[Air-l] SW to store webpages

Niels Brügger nb at imv.au.dk
Mon Jun 6 06:04:45 PDT 2005


Hi aoirs

FYI - about software for archiving websites:
In February this year I published a small book entitled 'Archiving 
Websites. General Considerations and Strategies' and in connection with 
the publication of the book a website has been established where it is 
possible to find the conclusions of the test,
the detailed test results, recommendations for using the individual 
programmes, a detailed description of the test, and links to resources
on net archiving. The website address is 
http://cfi.imv.au.dk/eng/pub/webarc.

The book is free of charge, and as long as in print, copies of the book
may be obtained by contacting cfi at imv.au.dk. Please specify complete
address. An electronic version of the book can be obtained on
http://cfi.imv.au.dk/eng/pub (for the purpose of citation please note
that the printed and electronic versions are identical).

The cover text reads;
"This book treats the micro archiving of websites, i.e. archiving by
researchers, students or others without special technical knowledge
who, using a standard computer, wish to save a website for further
study. The phenomenon is discussed from the standpoint that Internet
research must be able to stabilise and save the object of its analysis.
However, the Internet is endowed with certain fundamental
media-specific dynamics that make stabilisation difficult. Based on an
account and discussion of these dynamics (linked as they are to sender,
text and recipient) the following double conclusion is reached.
	Firstly, unlike other well-known media, the Internet does not simply
exist in a form suited to being archived, but rather is first formed as
an object of study in the archiving, and it is formed differently
depending on who does the archiving, when, and for what purpose.
Secondly, this means that there is an element of subjective creation in
the archived material, so that methodical deliberations are necessary —
in other words, the answers to why and how the archived material has
been created. These conclusions form the starting point for the last
section of the book, which, based on comprehensive tests of archiving
software, discusses in depth the elements that can be included in an
archiving strategy.





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