“If you don’t make it beautiful, it’s for sure doomed”: putting the Vault in GitHub’s Arctic Code Vault

The GitHub Arctic Code Vault Project is an ambitious initiative designed to preserve open-source software for future generations by archiving a snapshot of every active public GitHub repository as of February 2, 2020, stored on 188 reels of hardened archival film in a secure Arctic facility. This project aims to safeguard the collective work of nearly four million developers for a thousand years, recognizing the potential historical and practical significance of the software in an era where digital media can be ephemeral. The archive, encased in a visually striking steel vault adorned with AI-generated art, also includes a "Tech Tree," which provides contextual information about software development and includes cultural and historical works, as well as a full text of Wikipedia and Stack Overflow data. Despite achieving its initial goals, the GitHub Archive Program is not static; it continues to plan for future initiatives to expand and enhance its preservation efforts.