The Internet Archive hopes to boost its collections through funding from the Knight News Challenge » Nieman Journalism Lab

"The staff at the Internet Archive is fond of Raiders of the Lost Ark, thanks in no small part to the film’s famous final scene. A lowly worker wheeling a crate — which just happens to contain the powerful and face-melting ark of the covenant — through an seemingly endless warehouse that contains the all the wonders of the world. It’s a fitting analogy for the Internet Archive, Wendy Hanamura, director of partnerships for the archive tells me. They’ve spent almost 20 years building an expansive repository of web pages, books, TV, and software. And now, they want to turn the doors open and make it easier for everyone to get involved. 'In some ways, we’re opening up that vast warehouse and saying here are the tools to bring together really meaningful collections and expose them to the world,' said Hanamura. The Internet Archive is one of 22 projects receiving funding from Knight Foundation through the Knight News Challenge, which is awarding $3 million towards projects the provide new tools and ideas for making libraries more accessible. The Internet Archive will get $600,000 to develop new technology to give users more control over how materials are uploaded, categorized, and curated in the archive. [Disclosure: Knight is a funder of Nieman Lab, though not through the News Challenge.] Right now, the archive holds around 20 petabytes of data, including 500,000 pieces of software, more than 2 million books, 3 million hours of TV, and 430 billion web pages. In a single day, they digitize more than 1,000 books. They capture TV 24 hours a day. In a week, they save more than 1 billion URLs. As of 2013, only 8 percent of the archive was uploaded by users, some 53,000 people who have accounts with the archive. In order to continue the work of creating 'universal access to all knowledge,' as is the archive’s mission, they want to get as many people working on the project as possible. 'To be one of the digital libraries of the future, we’re talking at a scope so far beyond a traditional library you could never have enough reference librarians to do the curatorial work,' Hanamura said. It’s important and daunting work, whether it’s making sure the Wayback Machine is fully updated on a regular basis or preserving our ability to play Oregon Trail. As Jill Lepore pointed out in a recent profile in The New Yorker, the Internet Archive is doing the crucial work of keeping the web from disappearing ..."