USF Students Help Build Internet History
Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle, Professor David Wolber, and College of Arts and Sciences Associate Dean Tristan Needham in front of a group of computer servers called a “WayBack Machine.”
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As the importance of information on the Internet continues to rise, historians, researchers, and computer enthusiasts alike are struggling with the challenge of archiving Web pages and other digital information for the historical record. While researchers look to libraries for out-of-print books and past issues of newspapers and magazines, finding Web pages that existed even three months ago can be impossible.
This summer, 14 USF students helped to change that. The students, supervised by computer science professor David Wolber, interned with the non-profit Internet Archive, a free digital library of Internet sites and other digital cultural artifacts dating to 1996. Using the site’s “WayBack Machine,” researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public can call up USF’s home page from six years ago (a bare, black and white page with one graphic) or see what made the front page of Salon.com in 1999.
Prior to this summer, users of the Internet Archive were required to enter the exact Web site address to view the archived pages. This summer, students Igor Ranitovic and Michael Kepe built the first keyword search engine for the database, which will be available for public use in a few months. Other student projects included building a digital library of books, movies, and animation.
Internet Archive was created by Brewster Kahle, the founder of Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS), a key predecessor of the World Wide Web.
“For students, the experience was extraordinary,” Wolber said. “Brewster Kahle, a real Internet guru, walked into the orientation the first day and said, ‘Your goal this summer is to build the biggest Internet archive in the world,’ as opposed to most internships, where interns are told, ‘Go file these papers.’”
To learn more about the program, visit www.usfca.edu/~wolberd, and click on “Internet Archive.”
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