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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

The British Library is permanently archiving WW1 websites


jasonmarkwebber

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As part of the First World War centenary commemorations The British Library is working to permanently archive UK based WW1 websites.

There is an enormous focus and interest in the Great War at present, often resulting in a lot of research and effort put online. There is a potential danger that this may be lost in future as hosting lapses or people move on to other things. The 'special collection' already contains over fifty sites.

If you have a UK based First World War website, please nominate it for the UK Web Archive, read more here: http://bit.ly/1qwMwIQ

If your project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, read more here: http://bit.ly/1sRGDt0

Thanks.

Jason

(When not doing First World War research myself I do also work for the UK Web Archive at the British library)

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I've put half a dozen sites or so that I have through for consideration.

Craig

Is this one included?

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I will bring this topic to the attention of the trustees.

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Is this one included?

I didn't put it forward but as per Kate's later post it's certainly one to consider - being a non uk domain it's not automatically considered but I wonder if they would - it would likely be the biggest site they archive if they did.

Craig

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I didn't put it forward but as per Kate's later post it's certainly one to consider - being a non uk domain it's not automatically considered but I wonder if they would - it would likely be the biggest site they archive if they did.

Craig

It would be great to have this site! Websites are eligible if they are owned by someone with a UK address, even if it is a '.com' and hosted outside the UK. The size in itself shouldn't be an issue.

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All of my personal WW1 sites are .net and .com so I put them forward. Hopefully the trustees will consider putting this one forward.

Craig

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The BL contacted me some 7 years ago when they started archiving websites to ask permission to include mine so I like to think I was one of the first in there.

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The BL contacted me some 7 years ago when they started archiving websites to ask permission to include mine so I like to think I was one of the first in there.

Thanks, will add to the collection.

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If it's anything like the current system, all I can say is that it a completely pointless exercise,

I do volunteer work on the FIBIS (Families in British India Society) Fibiwiki. This is similar in structure to wikipedia, has a large amount of content which is constantly being added to, Including WW1, and is part of the FIBIS website.

The FIBIS website is archived by the British Library.

http://www.webarchive.org.uk/ukwa/target/15237122/source/search

However, if you compare the Web Archived version (latest January 2013) with the current FIBIS website (which has not changed its basic format since 2013), the two main sections of the FIBIS website, namely the database and the Fibiwiki have not even been captured in the Web Archive. In fact, most of the content of the tabs across the top of the Home page has not been archived at all. As I previously said, a completely pointless exercise.

In respect of the WW1 websites, is it the intention just to archive a skeleton of a website, or the complete website , which I would regard as access to every internal webpage, active(functioning) links to photo enlargements, active links to other websites etc

Maureen

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If it's anything like the current system, all I can say is that it a completely pointless exercise,

I do volunteer work on the FIBIS (Families in British India Society) Fibiwiki. This is similar in structure to wikipedia, has a large amount of content which is constantly being added to, Including WW1, and is part of the FIBIS website.

The FIBIS website is archived by the British Library.

http://www.webarchive.org.uk/ukwa/target/15237122/source/search

However, if you compare the Web Archived version (latest January 2013) with the current FIBIS website (which has not changed its basic format since 2013), the two main sections of the FIBIS website, namely the database and the Fibiwiki have not even been captured in the Web Archive. In fact, most of the content of the tabs across the top of the Home page has not been archived at all. As I previously said, a completely pointless exercise.

In respect of the WW1 websites, is it the intention just to archive a skeleton of a website, or the complete website , which I would regard as access to every internal webpage, active(functioning) links to photo enlargements, active links to other websites etc

Maureen

Hi Maureen, Sorry to hear that we've not archived your website as completely as we would like. Database driven sites are particularly tricky to capture and are often imperfect at best. I wouldn't say that this should put us off trying though. We do attempt as much as we can to make websites function as much as the original as possible but it is likely some of these features may not work.

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How would the GWF fare Jason? Obviously it's not a static site.

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How would the GWF fare Jason? Obviously it's not a static site.

I think the short answer is 'difficult' but I've asked the web archivist to have a look.

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Trickiest things about forums is multiple urls giving virtually identical content. I doubt this is the first forum using the IP Board software that's been considered for archiving though.

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Ant, (andalucia) did you report your wonderful website?

Thank you Egbert.

I will look into it. The book went to the publishers last week so I now have some time to do other things.

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Some time ago we applied to have Buckinghamshire Remembers included in the collection but were told that as it is a searchable database and generated pages on the fly, it was not suitable for inclusion.

June

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Ant, (andalucia) did you report your wonderful website?

As mine includes WW2 as well as WW1 I doubt it would be of interest to the library.

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I've put my modest blog forward for archiving - nothing ventured...

Nothing too modest for the archive. We are trying to get the full cross section from big publicly funded sites to small blogs from individuals.

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Jason Do you have any comments on my post no 19. Have things moved on since we applied. Is it worth applying again?

June

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