created, $=dv.current().file.ctime & modified, =this.modified
rel: Datasets - Shoes through the years
Did you ever wonder what the oldest digital record of you is?
I’m not talking about a computer database system that might have held some instance of your name upon birth. I am talking about something you made or uploaded, the eldest piece of you.
Something where your will shaped some bits, which have persisted up and through now.
I know I have some writing of high school assignment stored on a drive. My oldest facebook photo is from 2007. If I go into google photos and check out the timeline I have an old wallpaper that I used on my computers from 2003, and a screenshot from Feb 22, 2005. In the screenshot you can see the context, where in the chat I’m asking someone “is there a key binding to take a screenshot?” Someone named “Soulseeker” responds: “screenshots are the prnt scrn key.” Do I inadvertently have one of Soulseeker’s oldest references with this act?
The allure here is that something older, probably much more inconsequential than these media scraps mentioned, lie somewhere, stored and past along. It has been elevated by this age and uniqueness, and is hidden. You may no longer control them, or have record of them. It’d be an endless search if you needed to. But you can tie them back to concretely to you, clear as day, when you see one.
Like how I found old chat logs with friend. My messenger application silently logged our conversations.
Often now on Youtube you’ll see videos that are posted 15+ years ago (the oldest “Me at the Zoo” says 19 years ago)
There’s a ship of Theseus effect going on here, with my media transferring between servers and computers.