I discovered this the other day. The Internet Archive is “building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.”
What is does provide is access to music and video material that has been placed out there for people to view and use – just right if you’re looking for a video clip or music segment for something. (When accessing an archived page, you will be presented with the terms of use agreement for that material). Helpful for Alt.W people looking for text, sound and video.
My current favourite video clip is: Horses on Mars from the SIGGRAPH Animations Library.
3.6 billion years ago, A microbe is blasted off its home planet from a meteor impact and embarks on a journey through the inner solar system. After spending time on other worlds, it decides home is best and tries to return – only to head in the wrong direction by mistake. Unable to ever return again, it has a stunning vision of home – and what lies ahead for it. The imagery mimicks the look of electron microscope imagery. Created on a Dell workstation donated by Intel. Maya and Maya Composer donated by Alias|Wavefront. RenderMan courtesy of Pixar.
Enjoy!