Web-archiving needs of archives in South Yorkshire

A PhD scholarship is available to undertake a project to discover the requirements of archives in South Yorkshire for web-archiving, the selective collection of ephemeral Internet content.

Important and unique content relevant to archival collections in South Yorkshire is increasingly published on the web in the form of personal blogs, forum content, event descriptions, and a range of social media. But such material is extremely ephemeral. We need ways to collect such material and understand the complex issues around storing and preserving it and offering public access to it. Technical solutions exist, but understanding of the issues around appraisal, collaboration, planning and enabling access are limited. Such an understanding is essential to building up-to-date collections, and to maintaining the relevance of our archives in a world where content is increasingly born digital. The aim of the PhD project is to investigate sustainable solutions to web-archiving for archives in South Yorkshire, investigating the needs of different types of archive in the region, and their users.

Applicants should have an interest in archives, especially community archiving and public participation; the principles of web archiving, digital humanities and/or digital preservation. They should have excellent communication skills to deal with internal and external partners. Familiarity with research methods such as interviewing and focus groups is also desirable.

The University Research Resource Scholarship award will cover the cost of the UK/EU tuition fees and provide an annual, tax-free maintenance stipend at the standard RCUK research rate (for 2018/19 this is £14,777).

Further information can be found on our website: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/is/pgr/urrs.

Informal enquires can be sent to Dr Andrew Cox on [Email Address Removed].