This is an introduction to two past articles, As We May Think, from the end of WWII, and The Computers of Tomorrow, from the sixties.
As We May Think is posted to HN at least once a year, and you may as well read it now. But really, the two articles should be read together.
From the Niemanlab posted article: "In the Times’ innovation report last year, its authors wrote that it needed to do a better job taking advantage its massive archives: “We can be both a daily newsletter and a library — offering news every day, as well as providing context, relevance and timeless works of journalism.”"
Yes, that's very much what I've been personally struggling to describe, as the future of an established and respected news outlet. I would refine that a bit, to be not just a library (of itself), but a consciously curated library, to which the current world is regularly considered against.
The only thing like that that I can find easily from the Atlantic's front page is the automatically generated archive. The Flashbacks linked above used to be more prominent online.
To relegate past articles to a generated archive list is a loss. Every outlet, particularly outlets like Atlantic and NYT, should have "scholars of themselves" regularly maintaining and calling on their publishing history.
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/flshindx.htm
For example: http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/flshindx.htm
This is an introduction to two past articles, As We May Think, from the end of WWII, and The Computers of Tomorrow, from the sixties.
As We May Think is posted to HN at least once a year, and you may as well read it now. But really, the two articles should be read together.
From the Niemanlab posted article: "In the Times’ innovation report last year, its authors wrote that it needed to do a better job taking advantage its massive archives: “We can be both a daily newsletter and a library — offering news every day, as well as providing context, relevance and timeless works of journalism.”"
Yes, that's very much what I've been personally struggling to describe, as the future of an established and respected news outlet. I would refine that a bit, to be not just a library (of itself), but a consciously curated library, to which the current world is regularly considered against.
The only thing like that that I can find easily from the Atlantic's front page is the automatically generated archive. The Flashbacks linked above used to be more prominent online.
To relegate past articles to a generated archive list is a loss. Every outlet, particularly outlets like Atlantic and NYT, should have "scholars of themselves" regularly maintaining and calling on their publishing history.