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Development of the CyberCemetery (2011)
The Cybercemetery is an online archive that preserves websites from defunct U.S. government agencies and commissions, ensuring public access to historically significant digital content. Established through a partnership between the University of North Texas Libraries, the U.S. Government Printing Office, and the National Archives and Records Administration, it currently archives over 73 websites. This initiative aims to protect at-risk information and maintain access to government resources that are no longer available online.
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Development of the CyberCemetery (2011)
- 1. Development & Practicein the CyberCemetery Starr Hoffman Head, Government Documents Dept. University of North Texas Libraries 25 September 2011
- 2. • Intro Wha t is the Cy be rCe m e te ry ? • Purpose Why c re a te a Cy be rCe m e te ry ? • Development • Archiving Process • Technical Details • User Demographics Who us e s the Cy be rCe m e te ry ? • Conclusion
- 3. http:/digital.library.unt.edu/ / explore/ collections/ GDCC/
- 4. • online archiveof websites from U.S. government agencies or commissions that are no longer operating http:/digital.library.unt.edu/ / explore/ collections/ GDCC/
- 5. • online archiveof websites from U.S. government agencies or commissions that are no longer operating • “snapshot” of each website as it existed before “pulling the plug” • maintained by the University of North Texas Libraries • freely accessible world-wide • affiliated NAR archive (National Archives and Records A Administration) http:/digital.library.unt.edu/ / explore/ collections/ GDCC/
- 10. 1997 - present 2008 - present
- 12. • Protect At-RiskInformation: • 1990’s: U.S. government information = online • born-digital • edited or removed without warning • Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) • administered by U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) • mission: to p ro v id e fre e , p e rm a ne nt p ublic a c c e s s to g o ve rnm e nt info rm a tio n • online information complicates this mission • University of North Texas is a federal depository library
- 14. 1995 e-docs at risk Government Printing Office (GPO) publishes report stating need to preserve electronic government publications
- 15. 1997 GPO + UNT University of North Texas (UNT) talks to GPO about forming a partnership
- 16. 1997 ACIR archived UNT archives website of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernment al Relations (ACIR)
- 17. 1999 GPO + UNT =expanded permanent public access, expanded to multiple websites, & any agency or commission no longer operating
- 18. 1999 CyberCemetery archive isnamed “CyberCemetery” because websites are from “dead” agencies & commissions
- 19. 2006 GPO + UNT + NARA partnership now includes the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
- 20.
- 21. 1. Identify at-riskgovernment agencies and commissions • contacted directly by agency/commission • contacted by GPO • read/listen to news • read government-related websites & blogs • targeted search-engine queries • (“final report” + .gov) • referrals from other librarians, patrons
- 22. 2. Evaluate thewebsite • must be an official government website • the agency or commission must: • be closing • issued a final report • other indication that the website is at-risk
- 23. 2. Evaluate the website (continued) Questions for website administrator: Wha t operating system wa s us e d to ho s t this we bs ite ? Wha t webserver software wa s us e d fo r the ho s ting o f this we bs ite ? A s e rve r s id e inc lud e s (s s i) us e d in this we bs ite ? re Wa s this we bs ite static htm o r a dynam site? l ic I d y na m ic , wha t scripting languages we re us e d fo r this we bs ite (p hp , p e rl, f p y tho n)? Wa s a database us e d fo r this we bs ite ? 2. I s o , wha t d a ta ba s e wa s us e d fo r this we bs ite ? f 3. Wha t m e tho d s we re us e d to c o nne c t to the d a ta ba s e ? I the re stream m s ing edia a s s o c ia te d with this we bs ite ? A the re proprietary content types us e d in this we bs ite ? re A the re a ny com ents y o u wo uld like to a d d ? re m
- 24. 3. Harvest the website • software: Heritrix (from Internet Archive) • http://crawler.archive.org/ • downloads content • bundles all content into WARC file • WARC = website in a single file • no manipulation of code or content 3. Access archived website • software: Wayback (from Internet Archive) • http://archive-access.sourceforge.net/projects/wayback/ • retrieves content from WARC • add banner notifying archived status
- 25. 5. Harvesting alternative:Donated content • directly receive files from agency or commission • Why no t donated content? • Content could be altered • Harvesting = exact copy of online published content • Why donated content? • If content cannot be accessed by harvesting • flash video, large amounts of media • rarely necessary now
- 26. 6. Link Checking • Manual: • manually navigate original & archived sites • Automated: • Xenu Link Checker • http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html • compare reports of original & archived sites 6. Load to UNT Server • Upload archived website • Add navigation • Notify GPO (or agency/commission) that archived version is live
- 28. • Backup • full backups to magnetic tape • performed each weekend • shipped to offsite storage company • Iron Mountain • http://www.ironmountain.com
- 29. • web files(HTML, XML) • text documents (.txt, .pdf, .doc) • spreadsheets & statistics (.xls) • presentations (.ppt) • media files: • images & photographs (.jpg, .gif, .png, .tiff) • audio (.mp3) • video (.wm, .mov, .rp)
- 30. • researchers • historians • students • government employees • general public • avg. +1,000,000 hits per month • peak visits in one day: • 9,996 on 11.03.2011 • most popular site: 9 /1 1 Co m m is s io n
- 31. • provides permanent public access • archive of “dead” government information • freely, globally available • 73 websites and growing • partnership between: • University of North Texas Libraries • U.S. Government Printing Office • National Archives and Records Administration
- 32. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: http://www.library.unt.edu/govinfo/ http://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/GDCC/ Starr Hoffman Head, Government Documents Dept. University of North Texas Libraries govinfo@unt.edu starr.hoffman@gmail.com http:/geekyartistlibrarian.com /
