Proposing a Hungarian Internet Archive

Abstract

The preservation of digital cultural heritage is a task that every country needs to take charge of. Digitally born cultural objects that are exclusively published on the Internet merit special attention, as these documents are the most fragile. The extent, as well as the complex and changeable nature of the Internet and its most popular service, the World Wide Web represent an extraordinary challenge from archiving point of view. Carrying out the task – or at least parts of it – needs to be based on the long-term and continuous collaboration of various partner institutions: public collections, especially the national library, major Internet and content providers, IT developer institutes and companies, as well as the appropriate governmental bodies.This paper gives an overview of the international issues of Internet archiving and proposes the first steps towards the creation of a Hungarian Internet Archive.