Lots of Cliff Keeps Stuff Safe

abstract: A long time ago in a Web far, far away, it is a period of civil war between two conceptions of how digital information could be preserved for posterity. On one side is the mighty Empire, concerned with the theoretical threat of format obsolescence. On the other are the Rebels, devoted to the practical problem of collecting the bits and ensuring that they survive. Among the rebels are the Internet Archive and the LOCKSS Program. This is the story of how the rebels won, thanks in no small part to Cliff Lynch's sustained focus on the big picture.