1.
Project ‘DDS Herleeft’
re:DDS, case study for Web Archaeology
the REconstruction of De Digitale Stad
Amsterdam Museum, Tjarda de Haan, guest e-curator & web archaeologist
Digital Horizons, Virtual Selves: Rethinking Cultural Heritage in the Museum
21 January 2016

2.
Our goal: REconstruct and safeguard Amsterdam digital cultural heritage.
Our challenge: Will we be able -together- to transform De Digitale Stad (The Digital City; DDS)
from a virtual Atlantis into a virtual Pompeii?
Project re:DDS

3.
Project re:DDS
Amsterdam Museum:
• The story of Amsterdam – your entry to the city!
• Formerly known as the Amsterdam Historical Museum.
Digital collections:
• Web: Corporate site, co-creation platform.
• Social: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Pinterest, Spotify.
• Mobile: Publieke Werken, Collection App, MuseumApp.
• Semantic & Open Data: Online collection, Europeana, Apps for Amsterdam, Wikipedia.

4.
Wayback in Amsterdam in 1994…
In the wild, wild cyberspace
arose a virtual city
from network cables, computers and modems…
… De Digitale Stad - DDS - The Digital City
Project re:DDS

5.
Project re:DDS
1. Help! Our digital heritage is getting lost!
2. Case-study re:DDS
3. What’s next?

6.
Help! Our digital heritage is getting lost!
• "The world’s digital heritage is at risk of being lost” and
"It’s preservation is an urgent issue of worldwide
concern”, UNESCO in ‘Charter on the preservation of the
digital heritage’ (2003).
• "In the past, important parts of our cultural heritage have
been lost because they were not archived -in part because
past generations did not, or could not, recognize their
historic value“, Peter Lyman in his blog 'Archiving the
World Wide Web’.
• "The Web was not designed to be preserved. The average
life of a Web page is about 100 days“, Brewster Kahle,
Internet Archive.
• “Humanity’s first steps into the digital world could be lost
to future historians. We face a "forgotten generation, or
even a forgotten century”, Vint Cerf.
Project re:DDS

7.
Challenges of born-digital heritage:
• Material: information is complex & transitive by nature. Rapid obsolescence of technology:
missing hardware and software, lost documents and link rot. Dynamic character: doesn’t
always reach final status, often not clear what belongs to the object. Ethical issues: regarding
to privacy, copyright and licensing.
• Methodes: there is a difference between web harvesting and web archaeology. Web
harvesting is the equivalent of taking a photographic snapshot of an object, while we aim to
recreate the object itself by digital excavating.
• Division of tasks: who will take which responsibilities to reconstruct, preserve and retrieve
born-digital heritage and make it accessible to the public? What we badly need is:
o Web archaeological tools.
o Central repository for tools: for example to read obsolete media.
o Software library: who is archiving old software like Solaris, Windows, MacOs.
o Sustainable e-depot and infrastructure.
o Approach: no standards: given the urgency we can not wait. So just do it ... and trial and
error!
Project re:DDS

8.
Out of the box: collection 2.0
• The museum has to cross boundaries, and get out of its comfort-zone to break new ground
in dealing with digital heritage. To seek out new technologies, and new disciplines.
• New areas: Different demands in acquiring and preservation of digitally created expressions
of culture or physical objects. How to preserve digital objects that are interactive,
networked, process-oriented and context-dependent?
• Ingest: How to read DDS data into an archive?
• Archival Storage: Which archives are reliable for the DDS data?
• Access: How can interested people get to the DDS data?
• Data management: How should DDS data be managed?
• Preservation planning: How remains DDS data accessible in the future?
• Administration: Who takes care of the maintenance, and what does that look like?
Project re:DDS

9.
Project re:DDS
1. Help! Our digital heritage is getting lost!
2. Case-study re:DDS
3. What’s next?

10.
What is De Digitale Stad - The Digital City (1994-2001)?
• 1st (free) public domain virtual city in the world.
• 1st Dutch online community.
• 1st time internet (free) accessible to general public in the Netherlands.
• Grounded by a fluid group: independent media, hackers and the municipality of Amsterdam.
• Attracted international interest for the design: metaphor of a city to structure cyberspace.
• DDS tells the story of Amsterdam:
• Francisco van Jole (1994): “Vanavond opent de Digitale Stad haar elektronische poorten. Dat lijkt wel de eerste zin
van een sprookje en eigenlijk is het dat ook een beetje. Door een monsterverbond van anarchistische hackers en
autoriteiten is in Amsterdam binnen drie maanden een openbaar elektronisch communicatiesysteem uit de grond
gestampt dat zijn weerga op het Europese vasteland niet kent.”
• Good for the cyberreputation of the city of Amsterdam:
• CNN (1997): "For hundreds of years the city of Amsterdam has been a center of commercial trade, art and education.
Now it’s helping point the way in the information revolution too ".
• Manuel Castells (The Internet Galaxy, 2001): "The most famous citizen computer network. (…) A new form of public
sphere combining local institutions, grassroots organisations, and computer networks in the development of cultural
expression and civic participation".
• Inhabitants (the users): 1994: 12.000 - 1997: 60.000 - 1998: 80.000 - 2000: 140.000.
Project re:DDS

