Web archiving refers to the process of gathering the information contained in websites from the World Wide Web and storing them in an archive. The process borrows from the traditional practice of paper or document archiving, where the selected information is stored, preserved and made available to people at their convenience.
In the case of archived websites, the websites remain accessible to researchers, governments, businesses, historians, and the public. Web archivists are specialists in this process. They also usually provide text message archiving solutions should this be something you require.
Why Web Archiving?
While web pages might be refreshed and updated regularly, there are situations where you want to remove old pages and store them separately. A good example is a website that deals with government contracts, where you have to retain even past records. Similarly, established businesses may want to retain their web pages, which they can later use to trace the history of the company’s growth. Regardless of the reason why you want to keep your old web pages, web-archiving solutions are always available.
Understanding website architecture
Websites operate on specially configured computers known as web servers. Websites have several Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML) files, which web servers use to create viewable web pages that visitors see when they visit a particular URL in a browser. The web servers store the HTML files in a public directory so they remain accessible to anyone who wants to take a look.
File Transfer Program (FTP)
In website archiving, web archivists use the file transfer program and other tools to download files from web servers to local computers. Various FTP programs are available on the internet and specialists know exactly what to do when you engage them for website or text message archiving.
Benefits of website archiving
Information storage: many organizations and businesses use their websites for communication and sharing of information. Archiving helps retain data for years.
No loss of data: in the process of updating websites, some important information can disappear unintentionally for one reason or another. Website archiving helps avoid data loss by keeping every web page so data remains intact and can be retrieved.
The process is cost-efficient depending on the approach and the tools used. The pages are harvested in their original form as they appeared in the live web and this provides a record of web content in the same way it was available at a specific date and time.
Keeps sensitive information: website archiving allows companies to store sensitive information that they would not want to keep on their live website.
Using the services of a professional website archivist is one of the many ways you can ensure that your website archiving is done professionally. If you want to save many different pages or complete websites, it is advisable to use the services of a professional rather than attempting it all on your own. While programs are available on the internet to harvest selected websites or pages, the services of an expert can come in handy to ensure that the process runs smoothly and goes off without a hitch.
