Some ways to dig up the past

There is an old lore among the seekers:

• Once on the net, Always on the net

Nothing is ever lost once it is put on the internet. However the problem is to dig it out from the depths. One simple, effective and often overlooked solution is the cache option a lot of search engines offer. They take snapshots of each page it examines and caches (stores) that version as a back-up. That option comes up with results of every search query. If the link is not alive simply click the cached link. Or you can simply type (for example)

http://google.com/search?q=cache:your required page

and there you have it.

To go to pages even older than google's cache visit the Internet Archive. They are building and maintaining a free and openly accessible online digital library and an archive of the web. Just go to their Wayback Machine and put in your website and see its various avatars over the years.

The Internet Archive also has an extensive library of texts audio and video and software. Go there search your favourite musician or band and be prepared to be surprised. These are non copyrighted either in the public domain or licensed under a license that allows redistribution, like Creative Commons.

If you are looking for long forgotten singers you might just find some mp3 there. You might be interested in some popular band whose works are definitely copyrighted. You may stumble upon some live concert recording.

They also have movies fallen out of copyright including some classics like Battleship Potemkin, Nosferatu and some Charlie Chaplin movies among others.

The texts collection includes digitized books from various libraries around the world as well as many special collections.

Go and see for yourself and explore.
Tell us what we do not know about digging the web.

Search Engines -1 (The One and Only Google)

To search is not to just look. It means "to look thoroughly to find something; to examine; to explore". This is a theme we will explore again and again in this hut. But to begin with the basics there is one search engine we all know of: Google.

By now we know of its immense powers but there are some other powerful search tools which we ignore only at our peril. We will explore some of them in due course.

However the world wide web is a deep and dark place. It does not give up its secrets easily. To find the pearls you have to dive deep.

We know that adding some words like "index.of", "parent directory" in our search can magically increase its potency. There are some kind souls who have harnessed some its powers and have put it in an easy to use format for us mortals. Maybe you can check this out.

Leave your favourite google tips with us to share with others. And let us know some other search engines you want to know more about.