The Need for Selection
We cannot save everything. The scale of the digital universe (petabytes per day) makes total preservation impossible. We must choose. But how? Who gets to decide which 2012 meme is a masterpiece and which is junk?
The Risks of Canonization
- Elitism: Canons tend to favor works that look like "art" or "literature," ignoring vernacular culture (shitposting, fanfiction).
- Survivorship Bias: We canonize what survived, not necessarily what was most important.
- Revisionism: Canons rewrite history to fit a coherent narrative, smoothing over the messy, contradictory reality of the web.
Methods of Formation
- Institutional: Museums (like The Strong) appoint experts to vote.
- Algorithmic: Selecting based on metrics (most views, most shares).
- Community: Networks like Reddit or specialized wikis deciding what matters to them.
Field Notes
The Archaeologist's Duty: The job of the Archaeobytologist is not just to maintain the Canon, but to challenge it. We must dig in the margins. We must find the Orphan Works that the Canon ignored.