Whether you care about preserving history or just want to see what Apple’s homepage looked like 10 years ago, the Internet Archive is an invaluable resource that’s easy to take for granted. A new project launching today pulls back the curtain on one of its lesser-seen efforts, revealing the real human work behind preserving public records for the digital age.
The Internet Archive has started livestreaming its microfiche digitization center on YouTube, offering a real-time look at how fragile film cards are transformed into searchable public documents. This work is part of Democracy’s Library, a global initiative to digitize and share millions of government records.
The livestream was brought to life by Sophia Tung, who previously gained attention for her viral robotaxi depot stream. Her new video explains how and why this new livestream project came together:
The livestream features five scanning stations at work, with one shown in close-up as operators digitize microfiche cards in real time. Each card holds up to 100 pages of public records. High-resolution cameras capture the images, software stitches and crops the pages, and the results are made text-searchable and freely accessible through Democracy’s Library.
Live scanning takes place Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. PT, excluding U.S. holidays, with a second shift expected to begin soon. Watch it in action below, or save this link to tune in anytime.
What a cool project and fun resource to tap into while you’re doing you’re own mysterious and important work.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
