On the potential significance of the GitHub Arctic Code Vault.

Some people like to think of what legacy they'll be leaving behind after they're gone from this world. While I don't care that much (at this state in life, at least), the potential of one's code to express themselves and the potential to rediscover one through historical artifacts is as high as ever.

On the other hand, we're producing so much more information than the generations past which are currently studied by historians, it does beg the question whether it will be possible to even make sense of the barrage of data that's preserved for future generations. Sure, all data is malleable and degrades over time if not carefully maintained, and yet it is both quite easy to recover a fairly accurate view of the world back in 2005 and also quite difficult because there are so many things to consider.

I recently remembered about an app called Cinemagram that I used to use as poor man's Vine back when Vine was not available for Android due to one reason or another. Nowadays it's actually kind of difficult to find much on it. Same with CoolIris, apart from a passing mention on Wikipedia.

Though we have more resources than ever, the work for future historians isn't getting much easier, I think.

(Via Lobste.rs)