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Yahoo Builds Electronic Time Capsule

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

October 10, 2006, 12:21 PM

The historic Pyramid of the Sun will play host to another historic event - the first ever electronic anthropology archive, better known as a "time capsule." Search giant Yahoo put the call out Tuesday for submissions, asking Internet users to submit photos, writings and home movies to the project.

The time capsule would be opened in 2020 at Yahoo's Sunnyvale, Calif. heaquarters as part of the search engine's 25th anniversary celebrations. Copies of the digital archive would also be given to the Smithsonian in Washington, DC and The National Institute of Anthropology and History in Mexico City.

From October 25-27, content gathered will be projected onto the sites of the pyramid, also known by the traditional name "Teotihuacan." In addition, Yahoo will send the information into space through a digitized laser light beam.

Submissions will be accepted through a central Web site for the project. To promote the initiative, Yahoo is placing ads on 20 localized homepages around the world, it said.

"One in two Internet users around the world use Yahoo!, and we are proud to document this moment in history with them in celebration of the global online community," Yahoo head Jerry Yang said. "It will be fascinating to see what people submit as their part of this 2006 snapshot, which will be shared with generations to come."

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By gugac

edited Oct 27, 2006 - 12:22 PM

Omg why do they even want ot do this even if they did it from serbia i wouldnt personally want to allow it as the first message says i think that we would just angry them they would think that we are aggressive and they would destroy like we destroy bugs.I dont personally aprove of this because i dont have faith in aliens

Score: 0

By g-ray

edited Oct 11, 2006 - 11:12 PM

I'm submitting photos of my Zoloft, Lunesta, and Valium prescription pills.

Score: 0

By Atomicon

edited Oct 11, 2006 - 4:33 PM

Ok so who is this for?
...Humanity? ...Aliens? ...Yahoo?
I wonder which stock will go up. ;P

I really hope we don't make these aliens mad. ...You know, by firing a laser at them with our pictures on it. Kind of seems naive to me. A higher intelligence might see us as we see ants releasing pheremones to communicate. Maybe they are going to spray a little area and have a nice picnic on earth. I don't know. I am certain that a digital timecapsule need not have the same emotional context to another life form. I just think we should quit sending goofy little self important messages to an unknown destination without knowing how it may be interpreted. Besides, it probably contains malware.

Score: 0

By Silentmaster101

posted Oct 11, 2006 - 7:57 AM

So uh, is there a real point to this? or are they just looking for attention?

Score: 0

By ccmfreak2

edited Oct 11, 2006 - 1:00 AM

15 Yrs??? With the way this web is growing, I don't think data from 15 years ago will be all that interesting. 30 or 50 years... maybe. With all the archive sites out there, most of that will still be available - or at least expanded on or repeated. Data isn't the same as a coke can. A coke can might be worth something 50 yrs down the road. Data will be worthless. No one is buying up old punch cards from 50+ yrs. ago. I don't see the value in doing this - especially for this short period of time, besides PR.

Score: 0

By rg

edited Oct 11, 2006 - 12:14 AM

Sounds fascinating. However the point is individual touch will be lost in abundance.

What surprises me is the quantity of content generated now-a-days. There's too much of it in all media.

Probably the problem of our generation (and more so for Gen-next) is too much of anything. markets evolve, and hopefully we would get ovet this glut of media as well.

Objective of yahoo! is not clear - is it a business model to garner as much content as possible, or the objective is something beyond money too.

Score: 0

By foxfyre

posted Oct 10, 2006 - 4:03 PM

Whoopee.

Another Geraldo and Capone's vault.

Score: 0

By davidryan

edited Oct 10, 2006 - 3:41 PM

I have studied time capsules, their intent, their value etc. Unless the content (of a capsule) is directed at an individual there is very little value. You get a better sense of history by watching a movie and tv shows or reading books from the era as they are unedited.

Time capsules are edited by default and will not convey the true picture of the era/time.

My struggles to give my kids a sense of what life is right now brought me to create www.electronictimecapsule.com

Sincerely
David

Score: 0

By Scary Guy

posted Oct 10, 2006 - 2:22 PM

I thought we already had archive.org but I guess that doesn't exactly count since it's always open.

I know the high school has one. A few years ago they built an adition of the school over it and I laughed pretty hard.

Score: 0

By gotsail

edited Oct 10, 2006 - 1:17 PM

15 year time capsule, at the rate the world is going, I doubt anybody will be around to see it.....

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Oct 10, 2006 - 12:43 PM

will be projected onto the sites of the pyramid

...did you mean "sides" of the pyramid?

Score: 0

By Atomicon

posted Oct 11, 2006 - 4:45 PM

proofreading went out with the last capsule and grammer and diction. now we just spellcheck. if you notice about all i use to satisfaction is the "period".

Score: 0

By horsecharles

posted Oct 10, 2006 - 12:42 PM

"One in two Internet users around the world use Yahoo".....

is this true?

Score: 0

By alexweber15

posted Oct 10, 2006 - 1:02 PM

i do... not for searching, but for fantasy sports! :)

that alone means tons of guys are there...

then tehre's Yahoo Games... which attracts another couple million people

all in all i think that could actually be correct...

Score: 0

By Das mod

posted Oct 10, 2006 - 12:51 PM

yeah, but i must be the one from those 2 that doesnt .... ( i hate bloated yahoo )

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Oct 10, 2006 - 1:47 PM

BN needs a polling feature. Stories like this could really benefit from a impromptu (and wholly unreliable, but likely amusing) poll.

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Oct 10, 2006 - 3:48 PM

I would participate in every one of the polls - with or without prior knowledge. =p

Score: 0

By Silentmaster101

posted Oct 11, 2006 - 7:58 AM

hell if all else fails we can flip a coin right?

Score: 0

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