11.
The evolution of the web:
In 2016:
• 47 years ago (1969): Birth of Internet.
• 27 years ago (1989): Invention of World Wide Web.
• 22 years ago (1994): Launch of virtual city DDS.
Project re:DDS

12.
Treasury with born-digital heritage
Project re:DDS
• DDS is an important historical source about the early years of the Web in
the Netherlands.
• Culture: DDS is a digital environment, a virtual city with inhabitants, which
brought forth objects, ideas and traditions.
• Technique: DDS is a complex information system with different
applications, through time. DDS is interactive, networked process-based
and context-dependent:
– 1994-1995: DDS 1.0 - telnet interface
– 1994-1995: DDS 2.0 - website: static HTML
– 1995-2001: DDS 3.0 - web system: static HTML and interactive web pages
DDS 1.0 - 15 January 1994 DDS 3.0 - 10 June 1995
DDS 2.0 - 1 October 1994

13.
Goals of the project re:DDS:
• Preserve the internet-historical monument DDS.
• Map the history of the DDS, internet and e-culture in Amsterdam.
• Safeguard our local digital heritage and include the DDS in the collections of the heritage
institutions.
• Pilot for net-archaeology and share knowledge on how to excavate, reconstruct, preserve
and sustainably store the virtual city DDS (DDS is born-digital) and make it accessible for
future generations on a scientific and social level.
Project re:DDS

14.
Goals of the project DDS Herleeft:
• Reconstruct and preserve DDS;
• Provide insight into the (existing and new) processes, techniques and methods for born-
digital material and the context in which they are found, to excavate and reconstruct;
• Ask attention to the danger of ‘digital amnesia’;
• To provide museums and organizations with specialized knowledge about the reconstruction
of born-digital heritage and lower the threshold for future web archaeological projects.
Disseminating knowledge about new standards for archives on the storage of digital-born
heritage.
• Future: making digital cultural heritage DDS:
• Visible (content): promoting (re)use of DDS
• Usable (connection): improving (re)use of DDS collection by making it available by linking and enriching data.
• Preservable (services): maintain DDS sustainable and keep it accessible.
Project re:DDS

15.
Project re:DDS
What do we do & where are we now?
1. Start:
• Launch of Open History Lab and virtueel museum.
2. Excavate:
• Crowdsourcing (The Grave Diggers Party).
• Collect stories and memories.
3. Process and make data accessible:
• Development of web archaeologische tools (digital forensics and
versioning control).
• Apply the ‘Open Archival Information System’ and connect to
national Digitale Infrastructuur.
• Archive DDS data in e-depots.
4. Reconstruction and presentation:
• Reconstruct original software and hardware.
• Let the Bytes Free!
5. Finish:
• Conclusions, evaluation, documentation, knowledge sharing.

16.
What are we looking for?
Archaeological remains of the city::
• Software - Interfaces (DDS 1,2,3 and 3.5), Freezes (1996 and DDS3).
• Hardware - Shaman, Alibaba, Aladdin, etc.
• Special projects - web: DDS Webmix, Metro, cafés, etc.
• Special projects - hybrid: SMART TV, IjburgTV, Transparant Amsterdam, live.dds.nl, etc.
• Individual houses and squares - Thisbe, Plein van de Dood, etc.
Project re:DDS

17.
Crowdsourcing the community  ‘Grave Diggers Party’
1. Working space  The Archaeological Site re:DDS
• Workstations:
• Bring and upload your code.
• Digg in the Wayback Machine and store excavations in Historical (e-)Depot.
• Share your stories and memories in the Open History Lab re:DDS.nl.
• Tools:
• Computers: excavators.
• Storage: buckets.
• UNIX commands, mice: pades, pick-axe, trowels.
• Scripts : metal detectors.
• USB: find bags.
• Metadata: find cards.
2. Museum space  Tourist Tours
• /Lost+found: ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’:
• Hardware: servers, terminals, modembanks, taperobots etc.
• Screenshots of DDS.
• Billboard’s:
• What is DDS? Where are you? What is this site? Why this site?
Project re:DDS

18.
/lost+found:
Digital artefacts:
• 54 gigabytes of raw data (software and
backups including squares, houses,
projects).
• The 'freeze' of 1996 (three tapes: alibaba,
dds and shaman).
Physical artefacts:
• 2 public terminals.
• 4 servers.
• 1 modem bank.
• Manuals, publications, photographs, radio
play, videotapes, DDS original mouse pad,
etc.
Project re:DDS

19.
/lost+found: 4 TV broadcasts by Smart TV (each: 6 hours!)
• Live from De Balie of the Amsterdam cable on January 15, 1994 the opening of DDS
• With: Internet pioneers Rop Gonggrijp, Felipe Rodriquez and Marleen Stikker
• Official opening by the deputy mayor of Amsterdam Frank de Grave.
Project re:DDS

