Carole,

This is an important question not only impacting webpages but also digital
publishing. While I have no doubt that major sites and publications,
backed by big money, will survive, what will happen to those sites that
are not backed by big money or publications that are sponsored by a small
society or club?

I have already seen some very good medical informatics sites disappear.
While their medical content may have become dated, their way of looking at
things and analyzing them is something that will not change. However,
these sites no longer exist and this info is lost.

Having written a biography of Juan Jose Parodiz, late curator of
invertebrate zoology at the Carnegie Museum, I depended greatly on his
archived publications, notes, and correspondences. In this e-mail era (and
future), I'm not sure what will be available for historians to research
the background of individuals and history in general.

Recently, I was trying to access Henk Dijkstra's website. Unfortunately it
was offline. Luckily, there were some archived copies in the WayBack
machine <http://archive.org/web/web.php>. This is a site where, if you
know the URL, you can search for snapshots take of websites. I was able to
find the info that I needed on a recent snapshot of Dijkstra's website.
Unfortunately, a website creator can request(?) prevent(?) his site from
being copied. I found this out when I tried to find one of my bookmaked
medical sites and it stated that the sites history was removed at the
webmasters request. The other catch is that you need the URL to find a
site.

Thus, while not perfect, WayBack Machine may prove useful in the future,
as long as big money supports it!  :-)


>
> Hi all, This is actually directed to the best webmasters on shells in the
> world. Bill Frank, Marlo Krisberg and Eddy Hardy, Marion , Arne etc
> etc.and all of you who work so hard on webpages. What happens later? After
> accessing the fantastic web sites you all so painstakingly provide for our
> knowledge, what happens when you croak, kick off, whatever light hearted
> terms can be used to say leave our earthly planet. Will future generations
> be bereft of your incredible knowledge. Will the websites stay in
> cyberspace forever? Will my grandchildren be able to look at my notes that
> say Jaxshells.org and look up something? Are you training acolytes?
>  It would break my heart to think of your hard work dying with you and
> yet, no one gets out of this world alive. I would like to think an
> exception will be made in my own personal case, but doubt this will
> occur.
>  Carole
>


Regards,
Charlie
.................................................
Charlie Sturm

Treasurer
American Malacological Society

Research Associate - Section of Mollusks
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Associate Professor - Family Medicine
Fellow-American Academy of Family Practice
Fellow-Academy of Wilderness Medicine

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