Editor's Notes
- #14 1995 Government Printing Office (GPO) publishes report stating need to preserve electronic government publications 1997 University of North Texas (UNT) talks to GPO about forming a partnership UNT archives website of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations 1999 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded permanent public access multiple government websites government agency or commission which is no longer operating (and/or has issued a final report) the collection is named “CyberCemetery” due to its collection of websites from “dead” government agencies and commissions 2006 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded Now includes the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) 2011 73 websites archived, and more on the way!
- #15 1995 Government Printing Office (GPO) publishes report stating need to preserve electronic government publications 1997 University of North Texas (UNT) talks to GPO about forming a partnership UNT archives website of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations 1999 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded permanent public access multiple government websites government agency or commission which is no longer operating (and/or has issued a final report) the collection is named “CyberCemetery” due to its collection of websites from “dead” government agencies and commissions 2006 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded Now includes the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) 2011 73 websites archived, and more on the way!
- #16 1995 Government Printing Office (GPO) publishes report stating need to preserve electronic government publications 1997 University of North Texas (UNT) talks to GPO about forming a partnership UNT archives website of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations 1999 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded permanent public access multiple government websites government agency or commission which is no longer operating (and/or has issued a final report) the collection is named “CyberCemetery” due to its collection of websites from “dead” government agencies and commissions 2006 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded Now includes the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) 2011 73 websites archived, and more on the way!
- #17 1995 Government Printing Office (GPO) publishes report stating need to preserve electronic government publications 1997 University of North Texas (UNT) talks to GPO about forming a partnership UNT archives website of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations 1999 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded permanent public access multiple government websites government agency or commission which is no longer operating (and/or has issued a final report) the collection is named “CyberCemetery” due to its collection of websites from “dead” government agencies and commissions 2006 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded Now includes the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) 2011 73 websites archived, and more on the way!
- #18 1995 Government Printing Office (GPO) publishes report stating need to preserve electronic government publications 1997 University of North Texas (UNT) talks to GPO about forming a partnership UNT archives website of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations 1999 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded permanent public access multiple government websites government agency or commission which is no longer operating (and/or has issued a final report) the collection is named “CyberCemetery” due to its collection of websites from “dead” government agencies and commissions 2006 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded Now includes the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) 2011 73 websites archived, and more on the way!
- #19 1995 Government Printing Office (GPO) publishes report stating need to preserve electronic government publications 1997 University of North Texas (UNT) talks to GPO about forming a partnership UNT archives website of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations 1999 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded permanent public access multiple government websites government agency or commission which is no longer operating (and/or has issued a final report) the collection is named “CyberCemetery” due to its collection of websites from “dead” government agencies and commissions 2006 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded Now includes the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) 2011 73 websites archived, and more on the way!
- #20 1995 Government Printing Office (GPO) publishes report stating need to preserve electronic government publications 1997 University of North Texas (UNT) talks to GPO about forming a partnership UNT archives website of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations 1999 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded permanent public access multiple government websites government agency or commission which is no longer operating (and/or has issued a final report) the collection is named “CyberCemetery” due to its collection of websites from “dead” government agencies and commissions 2006 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded Now includes the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) 2011 73 websites archived, and more on the way!
- #21 1995 Government Printing Office (GPO) publishes report stating need to preserve electronic government publications 1997 University of North Texas (UNT) talks to GPO about forming a partnership UNT archives website of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations 1999 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded permanent public access multiple government websites government agency or commission which is no longer operating (and/or has issued a final report) the collection is named “CyberCemetery” due to its collection of websites from “dead” government agencies and commissions 2006 UNT/GPO partnership is expanded Now includes the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) 2011 73 websites archived, and more on the way!