Academic blogs and websites are emerging as an important component of academic discourse.
However, I often lack confidence that the content will remain accessible in the short term (e.g., 5 years) let alone the longer term (10, 20, 50, 100 years).
An important function of journals is to archive the content and provide a stable citation system.
In particular, I'm worried about:
- academics who change employment where the site is hosted by the previous employer
- academics who die or lose interest in their content (e.g., domain names lapsing; site hosting fees ending)
- Internet services that close down
Question: What can an academic blogger do to ensure that their blog content remains archived and accessible in the longer term?
1 Answer
I believe you have a number of options, which I'm stating in no particular oder:
You can use the Wayback Machine, which strives to store snapshots of web-pages across time. You can also use the more personalized archive-it service, which lets you manage your own collection, at the same time sharing it with the public - this is mostly used by institutions I think.
Alternatively, you can host your own blog on a licensed domain name, where you've prepaid the fees for enough years in advance.
Lastly, a very simple suggestion - if the content of the website is tending towards the academic quality/nature of a book, why not publish it as a short collection essays, which you can then disseminate freely over open web libraries etc?