What do we do?

Data Horde is a blog dedicated to the Archiving and Preservation of Knowledge, particularly on the Internet. We report news on web content at risk of disappearing, efforts to archive them and even community revivals…. Beyond those, we also offer guides and resources for anyone who’d like to get into archiving.

Why do we do it?

Because the past matters. From time to time we all find ourselves thinking back to something from five or ten years ago. Maybe it’s a funny joke, a groundbreaking discovery, an unbelievable headline or maybe just a fun little game… You might want to go back to it.

Contrary to popular belief, the internet isn’t necessarily forever and things can disappear without a trace. What we commonly refer to as “Internet/Digital Archiving” is a discipline for preserving these moments, as something more than just a memory.

Of course, there are a lot of different preservationist groups with different goals. For example, Fanlore is a group interested in preserving the history of a subculture, whereas Bluemaxima’s Flashpoint wants to ensure the compatibility of certain programs on future systems… As Data Horde, we aim to be a bridge to and from these different communities so people can learn what it’s all about.

JOIN THE HORDE

Interested in contributing? We’d love to hear from you, just fill out our staff application form!

Our Logo was made by the insanely talented Jojo Lu: https://twitter.com/banditjoj

MORE INFO

You still want to learn more?

Well, if you’re looking for a backstory, Data Horde emerged out of an endeavor to preserve YouTube’s old video annotations feature:

A year or so after that, a few of us who’d met along the way decided that we could do a lot more to bring the wonder and joy of internet archiving to the masses, which culminated in us starting Data Horde. Projects we have been involved in since include: