Web Preservation in a Web 2.0 Environment (Brian Kelly, UKOLN)

Web Preservation in a Web 2.0 Environment Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath, UK Email [email_address] UKOLN is supported by: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/jisc-powr-2008-09/ About This Talk Will use of Web 2.0 services lead to new preservation concerns? And how should we respond to these new challenges? This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 licence (but note caveat) Resources bookmarked using ‘ jisc-powr-2008-09 ' tag

Is Web 2.0 Different?
Implications of Web 2.0 for Web site preservation:
Use of 3 rd party services (‘ network as platform ’)
Content  collaboration and communication
Richer diversity of services (not just a file on a filestore/CMS/database)
More complex IPR issues
Let’s look at:
Case study 1 - wikis
Case study 2 – blogs
Case study 3 – reusing data
Case study 4 – comms tools
Case study 5 – recording events
Case study 6 – Slideshare
Case study 7 – Use of video tools
Case study 8 – social networks
Web 2.0

Case Study 1: A Public Wiki
WetPaint wiki used to support various workshops
Approaches taken:
Open access to all prior to & during event (to minimise barriers to creating content)
Access restricted to WetPaint users after event
Access later restricted to event organisers
Web 2.0 Many aspects of Web site curation are to do with implementing such best practices, rather than implementing technical solutions See JISC PoWR blog post

Case Study 1: A Public Wiki
WetPaint provides an option for backing up data.
A zipped file of the pages can be saved for storing on a locally managed service.
Web 2.0 There are limitations in this particular service (poor quality HTML, internal links don’t work, …) But this does illustrate an approach which can be taken.

Case Study 2a: Blog Migration
How might you migrate the contents of a blog (e.g. you’re leaving college)?
This question was raised by Casey Leaver, shortly before leaving Warwick University
Web 2.0

She migrated her blog from blogs at Warwick Univ to Wordpress
Web 2.0 Note, though, that not all data was transferred (e.g. title, but not contents) so there’s a need to check transfer mechanisms

A backup of UK Web Focus blog is available on Vox:
Manual migration of new posts every few weeks
Only migrates text
Doesn’t migrate images, embedded videos, internal links, comments, …
Web 2.0 Migration of blogs, wikis, etc. is not currently an easy task  But advice is available

Case Study 2b: The Individual’s Blog (1)
Auricle blog:
Launched Jan 2004 by head of e-learning team, Bath
High profile & public visibility by early adopter & evangelist
Today:
It’s gone
Lost after evangelist left, new staff arrive, new priorities, …
Thoughts?

Case Study 2b: The Individual’s Blog (2)
Auricle reborn:
Further Google revealed the blog has been reborn
New domain (www.auricle.org/)
New engine (Wordpress) & look and feel (but old engine still available)
New content being added
Old content still accessible
Thoughts?

Case Study 3: Reusing Data
Blog post in Facebook. Possible concerns:
It’s not sustainable
You’ve given ownership to Facebook
Web 2.0
Response:
The post is managed in WordPress; Fb displays copy (to new audience)
Fb don’t claim ownership – they claim rights to make money (e.g. through ads)

Case Study 4: Disposable Data
Twitter – example of a micro-blogging application
Facebook status messages is another related example
Web 2.0
Issues:
Will Twitter be sustain-able over a long period?
What will happen to the data?
What about the IPR for ‘tweets’?
What about institutional uses?

Many twitterers regard their tweets as disposal
I tend to use Twitter as a ‘virtual water cooler’ – sharing gossip, jokes and occasional work-related information with (mainly) people I know
Web 2.0 You could make use of clients which manage your tweets (e.g. treat like email) But you should develop your policies first, prior to exploring technologies

Skype (or your preferred VoIP application) are growing in popularity
Web 2.0
Issues:
Is the digital data (the call) preserved?
What about the video and the IM chats?
Possible Responses:
Am I bovvered?
I didn’t bother with analogue phones, why should I worry now?

Case Study 5: Digitized Talks
Seminar on Open Science given at UKOLN in Feb 2008.
Video clip of opening 10 mins taken & uploaded to YouTube
Issues:
Privacy
Quality
Benefits
Long term access
Benefits identified – now how do we seek to deploy recordings of seminars, conferences, etc. on a more systematic basis? This is work in progress – but see IWMW 2007/8 videos

Case Study 6: Slideshare
What happens to your slides if Slideshare disappears?
My approach:
Master copy held on managed environment
Info on master on title slide and metadata
CC licence & download available – many copies

Case Study 7 – Video Tools
Requirement:
Provide brief video clips for colleagues running workshop
Initial idea – use Seesmic video micro-blogging service (can include video responses)
But:
No video export function (yet)
Accessibility of responses
Approach taken:
Create video locally
Upload video to YouTube (to allow textual comments)
Link to managed master file
Seesmic and YouTube Web sites and Twirl client are access tools; the data is managed elsewhere

Case Study 8: Social Networks
University of Wales, Newport and University of Bradford have set up Ning networks for supporting their students:
Bradford: Aimed at students during their first term at University
Newport: Open Intended for students about to arrive at institution
What does preservation mean in this context? Answers to this question will be left as an exercise for the participants  http://newstudents.newport.ac.uk/

What Do We Do For SNs?
The Open University has a presence in Facebook.
On 9 Sep 2008:
9,785 fans
1,233 wall posts
138 discussion topics
Is anyone:
Recording the history?
Curating the data
Managing possible risks?
Web 2.0

Role Of The Internet Archive
Can we leave everything to the Internet Archive (IA)?
Has role to play in Web 1.0
Seems to archive some public blogs
May not access images or other embedded content
Still has limitations (cf. UCE/BCU)
Can’t access, e.g., Facebook pages
Web 2.0 IA is a 3 rd party Web 2.0 service

The Research Challenges
Some thoughts:
Preservation of Web sites in known to be difficult
Additional difficulties in a Web 2.0 world
Complexities include technical challenges and business issues
However:
Is avoiding Web 2.0 a realistic answer?
There may be some simple processes which may help
Web 2.0

Accessibility & Preservation
The parallels:
We can’t release xxx: it breaks accessibility guidelines; we’ll be sued
The xxx service provides benefits to many – we’ll see what reasonable adjustments are needed to enhance access
Approaches needed:
Clarification of the purpose of the service
Risk assessment of loss of service / record of service / record of look-and-feel
Documented policy

Conclusions
To conclude:
Web 2.0 services won’t go away
Innovation in departments won’t stop
Motivated & dedicated professional can help in preservation
But this can’t be guaranteed
Need for individual / departmental audits for asset management strategies when outside agencies involved?
But maybe we don’t need to preserve stuff
Need for education on when stuff may be transient and disposable

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Web Preservation in a Web 2.0 Environment (Brian Kelly, UKOLN)

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