“Archiving” can be a challenging term when we talk about Seed Hypermedia. Our system’s architecture inherently stores everything—much like Project Xanadu, which was built on two key premises:
No Broken Links. Every node in the user network holds the hypermedia objects, ensuring links never break.
Ongoing Evolution. Digital materials should constantly evolve and reflect their authors’ creativity. Forks enable us to see alternative perspectives, and we can compare different copies created by strangers. This dynamic environment thrives only when everything is preserved.
By design, Seed Hypermedia supports the preservation that librarians, web archives, and other stewards traditionally manage. But this raises broader questions, such as:
Copyright Considerations: Personal use is typically allowed, but what happens when content is part of an open network?
Personal vs. Public Archiving: Where do we draw the line between an individual’s private archive and the public domain?
Sustainable Preservation Models: Is community-driven archiving more robust than paid solutions—and what happens when communities lose interest in certain materials?
Societal Memory: If no one wants to pay or maintain a digital copy, should that information fade away?
Is Seed Hypermedia a Good Tool for Archiving?
We believe so. Its built-in versioning, decentralized storage, and commitment to open collaboration inherently address many preservation needs. At the same time, these capabilities spark deeper questions about ownership, sustainability, and the responsibilities tied to archiving.
References
A Framework for Aggregating Private and Public Web Archives
Complex information processing: a file structure for the complex, the changing and the indeterminate