he homepage of a Scottish bus shelter and a
school dinners blog feature on a new list of websites which could help
historians of the future learn about life in the early 21st Century.
The list of 100 websites has been drawn up by the UK's leading libraries.
New legislation gives them the power to archive UK web domain names for the first time.
The list includes big names like Amazon, Facebook and Tripadvisor but also has some more obscure offerings.
From 6 April, the National Library of Scotland, British
Library, National Library of Wales, Bodleian Library, Cambridge
University Library and the library of Trinity College Dublin will
collect and store websites in the same way printed material has been
collected for centuries.
Experts from all the libraries were asked to chose the sites
which they think will be essential reading for future generations
researching life and culture in 2013.
'Harvesting the web'
A selection of Scottish websites feature on the list,
including Blipfoto, a community site that began in Edinburgh which sees
each member publish one photo per day, and The Beano comic.
Unst Bus Shelter, another of the sites listed, tells the
history of a bus shelter on a remote Scottish island and how it became a
tourist attraction due to the power and reach of the internet
The NeverSeconds blog, also featured, became an internet
sensation after primary school pupil Martha Payne uploaded photos and
wrote reviews of her school meals.
The Daily Mash, a British satire site providing scathing
commentary on current affairs since 2007 and founded by Scottish
journalists, is also listed.
The UK list includes familiar names such as eBay, the BBC, Gumtree, Mumsnet and retailers Next and Argos.
Martyn Wade, Scotland's national librarian, said: "The
average life of a webpage is around six to 10 weeks. After that it, and
the important information it can contain, can be lost forever.
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