Cleaning Up Sources and Link Rot

I have been doing a lot of reflection about types of clutter, how we find the resources we need, and scarcity mindset that leads folk to keep all types of things "in case" we find a use for it in the future. It had me thinking about all the resources we shared and collected in the first year of the pandemic. People quickly discovered that instead of reinventing wheels that colleagues at other teaching and learning centres probably had just the exact thing they were looking for, and in many cases that was true, but the context was different so it needed modifying. 

When the pandemic started I started a bookmarks folder on by browser called "Contingency Plans" and in there I saved all the "just in time" resources and conversations that were being shared that I could then in turn share with instructors at my institution. A lot of people have been talking on social media about the "back to normal" and how all the great ideas and resources that were shared are being lost and this seems like such a wasted opportunity for more conversations about inclusion, whether that be in class spaces virtually or on campus, or for things like conferences. So I decided to take some time this week and go through the Contingency Plans folder and I was shocked at just how much link rot there was in a little over three years. 

Link rot is when links don't direct to the same source anymore, the resource disappears, or you get those nice 404 errors page not found. About 30% of my bookmarks in the Contingency Plans folder were no longer linking to the resource it originally pointed to. This had me thinking about how academe is often not great at digitally archiving information, while still being much better at archiving physical materials like books, manuscripts, papers, and documents. It also had me thinking about how often when we talk to instructors about course goals and outcomes, we say what would you like the student to use, take away, or directly apply from this class 3 years later, and if curated resources were one of those things, that we need to have frequent conversations about how to make these resources more accessible and inclusive for future use. 

Institutions change software and tools for publishing and storing websites so often that information and connections are lost. Part of an ethical commitment to inclusive community building and creation is having somewhere to digitally point to if people are looking for information or peers. I know it is a big ask, and a lot of work, and it is work that cannot be siloed to just IT departments and tech support. It is part of bigger conversation about keywords, how folk search for information, and who is going to search for information. This has real pedagogical implications because instructors have to think about how they link to information, teaching and learning centres have to think about what information is stored on websites, and what should be openly accessible information, and what needs to be password protected by the nature of the information. 

Link rot is a reality for so many in academe, and it could mean your creative work is lost or the place where your work was showcased before has now disappeared. As we prepare for the fall (yes I know, I'm sorry, I know, I can't believe it either) maybe we should try to have more conversations with different stakeholders about what information is saved and shared and where it is saved in terms of longer-term planning. Losing a third of the many resources I saved when the pandemic started was an indication that link rot is happening much quicker than it used to, as space fills up and tough decisions are made about what can be kept and what is determined as delete-worthy material. Do you have link rot stories? I mean Twitter is the ultimate example of link rot in real time, but I am thinking of other great resources that you used to refer to that have simply disappeared, please share if you are comfortable.