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easyeboy easyeboy
 
December 20, 2008 08:30 PM

Is it possible to search the Web in the past?

For instance, it is the year 2008, and I want to search the web as if it were the year 2003 or 2004, can this be done? I was wondering if Google or any of the search engines provide this service. I know about Archive.org, but it does not allow you to search the web in the past. Why doesn't this sort of service exist, as there are a lot of people who would like to see progressions of what existed online in the year 2003 instead of 2008. I believe people would like to know how many results for a certain search result there were in 2003 versus 2008, or be able to see the 2003 search results instead of the 2008 search results as sometimes stuff that was on the web or searched for on the web disappears, but we still would like to be able to find it if we can search in the past. Does anyone see a need or an interest for such a service, and if so, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts.
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jeffhoard jeffhoard
 
 December 20, 2008 08:59 PM
You know about Archive.org already which is what I think is your best best...Until.... ZEOTROPE becomes available. Check out this demo, I think it will be exactly what you need.

Source(s):
http://www.cond.org/zoetrope.html
http://library.duke.edu/blogs/libraryhacks/2008/12/11/zoetrope-browse-the-p...

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williamwac... williamwac...
 
December 20, 2008 08:45 PM
Technologically this would be ( theoritically ) possible but there is probably not enough disk storage on the plannet to hold the archive.

It would not be feasable for a business model. It would cost billions of dollars to create and there would be very little demand for it.

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filmkid filmkid
 
December 20, 2008 08:46 PM
Interesting. I've never thought of needing a service like that, but it would certainly be helpful for research in any field to have the ability to go back in time, per se, online. The closest I can come to providing you with some archives though is Google's Zeitgeist. They only go back to 2001, but hey, it could be what your looking for? I'm providing the link for the Zeitgeist home page. From there you can see website trends, hot searches during any month, etc. Hope this helps!

http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/zeitgeist/index.html

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sixhoursag... sixhoursag...
 
December 20, 2008 11:18 PM
Hey, filmkid, that's pretty neat. I'd never seen Google Zeitgeist before. Thanks for sharing the link!

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filmkid filmkid
 
December 20, 2008 11:24 PM
No problem! Mahalo!

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markjeffre... markjeffre...
 
December 20, 2008 11:46 PM
Yes.
It is called 'The Wayback Machine', you can find it here:

http://www.archive.org/web/web.php
http://www.archive.org/images/wayback.gif

There was a massive project started in 1996 to capture the entire web and archive it. Unfortunately, everything previous to 1996 has been lost.

(I can't believe on one has posted this yet.)
Source(s):
http://www.archive.org/web/web.php


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markjeffre... markjeffre...
 
December 20, 2008 11:47 PM
Oops, just noticed Jeff Hoard had posted it also. :)

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