Archiving

[dani_the_girl]

I remember way back when I was young and green in the ways of web design, I wanted to re-do my website and learn from it at the same time, I started looking at web design blogs and they were all talking about the importance of creating table free designs. I had come in half way through and missed out on the establishing discussion so I was somewhat mystified and I ended up posting to my LJ saying "What is it about table-free design? Why is it good?" People linked me to a couple of posts and I got started from there and was converted pretty quickly.

I feel like I'm in a similar place when I ask the question "What is the point of fanfic archives?" If I've got a DW account with all my fic on it tagged under fic, do I need an AO3 account? What's the motivation behind building AO3. I feel like there are historical reasons for this stuff that I, so far, don't get. Anyone suggest where I can get started finding out? I am asking from a genuine desire to learn - I like the design and I've uploaded a couple of stories, but I'm not sure I have figured out the reasoning behind it yet.

Comments

[jouissant.livejournal.com]

As an archivist IRL, and someone especially interested in issues of digital preservation and management of digital resources, I have to add the preservation chestnut LOCKSS (Lots Of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe). Issues that apply on the level of individual files (proprietary formats, lack of support for certain formats, etc; what if Microsoft is consumed by a black hole and I can't open my docx anymore) can be extrapolated to issues with fanworks- what happens when the platform (LJ, DW, etc.) is no longer fan-friendly due to financial contraints, changes in mission/ownership/etc? What happens when/if LJ folds? As with Geocities, lots of dead links.

A fan-run, dedicated archive seeks to take some of these questions off the table.

[dani_the_girl]

Interesting - thanks. Backups are always good, it's true