Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
The Internet Archive is a Library of Alexandria for the digital age, the world’s largest digital archive of books, video, websites and music. Based in a former Christian Science church in San Francisco, its towering servers sit in what was once the church organist’s room, emitting enough heat to keep the whole building warm in winter. Overseeing the entire operation is Brewster Kahle, founder of the archive, whose goal since 1996 has been to put knowledge within everyone’s reach, no matter their location or financial circumstances.
Director: Jonathan Minard
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Spirituality
Through rituals of prayer, a monk cultivates a quietly radical concept of freedom
4 minutes
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Fairness and equality
‘To my old master’ – a freed slave answers the request to return to his old plantation
7 minutes
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Design and fashion
A ceramicist puts her own bawdy spin on the folk language of pottery
14 minutes
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Animals and humans
Villagers struggle to keep their beloved, endangered ape population afloat
19 minutes
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Art
Radical doodles – how ‘exquisite corpse’ games embodied the Surrealist movement
15 minutes
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Language and linguistics
Why Susan listens to recordings of herself speaking a language she no longer remembers
5 minutes
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Ethics
Plato saw little value in privacy. How do his ideas hold up in the information age?
5 minutes
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Information and communication
‘Astonished and somewhat terrified’ – Victorians’ reactions to the phonograph
36 minutes
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Engineering
From simple motors to levitating trains – how design shapes innovation
23 minutes