Preservation of Web Resources: University of Bath Case Study

Preservation of Web Resources: Making a Start University of Bath : Case Study Lizzie Richmond and Alison Wildish - University of Bath

Web Specialist University Archivist, Records Manager and FOI Co-ordinator Lizzie Richmond Head of Web Services Alison Wildish
Archivist
Background in collection cataloguing and archival administration and conservation
Paper environment
Responsible to the archives – keep them safe and accessible for the future
Web specialist
Background in information technology, web design and development, communication and marketing
Digital environment
Responsible to the user – keep things up to date and useful

Marieke Guy and Brian Kelly (UKOLN): We’re doing these workshops on Web Preservation and wondered if you’d be willing to give us a case study about the approach from the University of Bath… “ “ ”

GULP Alison Wildish and Lizzie Richmond (University of Bath):

Initial thoughts…

University Archivist, Records Manager and FOI Co-ordinator Oh no… not this again! Why me? This sounds technical… I’m a paper person I have enough trouble trying to preserve hard copy records without having to worry about the web I can see the value in theory, but in practice it’s too huge I guess it might be a good idea, but no one much cares what I think I am interested though… Now and the past

Web Specialist Head of Web Services EEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!! In all honesty it isn’t interesting to me… We struggle to keep the site current – never mind thinking about preserving the old stuff I am future watching… need to know what to bring in not how to keep hold of the past Why is it something I should think about now? I’m not really that interested Now and the future

Case Study…
The Prospectus

Why the prospectus?
Practice makes perfect
Starting small = less daunting
Everyone has one
There’s strong demand for digital
Raises wide web preservation issues
We already have lots in the archives…

Why preserve? What value?
Over 50 years of institutional history
Rise of the logo
Dominance of design
From stuffiness to street cred
Competitive market
Contextually valuable
And this is just a ‘snapshot’…

With more and more moving to the web what will we have in 50 years?

Implications for online… Past Print Web Web Print Present / Future The record The publication

We are doing some things…
Version controlled information:
Developing an online prospectus
CMS
Wiki
However:
Systems could change?
How much would we migrate?
 ?

Core course content Latest publications (feed) NSS data (feed) ? Student reviews (feed) ? Department news (feed) ? A typical record - online course

What could that tell us?
How additional data sources affected our recruitment?
Picture of the current climate (our research, what we were doing, how students rated the course)
What was important to the University?

Interesting… but do we need this?

Yes!
Publication and record
Good information management = good management
Our past helps inform our future
WWW.witness
Integral to corporate continuity
Preservation to track progress
Institutional heritage

File formats may change
Equipment may change – do we keep a paper copy of web pages too?
Resource implications – file storage
Who’s responsibility?
Considerations…

Web Specialist University Archivist, Records Manager and FOI Co-ordinator Lizzie Richmond Head of Web Services Alison Wildish
Better informed about differences between printed and web records and their implications
Recognition that web preservation should be addressed to avoid gap in University history
This is worth doing
There’s a lot to think about
We’ll need to work together to succeed
We need a strategy because:
- its important at an institutional level
- consistency of approach will be crucial
- the line between publication and record is blurred
What have we learned?

What do we need to preserve?
How can we preserve this?
Set realistic expectations
Steps forward…

Thank you Any questions?

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Preservation of Web Resources: University of Bath Case Study

by Alison Kerwin

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