As the name suggests, web archiving is a popular method of gathering data about a given website and storing it. The process though sounds new and technical, dates back to the days when parchment paper or documents were stored or gathered. The basic idea behind all of this is to store important data and make it available when the needs so come up.
The entire process is conducted using archiving software which various organizations can make use of to store and secure their web content. However, there are three particular methods that are put into use for archiving web content, namely, transaction-based, server-based and client based. The first two methods are heavily dependent on the participation of server owners.
After saying so much about web archiving, the foremost question arises, why is it important to archive web content? One simple answer to it can be to save data! Most of the data or information available on the World Wide Web during the 1990s have been lost, while very little data from that period have survived, all thanks to web archiving.
However, from that time onwards most data and information have been secured and have therefore been used to conduct research and other experiments. By and by the web has become an important part of everyone’s life. While activities and study in the previous era were based on physical records, web archiving has made historic, and significant information available for the masses to access.
Websites are like the face of a given organization in the virtual world. It showcases the interaction that takes place between the organization and the public, therefore it is needless to say that it is one of the powerful means of communication that a company can make use of to communicate with other big organizations in the same industry. Additionally, it is the company’s website which makes the company’s vision and mission known to the customers and hence becomes an effective means to develop the communication channel between the company and its clients. A website is the only place where relevant information about a company is available and so it must be archived.
Most companies update their respective websites on a regular basis. This is done not only for the purpose of aesthetics but also to update more relevant information. It is for this reason that the World Wide Web is so preferred by people. However, these updates and information have a short shelf life and if they are not stored or archived properly, chances are, they might be lost.
Through the process of website archiving, organizations and individuals provide others with access to information that might be short-lived. Once such information is archived, they last forever and can be used as and when required. It is also one of the means that aid website owners to preserve the advertising mechanism and design.
Website archiving, in other words, can be referred to as disk back-ups. Generally, copies of backups are not reliable most of the times, especially since websites make use of scripts. Such backup copies only consist of the codes which were used during programming and are not time stamped. Though changes can be implemented on the backup copies, however, they can affect the authenticity of the website content.
If you are running a successful business and happen to have a live website, you might want to archive it to provide an exact screenshot of the site at any given point of time. Stillio is a wonderful tool to do that. The screenshot must be made available in its raw/original format to others at any point in time in the future to draw inference and state reference. Such an arrangement enables users to access the information in the same context that it was during the time of the production.
According to the Public Records Act, websites are required to be archived so that information and data about a particular site can be made public any given point of time. Management and retention of such informations are crucial not only for legal purposes but also business and historic purposes. In order to keep it simple, web content should be archived for the same reason why must keep a document of all activities conducted.
