Google to Archive Newspapers
Google plans to add 200 years of newspaper history to its search archives. Perhaps they will run into the same problems with this that they have encountered in trying to put books online but I hope that they succeed. The internet, I believe, has introduced a barrier to history that has not existed before. If I want to look something up on the internet and learn about it, I have to consider how long ago that event happened. If it happened anytime after the mid-90’s I will probably be able to find writing on the internet from that time about the event. If it was before that time, the internet may not give me the kind of perspective I’m after. What are newspapers but a ‘blog? Add 200 years of newspaper history and the internet just got 200 years older. Exciting!