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SALT LAKE CITY — What would you put in a digital time capsule to be opened in five years?
Eliza McKinney, an artist living in Salt Lake City, had the idea to create a time capsule, but she had two problems: she doesn't have much in the way of stuff and doesn't own any land to speak of. So she went to the Internet, asking her Facebook friends if there was a way to create a digital time capsule.
Rob Steffen, a freelance video producer, created a website to which people can upload media, but it will close on June 1. Submissions will be downloaded onto a locked .zip file. On June 1, 2018, collaborators will get an email with the key to open the file to which they contributed.
"It's an interesting challenge, but it turns out that most of the tools are in place. You just have to assemble them," Steffen said. "We're in the age where technology can lift these barriers. The hard part is having the idea. … The idea was just strong, it really appealed to me. So then it became a question of, ‘How can I make this happen?' "
Though five years seems a short time in the tangible world, McKinney said, in the digital world, it is a significant amount of time. A major concern, she said, was that the files may not even work if they extended the date beyond that time.
"We sort of are doing a 100-year capsule, it's just in digital time," she said.
Software updates quickly, but the jokes and trends online become outdated even quicker. What was funny a week ago is forgotten when the next meme populates our Twitter and Facebook feeds.
"It just seemed really interesting. We're always caught in this deluge of social media," Steffen said. "We're in the path, and it just flows past us. So the idea of setting up a net and trying to catch some of it, that's just appealing."
That, McKinney said, is the interesting part of the capsule. She is encouraging people to put everything from their favorite Internet joke to Saturday Night Live skit to personally meaningful media.
"Just myself alone, I'm putting in some stuff that's just really silly. Just a joke on Twitter, or I have a photo of Paris Hilton wearing a t-shirt that says, ‘Stop being poor.' But then I have some stuff that's meaningful to me from this time period," McKinney said.
"I like that mix. I think that's what's interesting about the Internet. We use this medium for some really important things that we do, but also for some completely ridiculous things. I like having that mix of space."
Steffen said so far, the submissions have been as diverse as they had hoped.
"It's really incredible to see some of the heartfelt content being added, in addition to funny cat pictures," he said.
