[Air-l] Using Online Citations to Defunct Web Sites

[Ken Friedman]

Dear Ed and Jeremy,

The sometimes ephemeral nature of Web sites is indicated
by the fact that all known citation systems require a statement
of accessed date.

To my way of thinking, that fact is clear. As I see it, the facts
of Web citation are plain on their face. They do not require
a preamble.

In a sense, a Web site is much like the transcript of an
interview or a journal of field notes. One must trust to the
scholarly and scientific probity of the researcher. If he or she
fails to develop the evidence properly, the fault lies with the
scholar. The Web site itself is as relevant or irrelevant as a
series of notes taken at a New England town meeting, a
transcript of overheard street corner conversations, or a
diary of research notes taken in an archive that vanishes
when the building holding it burns.

The real question is the form in which a researcher ought
properly to document a Web site used in research. I assume
that some sites will vanish. If I use a citation that is of merely
passing interest to a larger topic, I don't do more than cite.

When the Web site itself is the object of inquiry, I print out
images of the relevant pages.

If there is some reason to question the credibility, care or
veracity of a scholar, then I'd question the entire submission.
If all else seems in order, I'd accept the missing Web material
in the same way that I'd allow a reference to a public ex tempore
speech unrecorded except in the notes of the scholar.

Best regards,

Ken



-- 

Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
Department of Leadership and Organization
Norwegian School of Management

Visiting Professor
Advanced Research Institute
School of Art and Design
Staffordshire University