Brewster Kahle Discusses The Internet Archive’s “New Direction”

From a Blog Post by Internet Archive Founder Brewster Kahle titled, “Building Libraries Together: New Tools for a New Direction”:

Let’s work together to save all human knowledge.  Today the Internet Archive is announcing a new beta site and new tools to encourage everyone to lend a hand.
We were founded in 1996 as an archive OF the Internet; we saved web pages and made them available through the Wayback Machine starting in 2001. In 2002 we became an archive ON the internet when we began digitizing and hosting movies, books, TV, music and software by working closely with libraries and online communities. Much of the work of building the current archive has been done by us and a relatively small number of selected partners.
Today marks a change in direction.
We are creating new tools to help every media-based community build their own collections on a long term platform that is available to the entire world for free. Collectors will be able to upload media, reference media from other collections, use tools to coordinate the activities of their community, and create a distinct Internet presence while also offering users the chance to explore diverse collections of other content.

The remainder of the blog post shares some specific examples  of what’s new (i.e. Television News Archive adds data) with the promise of more info to come. It also asks for feedback from users.
Finally, Brewster’s post points to a preview of a redesigned Internet Archive web site.
We encourage you to read the complete post, share feedback, and participate in this new direction of an essential research and preservation organization.

Filed under: Data Files, Libraries, News, Patrons and Users, Preservation