Fun Times Friday: Internet Archaeology

We have dug into the ground for years, and we have learned about our pasts. We have been kicking dirt on top of new artifacts for year. This blog will one day be one of those artifacts, ande since the days of geocities we have been burying little pieces of ourselves on the internet.

This weeks Friday is an activity, and that activity is Internet Archaeology or E-Archaeology as I like to call it. I'd actually like to just call it Archaeology, but someone beat me to it.Here's the website. Dig it.

It is a pretty simple concept and I am pumped to walk you through it. Ready to find that old Pokemon fan site you made? Come on, you know you are.




The type of history we can find on the internet is a very special variety because it isn't just mass media but can be very person. Websites such as Diaryland go back well into the 90's. Oh the 90's that's not so far back. Well, 20 years is enough for me since I was 2 when the 90's kicked in with yuppies and bright colors.


Some things still exist on the internet, especially blogs. Most people who practice this will be looking for personal stuff, and that is pretty easy to do. Especially if you were a blogger. Remember you account name and password? Type that ish in and see how you saw the world in 2001. You'll be shocked by the difference. That's simple enough.


Want to see what people thought about certain topics at a certain time? Type in that topic along with a date. A ton of old website happily dated everything. Sure you'll have to dig through some Google links to find what you want, but the results are usually entertaining.


I decided the best way to inspire you was to show you what my E-Arch efforts made of themselves. I was inspired by an old VHS tape I have of a running of Nick's 20th birthday special. Featuring this little guy:

Tommy Pickles. The largest picture ever featured on The New Adult Life.

I decided I would try to find out who won a silly red Snick couch filled with $25,000. Did I find out? No, but e-Archaeology is a world full of failure. I did however stumble on a page on a site dated a few weeks after the show ran. Nick's 20th birthday from the eyes of some one who actually cared. 

It actually features a ton of cool stuff about Nick that I had completely forgotten about, like that guy from SNL's orange soda junkie partner. (This Friday is just bringing back the memories isn't it?) 

Here's the website

Okay so aside from being a cool thing to try out e-Archaeology is a rare opportunity to preserve our history. You know how we lost all the books at the Library of Alexandra? Set us back a few thousand years! While Rugrats probably isn't that important, there is a lot of the information on the internet that isn't anywhere else. Remember Geocities? That junk is gone. Along with all the culture of the 90's and early 2000's stuff trapped in it. 

There is no incentive for websites to keep funding servers for something no one uses. Kind of like out dated history books, which kind of suck. Until we want to us them to study history, you know after all the other ones are deleted. 

We need to make some sort of effort to preserve what's on the internet from the past. First, let's make sure and keep blogger alive. Secondly, we need to do what we can to contribute ourselves to the internet for the future. There will come a day when blogger will disappear along with Facebook, and even baby Google+. The horror. We need to try and get this stuff saved for the long term. Not sure how, but heck you're a smart young lady. I am sure you can figure it out.

Oh, and check out this. Kids were mean. Cannibalism hmmm. Interesting what was pc.