Archiving websites at next election
I have seen Sally's request on the Digital-preservation list.
In brief.
I will be studying the use of the web by a range of political organizations at the next general in the UK. The project will be part of an international study, Internet and elections, supported by the Webarchivist (http://www.webarchivist.org/projects.html).
I will download, archive and later analyse the websites of parties and candidates, and possibly, time permitting, also a sample of pressure groups. I was thinking of applying for JISC space and server, and run off-the-shelf crawling software.
Though it sounds to me like a bit of replication here. Is not that the remit of the UK Web Archiving Consortium? Is the BL planning to do something similar? A prevoius message to the list suggests so, fortunately.
So I went on to read the conditions of archiving at the UKWAC site. Elections seem indeed a suitable archiving matter, as they're highly topical (not to mention that the data generated could be easily linked to BES data or other electoral data, and produce very interesting insights, under the heading of e-social science<). But who will archive the election? Where will it be stored? What will be archived, and when? And, most importantly, will they be _able_ to archive?
Copyright is a huge obstacle here. The 'written agreement' required from every single entity whose website is archived seems to me overly restrictive. And it will be unworkable. Has anyone tried to get hold of a party communications manager during a campaign? I did (not manage). Or try and have the webmaster sign the agreement: the request will go up and down so many stairs that you'll soon loose count. Possibly though I'm a bit of a pessimist.
But I was talking at a conference last summer with Steve Schneider, at SUNY. He is managing the webarchivist.org: they have archived 2002 and 2004 US elections for a range of political actors, and have a comprehensive archive of post 9-11 as well. Main headache they had was not technical e.g. the crawler and java, but bureaucratic, as organisation were not returning agreements, as it happens.
Is there a way to enforce a 'silence-approval' agreement, whereby institutions have to opt out rather than opt in?
Another bit of puzzle: there are party websites archives in the Netherlands and in the US, in Australia and in Finland, etc, etc. In the UK, the BLPES has an election ephemera collection (technically it is still my library, and an exceptionally good one) . What is so different with archiving the web instead of leaflets, banners, posters, speeches, rosettes, etc, etc, etc? Don't libraries, especially copyright libraries in the UK, have special rights? And, as a users, can't I just walk into my library and consult a digital archive?
Does anyone know of any person or body who is/are archiving (or intending to archive) the web sites of non-mainstream political parties and those of individual candidates during previous and forthcoming UK general elections?I 'm in the same situation as Sally's, though as an individual researcher.
In brief.
I will be studying the use of the web by a range of political organizations at the next general in the UK. The project will be part of an international study, Internet and elections, supported by the Webarchivist (http://www.webarchivist.org/projects.html).
I will download, archive and later analyse the websites of parties and candidates, and possibly, time permitting, also a sample of pressure groups. I was thinking of applying for JISC space and server, and run off-the-shelf crawling software.
Though it sounds to me like a bit of replication here. Is not that the remit of the UK Web Archiving Consortium? Is the BL planning to do something similar? A prevoius message to the list suggests so, fortunately.
So I went on to read the conditions of archiving at the UKWAC site. Elections seem indeed a suitable archiving matter, as they're highly topical (not to mention that the data generated could be easily linked to BES data or other electoral data, and produce very interesting insights, under the heading of e-social science<). But who will archive the election? Where will it be stored? What will be archived, and when? And, most importantly, will they be _able_ to archive?
Copyright is a huge obstacle here. The 'written agreement' required from every single entity whose website is archived seems to me overly restrictive. And it will be unworkable. Has anyone tried to get hold of a party communications manager during a campaign? I did (not manage). Or try and have the webmaster sign the agreement: the request will go up and down so many stairs that you'll soon loose count. Possibly though I'm a bit of a pessimist.
But I was talking at a conference last summer with Steve Schneider, at SUNY. He is managing the webarchivist.org: they have archived 2002 and 2004 US elections for a range of political actors, and have a comprehensive archive of post 9-11 as well. Main headache they had was not technical e.g. the crawler and java, but bureaucratic, as organisation were not returning agreements, as it happens.
Is there a way to enforce a 'silence-approval' agreement, whereby institutions have to opt out rather than opt in?
Another bit of puzzle: there are party websites archives in the Netherlands and in the US, in Australia and in Finland, etc, etc. In the UK, the BLPES has an election ephemera collection (technically it is still my library, and an exceptionally good one) . What is so different with archiving the web instead of leaflets, banners, posters, speeches, rosettes, etc, etc, etc? Don't libraries, especially copyright libraries in the UK, have special rights? And, as a users, can't I just walk into my library and consult a digital archive?
posted by wainer at 9:58 pm
6 Comments:
Dear Mr. Lusoli, apprezzo molto, pur ignorandone lo scopo, il suo operato. Ha pensato di estendere la sua ricerca anche alla politica italiana? Firmato: un ammiratore segreto e bastardo.
Apparently Mr Giovanelly has nothing better to do, as for instance writing. Write, Danilo, write. (Corri, Forrest, corri).
Dear Mr. Lusoli,
life is like a chocolates box, you can't know what you take... So, now I have one important opinion in my web site. I will have the pleasure in future of having also your prestigious opinion? Best Regards
Cher M. Giovanelli -
la coleur est la meme, mais ce n'est pas du chocolat.
Bien a vous,
Wainer
What a multi-language man!! Je suis étonné! ¡Pero ella, experto de política, evita siempre mis cuestiones!
Sayonara!
Pero che malo, este senor, que siempre pregunta y pregunta. Se llama equivocar, el arte de evitar las preguntas directas. Suerte.
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