Is web archives a misnomer - how web archives can become digital archives?

Abstract

Digital archives are not meant to be mere collections of digital artifacts organized for reference. It ought to be a record, providing evidence for dynamic digital cultural activities, because these activities form an organic and primary source of cultural information and artifacts. This paper investigates two national web archiving projects, argues for the need for greater attention to be paid to archival principles and shows how contextual elements can be retained in a collection. We will also demonstrate how some of these principles have been applied in the Asian Tsunami Web Archives via a web archival method called Web Sphere Analysis. In conclusion, we present a framework where existing and future web archives projects can incorporate Web Sphere analysis to transform their collection into a genuine Digital Archives and become a richer resource for future research.