nullNov 9, 2022

While I'm typing out my novice thoughts on #digitalhistory #digitalhumanities have we stopped to consider the problem of our permanent tenant-style inhabitance of the internet? I can buy any number of things IRL and own them forever, but none of them are web space. Web space must be maintained monthly/yearly or exploited by a site paying those fees.

My smart tech partner @JeromeySims points out that I could own a slice of the web if I owned the physical tech and connection itself. What a massive hurdle to ensure my permanent ownership (or space, really -- I don't need to be a settler in the internet space).

This is like if I spent years building a house and, if I didn't pay my mortgage one month, someone came and burned it and its contents to the ground leaving only pictures of it on archive.org. #histodons @histodons

Show threadTorsten KathkeNov 9, 2022
@micah @JeromeySims @histodons That’s a very interesting way to think about it. I wonder how much of it is culturally conditioned, e.g. the home ownership metaphor. Here in Germany, most people rent and many do not aspire to own because there are pretty decent renters protections and rents aren’t exorbitant in most places (nothing‘s perfect, of course, but still). I wonder how much how we think about virtual space is bound to the physical spaces we live in.
Show threadnullNov 9, 2022
@torstenkathke @JeromeySims @histodons I agree about the metaphor, but I stand on my point here -- how can digital scholarship have the staying power of physical prints without individual/press/university ownership and responsibility?
Show threadAaron Brick — אהרן בריקNov 9, 2022
@micah @torstenkathke @JeromeySims @histodons Benign neglect only works for some documents some of the time; even for print media we often depend on institutions to manage and care for it. The missing link in this analogy may be that internet "habitation" actually means serving documents on request. It might scale better than brochures or mimeographs but obviously the cost never quite reaches zero. The only way to really become immortal in this space is to convince an institution to host files.
Show threadJeromey Sims (Moved 2 BlueSky)Nov 9, 2022
@aarbrk @micah @torstenkathke @histodons
Ok, but does it *have* to be that way? That's my question. I suspect the answer is no, but that's also my preferential bias showing.
Show threadTorsten Kathke
@JeromeySims @aarbrk @micah @histodons Sorry all, I think I lost track of this thread when my instance kept glitching offline. But I do think there are some fundamental questions to be addressed here and hope to continue the conversation.
Nov 9, 2022 at 6:13pmMastodon for iOS