This week we launched the 6th year of the K-12 Web Archiving program in collaboration with the Library of Congress and seven schools (in seven different states) across the US.
This program provides the opportunity for students in 5th to 12th grade to select and save websites for future generations. It is an educational and fun experience for students to consider their role in preserving the cultural heritage of their youth communities while learning about the ephemeral nature of the world wide web. In addition, students gain important critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration skills throughout the program.
Students from Mount Dora High School
The seven schools participating this year are:
Cape Charter School (Camarillo, California)
Chief Umtuch Middle School (Battle Ground, Washington)
James Moran Middle School (Wallingford, Connecticut )
Mount Dora High School (Mount Dora, Florida)
New York City’s Public School 174 – William Sidney Mount (New York, New York)
Paul VI Catholic High School (Fairfax, Virginia)
Rocky Hills School (East Greenwich, RI)
Program coordinator and Partner Specialist Lori Donovan did a country wide training online with the participating students and teachers, explaining what web archiving is and how to use the Archive-It web application to create collections of web content. The Library of Congress provides additional training and support for teachers to emphasize the importance of primary sources in general, and websites specifically as modern primary sources.
On going support will be provided throughout the school year, and the collections created will be available on the K-12 Web Archiving Program website. You can visit the website today to learn more about the program and see previous years’ archived content.
“Before this project, I was under the impression that whatever was posted on the Internet was permanent. But now, I realize that information posted on the Internet is always changing and evolving.” -Student participant feedback
