Archive of Tomorrow: Capturing public health discourse in the UK Web Archive
Name
1_Combined_-_AoT_Final_Project_Report_June_2_Nicola_Bingham.pdf
Description
visibility:open
Size
1.35 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (CRC64NVME)
cF330YM/e4E=
Resource type
Report
Date published
October 2023
Abstract
This report provides an overview of the Archive of Tomorrow project, a pilot project and partnership between four UK libraries—the National Library of Scotland, the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries, Cambridge University Library, and Edinburgh University Library. The project was funded by the Wellcome Trust in 2022-2023 with a budget of £230,958. This report summarises the work carried out to collect, describe and engage users with archived web content about health using the UK Web Archive (UKWA). The project outputs include the “Talking about Health” collection, a new curated collection of archived websites in the UKWA; new methodologies for generating and manipulating metadata; and an improved model for clearing rights to make content openly accessible. A wide spectrum of researchers, users, and website creators were reached during the project, many of whom had never before used the archived web. This outreach has provided a sound basis for future targeted engagement. The insights gained during the project show the value and importance of the UK’s legal deposit web archive and the vital need for technical and legislative change to realise its potential more fully. Throughout the project, the Archive of Tomorrow team has developed a nuanced understanding of the ethical complexities of working with ever-changing health information and online content which may be inaccurate, obsolete, or deliberately misleading. Much practical progress has been made during this pilot project, but significant questions remain about the future of research into health and other key contemporary topics dependent on information shared online. These issues require further research and public engagement to achieve more widespread impact.
Creator (organisation)
UK Legal Deposit Libraries
Contributor (organisation)
Wellcome Trust
Funder
| Funder name | Awards |
Wellcome Trust | |
Publisher
UK Legal Deposit Libraries
Place of publication
Edinburgh, UK
Official URL