Yes, apart from the loss of the publication as a historical artifact, it is the loss of the continuing process that kept it up to date as a representation of the present (with whatever flaws you always have with such representations).
Obvious propaganda plays a role in the destruction of a shared objective reality, which is part of the authoritarian playbook. Subtle propaganda distorts reality but preserves the notion of a shared objective one and does not intend to undermine trust.
When a government uses blatant, easily disproven lies, but doubles down on the lies and continues with increasingly absurd ones, there is no space for subtlety or trustworthy sources in that government.
I kind of like the association since it speaks to how text collected while browsing the web can be used to generate new text, which is similar, at least metaphorically, to how human memory is reconstructive and transformative, not perfect recall. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstructive_memory
Also check out https://archiveweb.page which is open source, local, and lets you export archived data as WARC (ISO 28500). You can embed archives in web pages using their Web Component https://replayweb.page.
In her book ‘Discriminating Data‘ (2021), Wendy Chun reveals how polarization is a goal — not an error — within big data and machine learning. These methods, she argues, encode segregation, eugenics, and identity politics through their default assumptions and conditions. Hito Steyerl and Wendy Chun will discuss how can people release themselves from the vice-like grip of discriminatory data and consider alternative algorithms, defaults, and interdisciplinary coalitions in order to desegregate networks.
If you work as a researcher you might be able to apply for Academic Research Product Track access, which gives you access to the full archive of tweets back to 2006.
PS. Lagrange is a beautiful piece of software.
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