Nothing’s permanent on the world wide web
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.
Natasha, what is the link for that local newspaper? I’m pretty good at digging things up from the weave of the web and might be able to find it for you.
Often Google is a fantastic source because it captures a cache. Pages that disappear can be stored on the cache so may still be available. The WayBackMachine is fantastic for changing designs on general pages but it doesn’t ‘go deep’ like Google does.
It’s certainly a lesson to learn. I’d change the “or” of your three ideas into “and”. *chuckles* Better to be safe, and have multiple options to choose from. A printed version and electronic version would be fantastic so that you can use the clip for the two mediums. Perhaps convert to pdf and save instead of a graphic since images can be large on file size.
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for your comments. The website was www.stuff.co.nz and I know that one of the articles was called ‘Novel idea sparks new book’, but I couldn’t find it by searching on the website by those terms, or my name, or the name of the book.
That’s a good idea about the pdfs. I don’t have pdf creation software on my computer at home, but it’s something to look into…
Alas, no cache because they have a pay-per-action archive online. It’s not expensive, $1 and you’d probably find what you need. Check it out if you’re interested. It could be a fantastic resource for any archive work you’re doing in the future too.
http://www.archivestuff.co.nz/
Thanks for the link, Rebecca. It doesn’t seem that there’s an easy way for me to pay to search online (getting an invoice in NZ dollars at the end of the month might prove a little complicated since I’m in London). I’ve sent them an email asking for further information though, and will let you know if I hear back…
You can usually find old articles on paid-for search engines like Factivia, Thomson Intermedia and NewsText.
Hi Caitlin,
Thanks for the suggestions.
I think the stuff.co.nz archiving system was linked to a NewsText database, but the New Zealand version doesn’t seem quite as user-friendly as the Australian one - as far as I could see, the only option was to pay an invoice (in NZ dollars) at the end of the month, rather than being able to top up your account online.
Before I pay for an archive service, it’s probably worth me sending a few emails to friends and family and seeing if anyone does have a paper clipping that they can scan in and send.
You can use your UK credit card (and some debit cards) to pay a bill in NZ dollars. But I agree that it may not be the most cost-effective thing to do.