Presentation given at the International Internet Preservation Consortium's Web Archiving Conference in Wellington, New Zealand, on November 14, 2018.

1. Webrecorder:
Building, Maintaining
& Growing
IIPC WAC | November 14, 2018
Anna Perricci
Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships
Webrecorder at Rhizome
Rhizome at the New Museum
Anna.Perricci@rhizome.org

2. Webrecorder Team
Dragan Espenschied
Preservation Director,
Rhizome
Ilya Kreymer
Software Director
Mark Beasley
Senior Front-End
Developer
Pat Shiu
Associate Director
of Design
Anna Perricci
Associate Director,
Strategic Partnerships
John Berlin
Senior Back-End
Developer

3. About Webrecorder
Create high-fidelity, interactive captures of any web
pages you browse
http://webrecorder.io Webrecorder Player

4. A project by
with generous support from
Webrecorder Project
● Easy to use, robust tools
● Free to use
● Fully open source
● Using open standards
● Growing user community
● Quickly evolving

5. High fidelity web archiving
● Fidelity = similarity between original and capture
● Capture any web page loaded in the browser
● Archive interactive content (only available after
user input)
● Same system for capture & browsing (web
browser)

6. Webrecorder creates high fidelity web
archives including
elements that crawler based systems
often fail to capture
such as interactive content

7. Collecting at human scale
• Collecting is done with intent by a person via web
browser one page at a time
• Can import and augment collections created by
crawlers
• Anyone can use Webrecorder: web archiving for
all!
The payoff for careful capture is an
accurate representation of the original

8. ● Being mindful and observant while collecting is
necessary and respectful (regardless of tool)
● Hand collecting can facilitate thoughtful acquisition &
require one to be more aware of what is being
gathered
● Crawler/machine based collecting is done via a
software that is made with human influence
○ Any claim of neutrality because automated tools
are used rings false (biases via algorithms)
Thoughts on human scale collecting

9. Your data
● Web archiving is more than just capture – it is about
description, stewardship and sharing, too
● You can save in free account &/or take your data out
of Webrecorder for storage (local &/or repository!)
● Downloaded WARCs accessible with free software
(Webrecorder Player)
● Collections can be shared or kept private

10. What about social media?
● Webrecorder can capture content from social
media sites (e.g. Instagram and Twitter)
● Some websites deliver content individualized for
each user
● Webrecorder can capture the content you see
when you are logged in to a social media profile

11. Login credentials
● Webrecorder.io is designed to not capture or retain
your login credentials (i.e. social media)
● But a non-personal account is not a bad idea since
there’s a possibility credentials could be written into
a WARC file if Webrecorder is not successful in
suspending capture during log in
● Under no circumstances is your log in exposed via
Webrecorder.io or discoverable

12. Human scale collecting
(one page at a time)
with no barrier to entry
(via Webrecorder.io)
levels the playing field

13. Bound archive & symmetrical web archiving
● Bound archive  collection with firm boundaries,
With web archiving users can often quickly find
boundaries via browsing
● Symmetrical web archiving  same user facing
software for collecting and access (a web
browser)

14. Sustainability
● More tools to come though some will not be free
● Subscription for more storage – Q1 2019
● Automated collecting & QA tools – Q3 2019
● Support to be better staffed but good design &
remote meetings/presentations are helping a lot
● Income: subscriptions, grants, grant subawards (i.e.
preservation tool for web projects), funded
collaborations & custom work, priority support

15. Collaboration & partnerships in action
● User partnerships with new web archiving
projects (Carnegie Hall, Stanford UP, Pelican
Bomb) and leaders in the field
● Development work (British Library, Perma.cc)
● Collaborative development (NFB)
● Increased usage from journalists & professors

17. Conference: Ethics & Archiving the Web
● IMLS funded forum co-organized by Rhizome and
Doc Now colleagues
● Videos of panels freely available
https://eaw.rhizome.org/
● Stay tuned for recommended practices document
and blog post follow ups from EAW

18. Will we mirror or amplify the web’s problems?
● Let’s try not to
● Trauma or re-traumatization possible through
collecting
● Opportunity to highlight voices that are not
privileged by for profit or institutional entities
● Decolonizing web archives

19. Workshop
3:30pm
today!

20. You are welcome to contact us!
Anna.Perricci@rhizome.org
or
support@Webrecorder.io

21. A project by
with generous support from
Thank you