[Air-L] Facebook pages from the past?

[Niels Brügger]

Dear list members,


I am preparing a book chapter about the history of Facebook, and one of the main sources is the website itself since I intend to identify the changes in layout, functions, etc. However, my own collection of Facebook webpages is very limited, so I would like to know if some of you are in possession of screen dumps of old Facebook pages?

If have checked the Internet Archive (archive.org), but to my great surprise the website had been removed! In 2009 I wrote a small article about the first five years of Facebook's history, and I found a number of old versions in the Internet Archive (thefacebook.com as well as facebook.com), but coming back to the archive now these versions have been removed. I have contacted the Internet Archive, without any result - probably the siteholder has asked the archive to remove the website, for whatever reason. This is an example of how volatile our object of study is, even if it is archived - if web archives are not based on legal deposit laws archived material does not necessarily remain accessible in the archive.

Therefore, if any of you do have screen dumps of old Facebook webpages please write to me off-list - I would be happy to receive whatever you have. And please feel free to forward this request to whoever you think might be able to help.


Very best,

Niels Brügger




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LATEST PUBLICATIONS AND PAPERS

When the Present Web is Later the Past : Web Historiography, Digital History, and Internet Studies, Historical Social Research, 37(4), Cologne 2012, 102-117.

Web History and the Web as a Historical Source, Zeithistorische Forschungen, 9(2), Göttingen 2012, 316-325.
Read the article at http://www.zeithistorische-forschungen.de/site/40209295/default.aspx

Australian internet histories: Past, present and future: An afterword, Media International Australia, 143 (theme issue: Internet Histories), Brisbane 2012, 159-165
Read more on the publishers website: http://www.uq.edu.au/mia/2012-issues#143

L'historiographie de sites Web: quelques enjeux fondamentaux, Le Temps des Médias, 18 (theme issue: Histoire de l'Internet/l'Internet dans l'histoire), Paris 2012, 159-169
Read more on the publishers website: http://www.nouveau-monde.net/livre/?GCOI=84736100583200&



NIELS BRÜGGER, Associate Professor, PhD
Director, the Centre for Internet Studies
Department of Information and Media Studies
Aarhus University
Helsingforsgade 14
8200 Aarhus N
Denmark

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