No one said this would be easy: Sustaining Webrecorder as a robust web archiving tool set for all
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Webrecorder is an open-source web archiving tool that enables users to create interactive captures of web pages with no technical expertise required. The project aims to sustain itself through various income generation strategies while promoting accessibility and community engagement worldwide. Collaborations with prestigious institutions further enhance its capabilities and reach, ensuring its relevance in research and education.
No one said this would be easy: Sustaining Webrecorder as a robust web archiving tool set for all
- 1. No one said this would be easy Sustaining Webrecorder as a robust web archiving tool set for all Anna Perricci Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships Webrecorder at Rhizome Rhizome at the New Museum Anna.Perricci@rhizome.org International Internet Preservation Consortium Web Archiving Conference | June 7, 2019
- 3. About Webrecorder Create high-fidelity, interactive captures of any web pages you browse http://webrecorder.io Webrecorder Player App
- 4. A project by with generous support from Webrecorder Project • Easy to use, robust tools • Free to use • Fully open source • Using open standards • Growing user community • Quickly evolving
- 5. Webrecorder Team Dragan Espenschied Preservation Director, Rhizome Ilya Kreymer Software Director Mark Beasley Senior Front-End Developer Pat Shiu Associate Director of Design Anna Perricci Associate Director, Strategic Partnerships John Berlin Senior Back-End Developer
- 6. Collecting at human scale • Collecting is done with intent by a person via web browser one page at a time • Can import and augment collections created by crawlers • Anyone can use Webrecorder: web archiving for all! The payoff for careful capture is an accurate representation of the original
- 7. • Consciously designed to lower barriers to access • No technical expertise required to start collecting & sharing collections is easy • No lock in • All WARCs can be downloaded for personal storage & access offline Inclusive by design
- 8. Organize and share collections ● Users can organize and share collection of captured web pages ● Journalists, researchers, teachers, students can show sources ● Artists and designers share their portfolios or gather resources to inform new work
- 9. Leading research and development ● Direct collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) on preconfigured (remote) web browsers to view web-based films ● Consulting to integrate Python Wayback (pywb) into major web archiving programs at the British Library and the Library Innovation Lab at Harvard University (Perma.cc) (implementing Webrecorder for capture for Perma.cc, too)
- 10. • Facilitating access for all end users • Webrecorder used in at least 18 countries worldwide • Documentation available in English (translated training materials in Spanish and French to be shared in 2019) • Building communities of users, providing free trainings online, holding community calls, giving workshops and conference presentations Constructing community
- 11. Overarching goal Implement sustainability plan with a multi faceted strategy for income generation so to steadily grow and still always maintain a fully functional, free, open source version
- 12. Grant as guidance ● Mellon Foundation proposal guidance has given us some shape for this sustainability work ● Having a development roadmap agreed to gives shape to reaching user service goals ● Ongoing feedback
- 13. Context – learning from others ● Analysis of other web archiving projects & services ● ‘This isn’t a start up, bro’ ● But have some insights from learning about business formation then sustainability efforts for start ups & digital agencies as models to emulate or avoid (e.g. monetizing user data)
- 14. Business models ● Tons of research on business planning, strategy, sustainability & software development lifecycles ● There is no clearly analogous business plan but some nice models to consider ● Salesforce business model wherein individuals use the software on their own then institutions license when see critical mass of users ● Business model for open source software projects also relevant – free software but charging for customizations and intensive support
- 15. Bespoke Custom made, specialized specifications Boutique Specialized but generalizable, seen as extremely well suited for specific tasks “Household name” Recognized as essential tool for research, scholarship & teaching
- 16. Feedback & discussions ● Archives Unleashed ● Perma.cc ● National Film Board of Canada (NFB) ● Carnegie Hall ● New York Art Resources Consortium (NYARC) ● Stanford University Press ● Documenting the Now
- 17. Learning from other projects, prior roles ● Ivy Plus pilot / Columbia University Libraries ● Eastern Academic Scholars Trust (EAST) ● Artstor ● Society of American Archivists Digital Archives Specialist course (e.g. via student discussions) ● Consultant
- 18. Multiple approaches: earned income & funding Providing value through user through services provided ● Small scale fundraising (Supporters) ● Funders support ● Subscriptions (coming soon) ● Providing customizations and enhancements to open source software (paid partnerships)
- 19. Supporters & Subscription Planning ● Current options ● Supporter ● Donor ● Next subscriptions ● Automation! ● Stay tuned for more details
- 21. Subscriptions ● Know from experience, subscriptions are not an easy way to make money, especially when dealing with institutions ● Starting with individuals ● Professionals in GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums) ● Academics, researchers, journalists ● Authors (can inform work on service for publishers planned)
- 22. Promoting teaching & learning at institutions ● Getting web archiving into general curriculum and course projects ● More options for managing and sharing collections ● Link rot proof syllabi, reference rot prevention (papers & theses) ● Interface with institutional repositories ● Also, working with academic presses publishing innovative e-books / web-based publication
- 23. Consulting & service provision ● Guidance starting a web archiving program ● Custom curriculum & intensive support ● Part of research grants with defined work plan ● Open source software development and implementation ● More TBD
- 24. Further grant funding ● Seeking funds based on established strengths but open to new opportunities as well ● Collaborative fund seeking when there’s a project of mutual interest
- 25. Some lessons learned ● Sustainability planning begins with some existing expertise, research and reflection on goals of project ● It’s useful to leverage the enthusiasm that goes with doing exciting & rewarding work, but staying on track is also important and not easy to do ● The plans laid out will work as designed but risks always include losing established consensus, destabilization or staffing changes
- 27. A project by with generous support from additional outreach support Thank you