Conference Agenda

As web archives make the transition from niche repositories to essential infrastructure for digital history, one critical disconnection remains: the gap between technical capture and scholarly utility. While archivists battle with dynamic content and platform APIs, too often for the researcher, web archives remain a ‘black box’ that does not meet their methodological requirements. This panel addresses the central research question: “What are user requirements for web and social media archives?”.

Based on recent empirical work such as survey data, workshops results, and exploratory user testing, this session discusses the needs, expectations, and practices of diverse user groups such as researchers, heritage professionals, journalists, policy analysts, … Moving beyond a ‘capture-first’ mentality to a ‘use-centric’ approach, this panel will analyse key areas of conflict and friction. This session will be in an interactive format, inviting the panel members and audience to vote on a series of statements.