Archive-It

Archive-It

Archive-It is a web archiving service provided by the Internet Archive, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving digital content for future generations. The service allows institutions, such as libraries, museums, and archives, to capture and store collections of digital content from the web. Archive-It is widely used by organizations to preserve web pages, social media, and other online resources that are at risk of disappearing over time.

Overview

Archive-It was launched in 2006 by the Internet Archive, which is known for its Wayback Machine, a tool that allows users to view archived versions of web pages. Archive-It extends the capabilities of the Wayback Machine by providing institutions with the tools to create, manage, and access their own web archives.

The service is subscription-based, and subscribers can use a web application to create collections of web content. Users can specify which websites or web pages to archive, set the frequency of captures, and manage the metadata associated with each collection. Archive-It uses web crawlers to capture the content, which is then stored in the Internet Archive's data centers.

Features

• Web Crawling: Archive-It uses web crawlers to capture web pages, images, videos, and other digital content. Users can customize the scope and depth of the crawls.
• Metadata Management: Subscribers can add metadata to their collections, making it easier to organize and search the archived content.
• Access and Search: Archived collections are accessible through the Archive-It website, where users can search and browse the content.
• Data Export: Users can export their collections in various formats for offline use or integration with other systems.

Use Cases

Archive-It is used by a wide range of institutions, including:

• Libraries: To preserve digital collections and ensure long-term access to web-based resources.
• Museums: To capture and archive online exhibitions and digital content related to their collections.
• Universities: To support research by archiving web content relevant to academic studies.
• Government Agencies: To maintain records of government websites and online publications.

Challenges

Web archiving presents several challenges, including:

• Dynamic Content: Many modern websites use dynamic content that is difficult to capture accurately.
• Legal and Ethical Issues: Archiving web content may raise legal and ethical concerns, such as copyright and privacy issues.
• Technical Limitations: The rapidly changing nature of the web and the diversity of web technologies can complicate the archiving process.

Also see

• Wayback Machine
• Internet Archive
• Digital preservation
• Web archiving

Archive-It at the Internet Archive