News
18th February 2023
Website accepted for UK Web Archive
The Diverse Diversity Campaign website has been accepted for archiving by the British Library’s UK Web Archive. This could be seen as a landmark in establishing the site as a historical document, safeguarding the information contained as a resource for future historians and others seeking to understand developments in our time.
Director, Ken Petrie, commented,
“This is excellent news and should ensure the case for Diverse Diversity remains visible for generations to come, so long as the site remains in the archive, which is a national record of sites as they are published.
“Printed books are kept by the British Library and five major University libraries in Britain and Ireland as an academic resource for future generations to study when trying to understand the development of ideas and their effect on Society. Once created, a printed book would normally continue to exist, theoretically for ever. By contrast, websites exist only so long as they are actively maintained in existence by the machines hosting them online. If a machine is switched off, that could be the end of a site and whatever that site recorded. Information published in electronic form is therefore much more transitory, prone to alteration and deletion at any time, thus destroying the historical record unless deliberate steps are taken to preserve it.
“A listing in the UK Web Archive therefore protects Diverse Diversity from being forgotten if a time came when I could no longer host its website or, having achieved its purpose, it became unnecessary to continue operating as an active site. Future historians will be able to assess what part it played in shaping future thought.”
It also should mean the arguments remain available irrespective of the continued availability of any individual person, so long as the Archive remains intact.