Future Knowledge

Internet Archive & Authors Alliance
  • 4.2 (15)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Future Knowledge explores the intersection of technology, culture, and information policy with leading authors, scholars, and experts. From copyright and open access to AI and digital preservation, we discuss the big issues shaping knowledge and creativity in the digital age. This podcast is brought to you by the Internet Archive and Authors Alliance.

  1. What Does 1 Trillion Web Pages Sound Like?

    14H AGO

    What Does 1 Trillion Web Pages Sound Like?

    For this special holiday episode, we’re celebrating the Internet Archive’s milestone of 1 trillion web pages archived with something a little different: live music created just for the occasion. Join us for conversations with composer Erika Oba, composer Sam Reider, and cellist Kathryn Bates of the Del Sol Quartet, recorded around The Vast Blue We, the concert held at the Internet Archive to honor our shared digital memory. Two new commissions premiered that night: Oba’s “Blue Lights” and Reider’s “Quartet for a Trillion,” both written to capture the wonder and scale of the open web—and brought to life by Del Sol Quartet. Oba later reconfigured “Blue Lights” for a solo performance during The Web We’ve Built celebration. In this episode, you’ll hear brief conversations with the artists about their creative process, followed by recordings from the performance itself. A short, reflective holiday release that celebrates collaboration, imagination, and what we can build together. Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge

    54 min
  2. The Open Web at a Crossroads: A Conversation with Vint Cerf, Brewster Kahle, Cindy Cohn & Jon Stokes

    DEC 17

    The Open Web at a Crossroads: A Conversation with Vint Cerf, Brewster Kahle, Cindy Cohn & Jon Stokes

    What made the early web so thrilling, and how do we reclaim that spirit today? In this special episode, recorded at Georgetown University’s historic Riggs Library, leaders who helped build the internet and those fighting for its future come together to chart a path forward. Featuring Brewster Kahle (Internet Archive), Vint Cerf (Google), Cindy Cohn (EFF), and Jon Stokes (Ars Technica), and moderated by Luke Hogg of the Foundation for American Innovation, this conversation looks back at the web’s origins to imagine what a truly open, innovative, and empowering internet could still become. This conversation was recorded on 10/27/2025. Watch the full video recording at: https://archive.org/details/wayback-to-the-future-celebrating-the-open-web Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge

    1h 4m
  3. Enshittification

    DEC 3

    Enshittification

    The internet wasn’t ruined by accident—it was ruined on purpose. In this episode, Cory Doctorow joins us to break down enshittification, his term for the slow, deliberate process that transformed an open, vibrant web into something extractive, frustrating, and increasingly hostile to users. Doctorow explains how platform lock-in, predatory business models, and concentrated corporate power hollowed out the digital spaces we rely on—and, more importantly, how we can build an internet that serves people again. Note: This episode contains strong language. Grab your copy of Enshittification: https://craphound.com/shop/ This conversation was recorded on 11/21/2025. Watch the full video recording at: https://archive.org/details/cory-doctorow-2025 Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge

    35 min
  4. Music and Copyright in the Era of Taylor Swift

    NOV 19

    Music and Copyright in the Era of Taylor Swift

    In this conversation, Michael Menna and Anjali Vats unpack how copyright law really works for musicians outside the mainstream. While stars like Taylor Swift make headlines for reclaiming their masters, countless “fringe musicians” navigate a system that often privileges profit over creativity. Together, Menna and Vats examine the gap between copyright’s ideals and its realities—exploring how power, access, and inequity shape who benefits from the music economy and what a fairer future might look like. Read Michael Menna's paper, "The Fringe Musician, the 360 Deal, and a New Look at Copyright and Competition in Music": https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/jipl/vol32/iss1/3/ Read Anjali Vats' paper, "Owning Your Masters (Taylor’s Version): Postfeminist Tactical Copyright and the Erasure of Black Intellectual Labor": http://www.anjalivats.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Vats_Ch-48_Owning-Your-Masters_Scans_pp552-573.pdf This conversation was recorded on 09/11/2025. Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge

    42 min
  5. Building and Preserving the Web: A Conversation with Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Brewster Kahle

    NOV 5

    Building and Preserving the Web: A Conversation with Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Brewster Kahle

    Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, and Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, chat with Lauren Goode of Wired about the rise of the web, its continuing and explosive impact on society, and the importance of preserving the web for our cultural history. This conversation was hosted at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on 10/9/2025. Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge

    46 min
  6. Wayback Machine at 1 Trillion

    OCT 22

    Wayback Machine at 1 Trillion

    In 1996, the web was still young—a chaotic, creative frontier built one page at a time. That same year, the Internet Archive set out to preserve it all. Nearly three decades later, that audacious goal has reached a generational milestone: 1 trillion web pages preserved. Co-hosts Chris Freeland (Internet Archive) and Dave Hansen (Authors Alliance) talk with Mark Graham, director of the Wayback Machine, about how this vast public archive came to be—and what 1 trillion captures mean for humanity’s collective memory. This conversation was recorded on 10/16/2025. Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge

    38 min
  7. After Disruption

    OCT 8

    After Disruption

    Author Trevor Owens joins media scholar Shannon Mattern to discuss his book, After Disruption: A Future for Cultural Memory. Together, they explore how libraries, archives, and museums can reclaim their role in shaping a just and sustainable digital present. Owens argues that cultural memory institutions—long “disrupted” by tech-sector ideologies—must chart their own course forward by centering values of maintenance, care, and repair, ensuring that the future of memory is built on belonging and connection rather than burnout and loss. Grab your copy of After Disruption: https://press.umich.edu/Books/A/After-Disruption3 This conversation was recorded on 9/25/2025. Watch the full video recording at: https://archive.org/details/after-disruption Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge

    35 min
  8. Music Copyright, Creativity, and Culture

    SEP 24

    Music Copyright, Creativity, and Culture

    How does copyright shape the music we love—and influence how it's made, distributed, and reimagined? In this episode, Jennifer Jenkins, author of Music Copyright, Creativity, and Culture, is joined by legal scholar James Boyle for a conversation about how copyright law influences everything in our modern world from sampling and streaming to remix culture, and what that means for creators. Grab your copy of Music Copyright, Creativity, and Culture: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/music-copyright-creativity-and-culture-9780190945930 This conversation was recorded on 4/10/2025. Watch the full video recording at: https://archive.org/details/music-copyright-creativity-and-culture Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge

    41 min
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4.2
out of 5
15 Ratings

About

Future Knowledge explores the intersection of technology, culture, and information policy with leading authors, scholars, and experts. From copyright and open access to AI and digital preservation, we discuss the big issues shaping knowledge and creativity in the digital age. This podcast is brought to you by the Internet Archive and Authors Alliance.

Information

  • Creator
    Internet Archive & Authors Alliance
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © CC-BY
  • Show Website
    Future Knowledge

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