The internet is now old enough that we who grew up with it, can remember posts, websites and ideas that once existed on the web, and are nowhere to be found today.
Loved this piece Megha! The tangibility of words is one of the reasons I convert my longer posts into downloadable pdf files for readers. My husband Peco and I recently wrote an article that echoes the themes you raise here, A Guide to Booklegging: How (and why) collect, preserve, and read the printed word https://schooloftheunconformed.substack.com/p/a-guide-to-booklegging-how-and-why
Samizdat never ended, it was just transposed from East to West. BTW I just saw the quote from A Canticle for Leibowitz, I will be reading the article post-haste.
I've recently thought about becoming a "modern historian" so the future generations can hear both/all sides of the story, especially the things of the last five years.
What would be really cool is if I could find someone to make a "modern" printing press--combine the innovative designs and materials of today with the electricity-free functionality of the past.
Second, I've got a question about this quote: "A few people seem to have a monopoly on the printing and distribution of physical media in the world, such that if any ordinary person wants to start their own publishing company, the costs are so prohibitive that it is ridiculous."
Have you tried get into publishing physical media and hit roadblocks? I ask because it's something I daydream about from time to time. I just assumed it would be relatively simple to start, but really difficult to make money at. I anticipated the primary challenge being getting shelf space in bookstores...not gaining entry to the market in the first-place. Your comment made me wonder, however, if I'm woefully ignorant of the realities of the publishing world.
I have spoken to people and have friends who have tried. So I know second hand about this. The publishing world is very incestuous and bookstores are big bullies. It will take someone with a lot of money doing this for good of mankind rather than profit to pull off a print publishing company irl that has any hope of surviving.
Digital data can be lost so quickly, you might not even know it’s gone until someone else tells you!
Such was the case for JournalSpace, a blog hosting website from the early 2000s. As a matter of fact, I made my first blog on JournalSpace! It was called “HaveABadDay.”
JournalSpace had some really cool features though. You could create your blog post in Microsoft Word, or Open Office, and just copy/paste it into the blog engine – including pictures. It would properly format the text, even matching the font (as closely as possible). It was actually pretty badass. I don’t know if there are many blog engines that work that smoothly today. They were ahead of their time.
That’s what prompted me to host my own blog at home in 2009 “winduprubberfinger.com.” I bought the domain name for cheap because it is a nonsense name, and the idea was to blog for as little money as possible. Also, to be uncancellable. That wasn’t so much of an issue back in 2009, but I never liked the possibility of someone else, more or less, owning my data.
Once JournalSpace went down hard, I figured my data was safer if I managed it! So far it has been.
JournalSpace went down as one of the quintessential examples of how backing up data is essential.
The only upside for me was that I created all of my blog posts as Word documents, so I didn’t lose any data. I still had all of the posts I wrote, including the images. I lucked out, but many didn’t fair so well.
Love this. I'm piling on. It sheds light on the part of my patented here-he-goes-again 'Death of History' rant, the part I have the most trouble explaining. There are no more originals. We each have a million photos and zero photos. Thanks
One day you will be a digital Ozymandias too.
You missed out the last important sentence from the 1984 quote -
"Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right."
That is why our enemies are trying to erase Western history. They will fail of course, and their family lines will be forgotten.
Loved this piece Megha! The tangibility of words is one of the reasons I convert my longer posts into downloadable pdf files for readers. My husband Peco and I recently wrote an article that echoes the themes you raise here, A Guide to Booklegging: How (and why) collect, preserve, and read the printed word https://schooloftheunconformed.substack.com/p/a-guide-to-booklegging-how-and-why
Samizdat never ended, it was just transposed from East to West. BTW I just saw the quote from A Canticle for Leibowitz, I will be reading the article post-haste.
I love that you commented on here! Your two posts are the ones I saved in my email to print this weekend.
I've recently thought about becoming a "modern historian" so the future generations can hear both/all sides of the story, especially the things of the last five years.
What would be really cool is if I could find someone to make a "modern" printing press--combine the innovative designs and materials of today with the electricity-free functionality of the past.
First, I LOVED this piece! Great job!
Second, I've got a question about this quote: "A few people seem to have a monopoly on the printing and distribution of physical media in the world, such that if any ordinary person wants to start their own publishing company, the costs are so prohibitive that it is ridiculous."
Have you tried get into publishing physical media and hit roadblocks? I ask because it's something I daydream about from time to time. I just assumed it would be relatively simple to start, but really difficult to make money at. I anticipated the primary challenge being getting shelf space in bookstores...not gaining entry to the market in the first-place. Your comment made me wonder, however, if I'm woefully ignorant of the realities of the publishing world.
I have spoken to people and have friends who have tried. So I know second hand about this. The publishing world is very incestuous and bookstores are big bullies. It will take someone with a lot of money doing this for good of mankind rather than profit to pull off a print publishing company irl that has any hope of surviving.
"irl"?
Independent Retail...something?
Digital data can be lost so quickly, you might not even know it’s gone until someone else tells you!
Such was the case for JournalSpace, a blog hosting website from the early 2000s. As a matter of fact, I made my first blog on JournalSpace! It was called “HaveABadDay.”
JournalSpace had some really cool features though. You could create your blog post in Microsoft Word, or Open Office, and just copy/paste it into the blog engine – including pictures. It would properly format the text, even matching the font (as closely as possible). It was actually pretty badass. I don’t know if there are many blog engines that work that smoothly today. They were ahead of their time.
That’s what prompted me to host my own blog at home in 2009 “winduprubberfinger.com.” I bought the domain name for cheap because it is a nonsense name, and the idea was to blog for as little money as possible. Also, to be uncancellable. That wasn’t so much of an issue back in 2009, but I never liked the possibility of someone else, more or less, owning my data.
Once JournalSpace went down hard, I figured my data was safer if I managed it! So far it has been.
JournalSpace went down as one of the quintessential examples of how backing up data is essential.
The only upside for me was that I created all of my blog posts as Word documents, so I didn’t lose any data. I still had all of the posts I wrote, including the images. I lucked out, but many didn’t fair so well.
https://techcrunch.com/2009/01/03/journalspace-drama-all-data-lost-without-backup-company-deadpooled/
https://andrewtheart.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-to-recover-mostall-of-your.html
All the weird kids were on K5 -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuro5hin
LIke Michael Crawford -
https://psychcentral.com/lib/living-with-schizoaffective-disorder#1
And of course Mindpixel -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1_Pcp1-aZw
If it isn't physical it doesn't exist. This simulacrum is just a collective dream that one day we'll wake from and forget.
Love this. I'm piling on. It sheds light on the part of my patented here-he-goes-again 'Death of History' rant, the part I have the most trouble explaining. There are no more originals. We each have a million photos and zero photos. Thanks
That's so true.