After the websites are crawled and their quality is checked, they are stored in the e-Depot for permanent preservation. The presentation of a website is largely dependent on the browser being used and the plug-ins required for the presentation of specific aspects of the website (such as Flash, video and audio). How do we ensure that these websites will still be accessible to the user in, say, 50 years’ time? By then we will no longer be using browers and platforms as we are accustomed to using them today, and the concept of the web may have changed completely as well. Even so, we must make sure that in 50 years scholars will still be able to do their research and to gather and use their research data. The KB is conducting intensive research on these aspects of web archiving and is collaborating with other organizations worldwide wherever possible. One of these is the International Internet Preservation Consortium.
A great deal of this research has to do with ensuring the authenticity and integrity of archived websites. Preserving the original content, functionality and look-and-feel of a website is the KB’s basic working principle when it comes to website archiving. Before websites are stored in the e-Depot, an extensive quality control check is carried out. First the w to conduct a full-text search, ebsites are checked for completeness of the crawl. Then the individual files that constitute a website are checked with the help of the validation tools JHove and DROID. The KB is working on the development of a generic process for the characterization and validation of the files stored in its e-Depot.