Thoughts on the Archive Problem

1. The present
2. The upcoming content migration
3. When a section stops updating
4. The deceased future

What does your organization do with its archives? What will it do with them when the org goes away? How does it handle migrations?

This post isn't solutions. It isn't suggestions. It is only a large collection of questions.

The present

• how do you surface old archives?
  • some stuff here from the mkramer
• maintain distributed database backups: a backup you cannot restore isn't a backup
• Where are you keeping your source files for your images, videos, slideshows, etc?
• Is the markup you're using for your posts specific to your CMS, or can it easily be migrated to another CMS? If you follow point 3 of Poynter's 10 Tips for Making Hard Facts Easy Reading by 'lifting' data out of the story and into charts, graphs, maps, or embeds, what is your plan for migrating those? Do your images have thoroughly-descriptive alt tags?

The upcoming content migration

Your organization will change its website or CMS at some point in the future. Here are some questions to ponder when planning the migration.

• How will custom metadata be saved? If your old site has subtitles for articles and the new site doesn't, how will you preserve the old subtitles?
• Are all old links forwarded to the new links? Permalinks are essential to the continuing operation of good archives.
• Are all the links to media still working? Does example.org/wp-uploads/2014/06/a-pulitzer-winning-photo-96x270.PNG still load? Can the court document be downloaded at example.com/files/stories/1997-june-26-major-court-decision-ruling.pdf?
• Did your subdomains change? Does bobs-column.example.org now redirect to example.org/columns/bob?
• You used Wordpress [shortcodes], theme-specific HTML classes, custom HTML elements, or other things that aren't plain text or plain HTML. How will you maintain compatibility in the new site?

When a section stops updating

What if a columnist no longer works for your organization? If you merge political coverage into the entertainment section?

• How do you let readers know the section has stopped updating?
• How does that notice persist across CMS migrations?
• How do you point readers to new content?
• Do you point readers to related old content?
• If you run native ads:
  • Do you still charge advertisers?
  • Do native ads have an expiration date at which point they are removed from the site? Does this conflict with your general archiving policy?
  • Are native ads removed from search indexes?
  • Is there a way to search your site explicitly for native ads?
  • How will "This is a native ad" notices persist across website migrations?
  • If the native ad program ceases, will native ads carry a link to the announcement of cessation?

The deceased future

Have a plan for what to do if your org shuts down. Treat it like a Last Will and Testament.

• Who gains the rights to your content? To your images? To your database? Is the copyright sold, or do you release everything under a Creative Commons license, or under the public domain?
• Who has access to your systems in event of an organizational shutdown? Who has access to the backups? How do they prove they are acting on behalf of the organization?
• Does your organization have a will?
• Where is your content archived? archive.org needs funding to keep going. Will you endow Archive.org to keep your content in perpetuity?
• Where are you keeping your source files for your images, videos, slideshows, etc?

In short: who lives, who dies, who tells your story?

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