The Hidden Fragility of the Internet

[ UUID ] 828d5085-f447-4eae-84bf-08d1b4ba314d

[ Session Name ] The Hidden Fragility of the Internet [ Primary Space ] Web Literacy [ Secondary Space ] Youth Zone

[ Submitter's Name ] Clare Stanton [ Submitter's Affiliated Organisation ] Harvard Library Innovation Lab [ Submitter's GitHub ] @harvard-lil

What will happen in your session?

This session will function as a crash course in the technical steps your browser takes to make a webpage show up in your browser and a hands-on demonstration of the problem of linkrot. Participants will work to visualize in their own way the components of a webpage on a communal canvas during the first part of the session. Then we will admire each other’s work and “link” our drawings together, much like how we cite things from the internet and link our pages to others. Finally, and most tragically, the group will systematically black out the parts of their linked pages that would be affected by one of their webpages going down.

What is the goal or outcome of your session?

As librarians, our team is interested in preserving information that is essential not only for the historical record, but for the short term in journalism, law, and scholarship. The web is a powerful place, but it’s more fragile than most might think. The goal of this session is to get internet users of all levels to better understand how information lives and dies on the web.

If your session requires additional materials or electronic equipment, please outline your needs.

Potentially some art supplies like scissors, butcher paper, tape/glue and sharpies but mostly will be working with drawings

Time needed

60 mins