An inclusive approach to web archiving
Résumé
This chapter focuses on the representation of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries in the expansive Novel Coronavirus collection created by the International Internet Preservation Consortium in 2020. Taking into consideration the political implications connected to web archiving, the place of the MENA web sphere in the IIPC collection serves as a case study, prompting reflection on strategies for researchers and archivists dealing with countries marked by geopolitical tensions and almost nonexistent archiving initiatives. How did the IIPC manage to collect web content from the MENA related to Covid-19? What are the outcomes and limitations of this initiative? More broadly, what insights can be gleaned from this experiment regarding the challenge of designing a more inclusive transnational web archive? This chapter will study how implementing the Novel Coronavirus Collection project by the IIPC can be viewed as an opportunity to build a more inclusive web archive. It will delve into the contribution and limitations of the collection of websites from the MENA region, shedding light on the key factors that maintain borders despite the transnational nature of the project. Then, drawing on the contents of the collected websites, the chapter will explore how the geopolitical specificities of the MENA zone impart a distinctive characteristic to the collected sites, highlighting how discussion centered on decolonizing web archives could be initiated.
Mots clés
- Digital heritage
- Digital sovereignty
- Collaborative archiving
- Web data collection
- Online representation
- IIPC (International Internet Preservation Consortium)
- Transnational cooperation
- Digital inclusion
- Decolonizing archives
- Geopolitics of information
- Internet preservation
- ) COVID-19
- Middle East and North Africa (MENA
- Digital archives
- Web archiving
