The Web of Sites: Creating Effective Web Archiving Appraisal and Collection Development Policies
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The document outlines the Smithsonian Archives' policies for web archiving and social media management, emphasizing the need to appraise and preserve digital records of the institution's extensive online presence. It discusses the complexities and criteria for determining which web and social media content to archive, including limitations based on format and terms of service. The document also highlights the importance of maintaining the integrity and historical value of Smithsonian's websites and social media accounts.
The Web of Sites: Creating Effective Web Archiving Appraisal and Collection Development Policies
- 1. The Web of Sites: Creating Effective Web Archiving Appraisal and Collection Development Policies Jennifer Wright Archives and Information Management Team Leader SAA 2013 Session 408
- 2. The Mission of Smithsonian Archives Appraise, acquire, and preserve the records of the Smithsonian Institution Offer a range of research and reference services Establish policy and provide expert guidance on record keeping practices Create and promote products and services that broaden understanding of the Smithsonian
- 3. Websites as Records Smithsonian’s official definition of a record: “any official recorded information, regardless of medium or characteristics, created, received, and maintained by a Smithsonian museum, office, or employee”
- 4. Smithsonian Directive 950 Management of the Smithsonian Web Sets policies and procedures to ensure the integrity of content, reliability of infrastructure, and usability of websites while protecting privacy of visitors and Smithsonian’s reputation Requires Archives to provide dispositions for unit websites, web applications, and online exhibits Requires Archives to maintain historical snapshots of Smithsonian websites and related content
- 5. Smithsonian Directive 814 Social Media Policy Sets policy for opening and maintaining official Smithsonian social media accounts Requires that units notify Archives when opening and before closing a social media account Requires Archives to maintain registry of social media accounts and to archive information contained in the accounts according to current standards and retention policies
- 6. Why Save? Websites and social media profiles are Smithsonian’s public face Similar to a publication May incorporate many types of materials May replace other formats
- 7. Sounds straightforward. How complicated could appraisal possibly be?
- 8. Smithsonian’s Web Presence 257 websites + 10 mobile websites 89 blogs 26 apps for various platforms 578 social media accounts including: 153 Facebook accounts 105 Twitter accounts 66 Flickr accounts 66 YouTube accounts http://www.si.edu/Connect
- 9. Why Not Save Everything? Some content already transferred to Archives in another format Some content is the responsibility of other units Some content is collections, not records Some content serves only as pointers to other Smithsonian and non-Smithsonian content
- 10. Other Issues Affecting Appraisal Certain types of files and coding don’t crawl well Flash, JavaScript, some video Organization and coding of site may make it impossible to capture everything wanted and exclude everything unwanted Social media terms of service often do not allow crawling Users may consider social media interactions to be private
- 11. One policy doesn’t fit all
- 12. Our Policies: Public Websites Permanent records but may exclude: Detailed collections information Large sections duplicated in another format Crawl annually, before and after redesign, and on day of major event
- 13. Our Policies: Intranets Individually appraised based upon content Generally block crawlers – permanent records must be transferred via ftp, server to server transfer, or external drive Will be restricted as appropriate
- 14. Our Policies: Social Media Accounts Will capture most accounts one time to show they existed and how they were used Will crawl, use export tool, take screenshots, or a combo to best capture account Will not be made immediately available online to mitigate violations of terms of service
- 15. Our Policies: Social Media Accounts Must include or link to Smithsonian’s Terms of Use – no capture otherwise http://www.si.edu/Termsofuse
- 16. Our Policies: Social Media Accounts After first capture, account will be appraised annually - significant original content will be captured again
- 17. Our Policies: Blogs Permanent records Crawl annually unless there is no link to Smithsonian’s terms of use
- 18. Questions? Jennifer Wright Archives and Information Management Team Leader wrightjm@si.edu http://www.siarchives.si.edu/ SAA 2013 Session 408 Original Smithsonian Home Page, launched May 8, 1995
Editor's Notes
- #4: By this definition, any official web presence maintained by Smithsonian units is considered a record and subject to appraisal by the Archives.
- #5: The Smithsonian also has two directives governing its web presence that give the Archives specific responsibilities.
- #8: An organization’s web presence may be larger than you realize.
- #9: Not to mention iTunes,Pinterest, UStream, FourSquare, Instagram, Tumblr, Google+, Wikis, Vine, Vimeo, and many others.That’s a lot of data to be captured, preserved, and stored over the long haul. We need to make sure we’re not capturing more than is necessary.
- #11: There are also technical and legal issues affecting appraisal.
- #12: We’ve found that one policy doesn’t fit every situation and we’ve developed general polices for different types of web presences.
- #13: Annually is our goal, but we’re still working up to that frequency.
- #17: On the left is my favorite example of original content. On April 30, 2012, the National Zoo live-tweeted from the artificial insemination of our giant panda.On the right is an excerpt from the Smithsonian Magazine’s Twitter feed. It simply tweets teasers and links to its blog posts and other web content. The account has immediate marketing value, but not long-term significance.