TPF and The British Library

[jdaw1]

The British Library is starting to archive UK websites. Currently the BL does not have legal authority (law is expected by 2011), so relies on websites being nominated and then permission from the website/copyright owner. Websites recently accepted for archiving include, needless to say, the splendid and important www.jdawiseman.com.

Should www.ThePortForum.com be nominated? It would ensure that our tasting notes and records of our gatherings are preserved for future generations heaven help them.

I’m strongly of the opinion that TPF should be nominated: please use this thread to express agreement or otherwise.

[DRT]

What a great idea - I absolutely agree that we should jump on this if our site is considered appropriate to be added to the collection.

One day sites such as this will become redundant as new technologies and formats of social media overtake what makes this work today. It would be a great pity if what has been and will be written here was lost. What a wonderful thought it is that one day my great-great-great-great-grandson might mind-meld with an intergalactic portal somewhere in the universe in search of the meaning of life and find that his ancestor had already found it at the great Malvedos Vertical in March 2010

From reading the BL website it seems to cost little more than the time it takes to fill in a couple of web forms so I can't really see a reason not to.

Derek

[Glenn E.]

+1

Nominate and archive!

[Axel P]

Sure, splendid idea!

Axel

[uncle tom]

Absolutely.

Go for it.

Tom

[benread]

Google has probably already done it as well!

It also occurs to me that we make the content public anyway and intend it to act as a reference for ourselves and others.

Go for it!

[RonnieRoots]

Very good idea!

[jdaw1]

Well, after carefully tabulating who is in favour and who against, it seems that the ayes have it.

Failing cogent objection by close of play tomorrow, I’ll nominate TPF.

[Alex Bridgeman]

I would like to object to this proposal.

I would like to, but I can't think of any possible reason to do so. Go for it

[KillerB]

Can't think of any reason to object.

[jdaw1]

Submitted.

• Are you the copyright holder or owner of the website?
  No.
• Justification - this will aid selection e.g. 'a typical business blog ' or a 'prize winning site ' or 'representative of Internet culture ' or even 'humorous '
  A forum dedicated to that most English of drinks, vintage port. Most of the people are British (including me, despite French address), and most of the tastings arranged very splendid by the way are in the UK, typically in London. Oenological and social history.
• Notes about special request e.g. 'please archive urgently as this site will disappear next month ' or 'this site relies on a database. Is this a problem? '
  phpBB bulletin board. Though not the © owner there has been general agreement by the users of the http://www.ThePortForum.com that we would welcome BL archiving: viewtopic.php?t=3739

[jdaw1]

Dear Sir/Madam

Re: http://www.jdawiseman.com/

I am writing to confirm the receipt of the licence allowing us to archive the above website.

We are delighted that you would like to take part in the web archiving programme. Please be aware that the website may not be available to view in the public archive at http://www.webarchive.org.uk for several weeks as we perform quality assurance checks on each instance which does take time.

Many thanks and best wishes
Akiko

Akiko Kimura
Web Archiving
The British Library
Tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7211
UK Web Archive: http://www.webarchive.org.uk

Hopefully a similar email will arrive about .

[jdaw1]

Archived copies of www.jdawiseman.com can now be found at www.webarchive.org.uk/ukwa/target/48791586/.

Hopefully this honour will soon be bestowed upon .

[jdaw1]

The British Library is to embark on the biggest expansion of its archiving power since the 17th century.

The guardian of Britain’s cultural heritage will gain legal backing to collect and store every UK website, digital publications such as ebooks, and even chatter on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Ed Vaizey, culture minister, will sign the regulations into law on Friday. At midnight, the legislation will come into effect and the British Library will start harvesting the web.

The project will start by archiving the .uk domain, or about 5m sites and 1bn pages. In the coming years it will expand to UK content on domains such as .com and .org.

Roly Keating, chief executive of the British Library, said its new powers were ‟a reassertion of what it means to be a library in the digital age”.

The British Library has 800km of shelving in vast warehouses and underground tunnels. Since 1662, English law has required publishers to provide authorities with a copy of every printed work they produce. But until now digital publications have had no equivalent legal requirement.

A huge amount of material has been lost since the rise of digital publishing in the 1990s. With the average life of a web page at just 75 days, future historians are likely to confront a ‟digital black hole” when they look back to the end of the 20th century.

‟As the years go by, this will increasingly become the only record that survives of a huge range of content,” Mr Keating said. ‟The full range of how British people are using the web in the 21st century will be there for scholars, researchers, historians, filmmakers, writers, to explore.”