Archives and Web 2.0: the example of the September 11 digital archive

The recent establishment and growth of archives or repositories holding purelydigital materials has seen an emergence of topic specific archives being createdwith minimal resources. Many such archives are eschewing traditional archivalpractices such as appraisal and description. Instead, they are relying upon theusers to both donate material and provide the associated descriptive metadata.The result is a growing number of archives managed outside of traditionalarchival practice using a Web 2.0 approach focusing on user participation. The9/11 Archive in Washington is one such archive and is used as the case study forthis paper. Having been established in 2001, the archive has experienced manyof the problems, and successes, this approach implies. This paper considersthese and the implications they raise for the future of archiving more broadly.