web stuff 4 writers

This is something that should be obvious to me: things disappear from the web.

Websites shut down.  Pages are removed. I didn’t update my OpenDiary journal (back in the day when they were generally called journals, not blogs) for a couple of months and my username and all my entries disappeared from the system. Friends have deleted their free email accounts, the messages I’ve sent them have bounced. I’ve done the same.

You would’ve thought I might have learnt my lesson by now.

But no.

The press clippings that are not there

Last night, I decided to put together a press clipping file for my first novel (Yes, it’s called Lessons to Learn. No, the fact that things disappear from the internet is not mentioned in it anywhere). My local paper, back in Auckland, wrote two short pieces about me and the book, before and after the launch. The launch was on the 16th of June. When I left New Zealand at the end of that month, the articles had been reproduced on the newspaper’s website. ‘That’s fine,’ I thought. ‘They’ll be there if I need them.’

Last night, I clicked on the links to the articles that I’d put up on my personal website. I was taken to the newspaper’s website. But instead of seeing the text I wanted, I saw: ‘Sorry, this story is no longer available.’ 

Finding old web stuff

There’s a website called WayBack machine which archives old websites. There’s some pretty cool stuff there, such as the 1998 version of the Google homepage. I’ve used it before to find my articles after a website has closed down or been redeveloped. However, the WayBack machine works best with simple html pages, and alas, the newspaper articles about Lessons were nowhere to be found.

What I should have done

When I first saw the articles online, I should have:

• printed them or
• saved the webpage (I find selecting ‘save as’ from the File menu on most web browsers works okay) or
• pressed the ‘PrtSc’ (print screen) button on my laptop to take a screenshot of exactly how the article looked in the browser window, opened up MS Word, and pasted the screenshot in there.

Luckily, the print versions of newspapers are a little more enduring, and if I ever really need those articles, I can check a public library microfiche record when I’m back in New Zealand (or hope that a friend/relative cut the articles out and saved them for me). However, things would be a lot easier and my clippings file would be two pages thicker this morning, if only I had printed or saved the pieces when I first saw them online, remembering that nothing’s permanent on the world wide web.

Your thoughts

Have you been the victim of any kind of web content loss? Do you know of any other ways to retrieve things that go missing on the internet? Advice gratefully received.

Tags: Promotion, Research by Natasha
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What is del.icio.us?

del.icio.us is what’s known as a social bookmarking service. It’s a way to store links to selected websites and share them with others.

I’ve been using del.icio.us for about six months now, and I still want to pronounce it ‘del-dot-icio-dot-us’, but I’ve been told that the dots are silent and it should be pronounced as just ‘delicious’.

Why use del.icio.us?

There are other ways to bookmark a website. You can simply add it to your ‘Favourites’ if you use the Internet Explorer browser; ‘Bookmarks’ if you use Firefox.

So why bother using something like del.icio.us?

Firstly, having a del.icio.us account means that you can store these links online. And this means that you can access them from any computer (or at lease, any computer with an internet connection).

Unlike the bookmarks listings on browsers, del.icio.us also allows you to add ‘tags’ to your bookmarks. ‘Tags’ are keywords associated with a piece of information. For example, for my bookmark on the Guardian’s poetry workshop, I assigned the tags: workshop, writing, poetry, competitions, Guardian, UK.

Writers and del.icio.us

There are a number of ways that an online bookmarking service could be useful for writers. For me, these are the three main ones:

1. As a resource list: del.icio.us allows you to save and tag sites as you surf the web, so when you see a writing competition which you’d like to enter or a magazine you’d like to submit an article to, you can add it to your bookmarks and perhaps add the month of the deadline as a tag. Then later you can sort your list of saved opportunities by closing dates, etc.
2. As a research assistant: In the past, I’ve often found a website which has some useful information for a story or article I was writing, but haven’t bookmarked it. And then a week later, I haven’t been able to find it again. With del.icio.us, you could tag a website with ‘chapter 1’ or a character’s name and then be able to search your list of bookmarks for that information at a later date.
3. As an online portfolio: If you write for a lot of different websites, del.icio.us could allow you to build a list of links to your work. For some, this might be an efficient alternative to having a personal website or blog.

How do I get started with del.icio.us?

Basically you’ll need to register for an account, and then decide whether you’d rather add links to your list by visiting a website or installing a button on your browser. There’s more information on the del.icio.us website.

Your thoughts

If you’ve used del.icio.us or any other online bookmarking tool in the past, have you found it to be useful? Are there any other ways that you can see del.icio.us benefiting writers?

Tags: Research, What is? by Natasha
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I’ve just finished reading Amy Tan’s memoir, The Opposite of Fate.  It’s a collection of non-fiction written in different parts of her life, about different parts of her life. 

I really enjoyed all Tan’s essays, but given the direction of my thoughts over the past week, the piece that really stood out for me was an eight page section called persona errata.  In this section, Tan speaks about the internet and how easy it is for misinformation and rumours to spread.  On the internet, prizes have been attributed to Tan that she’s never received in real life; she’s attended more colleges, had children and extra husbands.  Persona errata is her attempt to correct these untruths.  It’s also available online on what seems to be (though may not be) Tan’s official site.

What’s true on the internet?

The famous New Yorker cartoon says, ‘On the internet, no one knows you’re a dog.’  However, if you were reading a website that was written by a dog, there might be some give-aways (ads for leashes perhaps, articles on the dry vs canned vs fresh food debate).

Similarly, it’s important to remember that the information you read online may be not be written by an ‘expert’ on the subject.  It may therefore be deliberately untrue, a rumour or biased in some way.  Anyone can write about pretty much anything on the web, and this is particularly significant when you’re researching material for an article or a piece of fiction.  As you would when you’re reading a print publication, it may be necessary to ask yourself:   

• How credible is this source?
• Where have they got their information from?
• Do they provide any references?

Sometimes it can be interesting to try and work out who’s funded the website, as that might give you an indication of any bias in the information.

As a side note, I’ve added an About page to this website over the last 24 hours.  Hopefully this gives you a better idea of who I am and where I’m coming from.  Unless stated otherwise, the information on this site is purely based on my own opinions and observations.

Your thoughts

Tan has corrected the internet-spread untruths about her in an essay in a published book.  Is it possible to do the same via having your own website or blog?  Is an author website the ultimate source of credible information about an author?

Tags: General, Research by Natasha
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