Preservation of Web Resources: The JISC PoWR Project

Slideshow Transcript

1. Slide 1: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/ipres-2008/ Preservation of Web Resources: The JISC PoWR Project Brian Kelly Acceptable Use Policy Recording/broadcasting of this talk, taking UKOLN photographs, discussing the content using University of Bath email, instant messaging, blogs, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is Bath, UK minimised. Co-authors: Marieke Guy, Kevin Ashley, Richard Davis, Ed Pinsent and Jordan Hatcher Resources bookmarked using ‘ipres-2008' tag UKOLN is supported by: This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat)
2. Slide 2: The JISC PoWR Project The JISC PoWR (Preservation of Web Resources) project: • Funded by the JISC • Short term project (April – Sept 2008) • Funded to run workshops and provide handbook giving advice to institutions on institutional Web site preservation • Provided by UKOLN and ULCC • Uses a blog as its user engagement & dissemination channel. See: <http://jiscpowr.jiscinvolve.org/> 2
3. Slide 3: “Am I Bovvered?” Risks identified in joint UKOLN/ULCC’s submission for the JISC PoWR project: • Institutions wouldn’t be sufficiently interested in the preservation of Web resources • The complexities (technical, policy, resourcing, legal, …) would be sufficient to X de-motivate institutions 3
4. Slide 4: University Archivist, Records Head of Web Services Manager and FOI Co-ordinator Alison Wildish Lizzie Richmond •Archivist •Web specialist •Background in collection •Background in information cataloguing and archival technology, web design and administration and conservation development, communication and marketing Web Specialist •Paper environment •Digital environment •Responsible to the archives – •Responsible to the user – keep keep them safe and accessible things up to date and useful for the future Acknowledgements to Wildish and Richmond: 4 <http://www.slideshare.net/jiscpowr/jiscpowr-wildish>
5. Slide 5: 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… 5
6. Slide 6: University Archivist, Records Manager and FOI Co-ordinator Oh no… not this again! Now and the past 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… 6
7. Slide 7: Head of Web Services Now and the future EEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!! In all honesty it isn’t interesting to me… We struggle to keep the site current – never mind thinking Web Specialist 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 7
8. Slide 8: Motivating The Techies Lizzie Richmond used the University of Bath prospectus to illustrate the importance of preservation an institution’s memory: 8
9. Slide 9: 9 1953
10. Slide 10: 10 1960
11. Slide 11: 11 1970
12. Slide 12: 12 1985
13. Slide 13: 13 1991
14. Slide 14: 14 1994
15. Slide 15: 15 1999
16. Slide 16: 16 2001
17. Slide 17: 17 2004
18. Slide 18: 18 2008
19. Slide 19: The Web Equivalent What is the Web equivalent of the history of the printed prospectus? Perhaps the history of the University’s home page 19
20. Slide 20: The University of Bath Home Page 20
21. Slide 21: 21
22. Slide 22: What We Did We: • Captured screen images from the Internet Archive of the home page since 1997 • Used FireFox Piclens extension to produce an interactive gallery of the images • Created a video with commentary providing reflections on the changes to the home page • See <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web- focus/experiments/experiment-20080612/> Why? • To draw parallels with the real world example • As a scenario for first workshop (it’s the University’s anniversary) • To illustrate one approach – use of a third party service (Internet Archive) • To illustrate preservation of the user experience (as opposed to the underlying data) 22
23. Slide 23: Feedback From First Workshop “The challenges are significant, especially in terms of how to preserve Web resources. No doubt the institutional repository will play a role. Arguably, the absence of a solution to the preservation of Web resources leads to either retention or deletion, both of which carry risks. The workshop’s core message to practitioners was therefore to start building an internal network amongst relevant practitioners as advice and guidance emerge. My thinking about this matter was certainly stimulated and I look forward to the next two workshops, and the handbook that will result. Web preservation is an issue which was always important but now grows increasingly urgent.” Preservation of Web Resources: Making a Start, Stephen Emmott, Ariadne (56) Jul 2008 23
24. Slide 24: Preservation And Web 2.0 The JISC PoWR project explicitly sought to engage with the preservation implications of Web 2.0 The project has used blogs and wikis to support its work 24
25. Slide 25: Web 2.0 Is Web 2.0 Different? Implications of Web 2.0 for Web site preservation: • Use of 3rd 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 – Disposable data • Case study 5 – Slideshare 25
26. Slide 26: 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 Many aspects of Web site curation are to do with implementing such best practices, rather See JISC PoWR blog than implementing technical solutions post 26
27. Slide 27: Web 2.0 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 27
28. Slide 28: Web 2.0 Case Study 2a: Blog Migration She migrated her blog from blogs at Warwick Univ to Wordpress Note, though, that not all data was transferred (e.g. title, but not contents) so there’s a need to check transfer mechanisms 28
29. Slide 29: 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, … 29
30. Slide 30: 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 Preservation is helped by: • Continued access • Motivated & skilled owners 30
31. Slide 31: Web 2.0 Case Study 3: Reusing Data Blog post in Facebook. Possible concerns: • It’s not sustainable • You’ve given ownership to Facebook Response: • The post is managed in WordPress; Fb displays copy (to new audience) • Fb don’t claim ownership – they claim rights to make money It’s not the service, it’s how you use the service 31
32. Slide 32: Web 2.0 Case Study 4: Disposable Data Twitter – example of a micro- blogging application Facebook status messages is another related example 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? 32
33. Slide 33: Web 2.0 Case Study 4: Disposable Data 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 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 33
34. Slide 34: Web 2.0 Case Study 4: Disposable Data Skype (or your preferred VoIP application) are growing in popularity 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? 34
35. Slide 35: Case Study 5: Slideshare What happens to your slides if Slideshare disappears? Recommended approach: • Master copy held on managed environment • Info on master on title slide and metadata • CC licence & download available – many copies 35
36. Slide 36: Web Preservation Challenges What do we wish to preserve: • The underlying resource • The user experience • Ease of access to the resource Examples of each addressed in project: • Migration of blog posts (and comments?) • Capturing images of home pages using Internet Archive • Including address of master resource on Slideshare 36
37. Slide 37: The Handbook Handbook: • Currently being finalised • Creative Commons licence Your feedback will be appreciated 37
38. Slide 38: Rethinking Web Preservation Chris Rusbridge: I would argue that outcome-related phrases like \"long term accessibility\" or \"usability over time\" are better than the process-oriented phrase \"digital preservation\" How does this relate to JISC PoWR work? Consider institutional: • Lack of interest in “digital preservation” • Importance of use of services • Importance of reuse of services This needs to complement: • National approaches to Web preservation and Web harvesting 38
39. Slide 39: University Archivist, Records Head of Web Services Manager and FOI Co-ordinator Alison Wildish Lizzie Richmond What have we learned? •Better informed about •Recognition that web preservation differences between printed and should be addressed to avoid gap in web records and their implications Web Specialist 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 39
40. Slide 40: Conclusions JISC PoWR project has: • Helped to begin process of raising awareness on Web preservation within institutions • Facilitated engagement with key stakeholders in a small number of institutions • Produced examples of pragmatic approaches to preservation of Web resources • Received feedback on the approaches • Produced draft handbook to share these approaches more widely The challenges of Web site preservation are only just beginning 40