Online harvesting of municipality websites into trusted digital repository

Lungile Precious Luthuli · Mpho Ngoepe

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Digital and Traditional Archives Management E-Government and Public Services Information Architecture and Usability

Abstract

Purpose Municipalities, as the front lines of service delivery, use websites as one of the tools to communicate information to the public. While it is considered a record, many organisations, including municipalities, do not manage websites as such. This study aims to explore the archiving of websites as records in the municipalities of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Province in South Africa by using the web archiving life cycle model. Design/methodology/approach This study used a mixed-methods research with an explanatory design, with quantitative data collected first through content analysis of websites and qualitative data collected through interviews. Researchers used multilevel sampling, first quantitatively analysing all available websites of the municipalities (52) in KZN, and then qualitatively selecting only records managers, information managers, web administrators, communication managers and website managers or designers from municipalities because of their understanding and involvement with websites in some way. Findings This study established that some records on municipal websites are often in paper format in record-keeping systems, whereas others are born digital and are not captured in the systems. Municipalities lack a dedicated web online harvesting tool as well as an archiving policy or strategy to guide website archiving. Furthermore, municipalities placed a high reliance on service providers to keep their websites operational. Research limitations/implications It became clear during the interviews that most of the participants were unfamiliar with web archiving. As a result, only 12 of the 56 selected participants from the municipalities provided the required information in relation to the current study as others could not provide answers. Data for other participants were not analysed. Originality/value Due to a lack of infrastructure for ingesting digital records into archival custody, a framework for harvesting web content of value is proposed both internally in municipalities and externally to an archive repository.

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2011An assessment of the state of national archival and records systems in the ESARBICA region 2017Archival orthodoxy of post-custodial realities for digital records in South Africa 2020When rain clouds gather: Digital curation of South African public records in the cloud 2018Towards a framework for e-records readiness in support of e-government in eSwatini 2018Separating the wheat from the chaff with the winnowing fork 2016Overview of the InterPARES Trust Project in Africa: Trusting Records in an Increasingly Networked Environment

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