400 billion and counting - many reasons to love the Wayback Machine

I see that the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive hit the 400 billion mark earlier this month.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the Wayback Machine, that means they have indexed/archived 400 billion web pages. Perhaps it's a sign of our times that phrases like "400 billion web pages" don't even merit an exclamation mark... I suspect that once you're in an info-overload state, the number of zeroes becomes irrelevant.

However... I'm here to argue that, in the case of the Wayback Machine at least, these milestones are worth paying attention to. The Wayback Machine is an amazing and unique research resource.

Consider, for example, our research guide to information about the Olympics & Paralympics. We originally built the guide in the run-up to the 2010 games here in BC.  In the years since, many of the government and activist sites have disappeared - taking with them some key information on an event that will long be viewed as a highlight in local history. Fortunately, we've been able to link to archived versions of many of those sites via Wayback. For instance, see: The Impact on Community Coalition (IOCC) and eLegacies: Learning Resource for the 2010 Games.

Or, for those who need information that has disappeared from corporate sites, consider the value in being able to quickly jump back to a version of the site as it looked in the early days of the graphical web: check out Bombardier's site on Jan. 27, 1997, or Microsoft's site on Oct. 20, 1996. [Sigh... those were the days...]

In addition to that 400 billion (actually 411 billion) web pages, the Wayback Machine contains:

• *  Audio recordings "ranging from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry readings, to original music uploaded by our users."
• *  Digital movies "uploaded by Archive users which range from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to cartoons and concerts."
• *  A broad range of software related materials "including shareware, freeware, video news releases about software titles, speed runs of actual software game play, previews and promos for software games, high-score and skill replays of various game genres, and the art of filmmaking with real-time computer game engines."

So, short version: The Wayback Machine likely won't be something you'll use every day, but for those rare times when you need it, it truly is irreplaceable.

Happy searching!

-- Mark