Communications of the ACM
Los Alamos Builds Time Machine to the Way the Web Was
Logo courtesy of Memento
Researchers at the Los Alamos Research Library and Old Dominion University have developed Memento, a technical specification that embeds the concept of time into Internet applications and could enable users to see Web pages as they appeared at any point in time.
Memento uses a protocol that enables users to search across all existing Web archives, according to Los Alamos researcher Herbert Van de Sompel. Memento works by time stamping a page that can then be referenced at a later date. One application could be in content management and version control systems, through the use of a universal resource identifier (URI), Van de Sompel says.
Memento also can search through dates using a slider graphic. Users can search different archives with an HTTP-based search tool by entering a site's URI into Memento. The system automatically searches all of the Internet's Web archives and sends the user to the archived copy.
The researchers hope to make the time-searching capability a standard Internet protocol, but until then they have developed a Firefox plug-in and a mobile version for the Android operating system, according to Van de Sompel.
From Government Computer News
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