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Technological development is an iterative process. One might assume that any engineer has at least a rough idea of how we got from the first wheel to self-driving cars or from the abacus to fintech applications, but this is a risky thing to take for granted. Even digital heritage needs museums to be preserved. Without them, the history of the Internet and the evolution of computers and software could be lost.
Artefacts from the electronic era, together with information stored on diskettes, CDs, and DVDs, as well as magnetic or punched tapes, will soon disappear — much more quickly than canvas, paper, parchment or papyrus. Computer hardware loses its value quickly, and obsolete equipment is discarded. Entire generations of hardware that played an integral role in technological development and had an enormous impact on our society are destroyed.
The desire to preserve these assets is what fueled our own efforts with the DataArt IT Museum — digital heritage preserved digitally for anyone and everyone to see, hear, and watch. In this article, we explore the evolution of the museum, how recent innovations informed our own approach, and what you can do to help preserve IT history.