20.
/lost+found: two public terminals, 1994
Project re:DDS

21.
/lost+found: Cityscapes (interfaces) of De Digitale Stad
• DDS first graphical interface designed by Walter van der Cruijsen in 1994. Never used online for DDS.
• And first city logo.
Project re:DDS

22.
/lost+found: excavations in the museum
Project re:DDS

23.
/lost+found: De Digitale Stad newspaper, 1994
Project re:DDS

24.
/lost+found: Flyer De Digitale Stad 3.0, 1995
Project re:DDS

25.
/lost+found: Handbook Digital Cities, 1995
Project re:DDS

26.
/lost+found: De Digitale Stedeling, 1996
Project re:DDS

27.
/lost+found: Postcards DDS, 1998
Project re:DDS

28.
/lost+found: mouse mat
Project re:DDS

29.
/lost+found: Blueprints of the Squares
Project re:DDS

30.
/lost+found: Death announcement Katja Hakkert (Stormkind) De Metro, 1998
Project re:DDS

31.
/lost+found: excavations
Project re:DDS

32.
/lost+found: hardware
Project re:DDS

33.
/lost+found: FREEZE!
Project re:DDS

34.
BREAKING NEWS I:
Project re:DDS

35.
 Celebration with our community!
Project re:DDS

36.
Who likes a challenge? 
Webarchaeology: a multidisciplinary science
Project re:DDS

37.
BREAKING NEWS II:
LOST & FOUND, working software:
• Avatar generator, by students History of digital cultures, University of Amsterdam 2015.
Project re:DDS
Concept in 1995:
•"We wanted to introduce the concept of a personalized avatar
for “who is live”. No digital cameras or drawing programs.
•"We needed something graphic to give people a kind of a
unique identity on an impersonal Internet."
•"We tried to create a form of 'place' and 'present' which was
lost in transition in the new interface (from Bulletin Board to
web version DDS3.0).

38.
BREAKING NEWS III:
LOST & FOUND, (almost) working software:
• DDS1.0 by Michaël van Eeden.
Project re:DDS

39.
BREAKING NEWS IV:
LOST & FOUND, working software:
• DDS3.0, by students History of digital cultures, University of Amsterdam 2016.
• Chess software, by students History of digital cultures, University of Amsterdam 2016.
• Metro, by students History of digital cultures, University of Amsterdam 2016.
Project re:DDS

40.
Project re:DDS
1. Help! Our digital heritage is getting lost!
2. Case-study re:DDS
3. What’s next?

41.
Will we succeed? 
• Preserve the internet-historical monument DDS?
• Reconstruct a representative variant of DDS in the permanent collection of the Museum
Amsterdam?
• Impression: Journey through the DDS interfaces (movie).
• Interaction: Components DDS, for example DDS1.0 and DDS3.0, newsgroups, are emulated so that
software behaves just like then and visitors can interact (compare with film set).
• Restoration: Truthful emulation of the entire system (project Lascaux II).
• Preserve (sustainable) DDS in e-depots of heritage institutions?
• Share knowledge in DIY Handbook: how to excavate, reconstruct, preserve and store born
digital heritage and make it accessible to the public?
Project re:DDS
DDS1.0 - Jan, 15th of 1994
DDS3.0 - June, 10th of 1995
DDS2.0 - Oct, 1st of 1994

42.
Thanks to:
Our partners (till now):
• Amsterdam City Archives
• Digital Heritage Netherlands
• Dutch Cultural Coalition for Digital Durability
• Karin Spaink, independent researcher
• Dutch Computer Heritage Foundation
• International Institute of Social History
• LIMA
• National Library of the Netherlands
• Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision
• Old inhabitants, (ex) DDS employees and DDS affiliated web-archaeologists
• UvA Faculty of Science: dr. G. Alberts
• UvA Faculty of Humanities: prof dr J.J. Noordegraaf
• Waag Society
And:
• Guidelines for the Preservating of Digital Heritage (March 2003).
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001300/130071e.pdf.
• IIPC: Web Archives: The Future(s), by Eric T. Meyer, Arthur Thomas, Ralph Schroeder (2011, University of Oxford)
http://netpreserve.org/events/Hague/Presentations/OII-IIPC.pdf.
• Charter on the Preservation of Digital Heritage: UNESCO http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-
URL_ID=17721&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html.
• WIR SIND HIER – Opening TOTAL RECALL – The Evolution of Memory http://www.aec.at/aeblog/en/2013/07/22/wir-
sind-hier-opening-total-recall-the-evolution-of-memory/.
• The excavation of the Temple of Isis in Pompeii Photo: Bridgeman Art Library
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/pompeii/9852299/Pompeii-exhibition-a-timeline-of-Pompeii-and-
Herculaneum.html.
• Talk to the hand by Swamibu - http://www.flickr.com/photos/swamibu/3052879559/ .
• And more: http://www.delicious.com/re_dds/.
Project re:DDS