Climate change and web archives: an Ibero-American study based on the Portuguese and Brazilian contexts

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this investigation is to analyze information on the web and its preservation as the digital heritage of events related to climate change and the environment in Portugal and Brazil, thus contributing to web preservation in the Ibero-American context. Design/methodology/approach A theoretical and applied investigation using mixed methods to collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data from three sources: the Internet Archive and the public collection of Archive-It, the Portuguese web archive, and a selection from collections compiled by a research group (UFRGS) on web archiving and digital archiving in Brazil. Findings Web archive initiatives started in 1996; however, over the years collections have narrowed from nationally relevant themes to specialized thematic niches. The theme “climate change” has had an increasing impact on scientific and mainstream discussion in the 2000s, and by 2010 the over-arching theme became focused on digital preservation of web content, as demonstrated in this study. Failure to preserve data can lead to a rapid loss of climate change information, due to the inherent ephemerality of the web. Originality/value The paper demonstrates the relevance of preserving web content on climate change by showing what has been preserved to date and what will need to be preserved in the future.