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Why the Bodleian is archiving tweets with Prof Mary Beard

The Bodleian in Oxford, one of the oldest libraries in Europe, has begun to archive tweets after librarians there became concerned about what could happen to Twitter under Elon Musk’s stewardships.

The work will begin by archiving accounts of notable users, beginning with a small trial involving Stephen Fry, Mary Beard and Alastair Campbell.

Crucially, the Bodleian’s new experiment is the first to ask participants to download and hand over their private direct messages as well as public tweets.

Professor Mary Beard and Susan Thomas, head of archives at The Bodleian Library, chat to Today's Martha Kearney about why it's important to savour these snapshots of life for future generations.

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