported it through the ages.
Contudo, a oferta do IA não se limita a conteúdos de cariz académico. Sou um adepto devoto deste projecto e recorro a ele regularmente para consulta de informação e encontrar música nova. Contribuo esporadicamente para a secção LMA (Live Music Archive), onde registos audio de concertos ao vivo feitos por tapers são colocados para partilha permanente num servidor dedicado (mediante aprovação previa da banda por escrito).
-j.mart
