The last remaining XS4ALL websites will go offline tomorrow. Over the past few months, the KB has been working hard to archive as many of these homepages as possible to preserve this digital history for the future.
Web collection
The KB has maintained a web collection since 2007, in which we preserve snapshots of websites on the Dutch internet. An average web page only exists 90 days before it is changed or deleted altogether. A great deal of digital history is lost as a result. Regularly archiving websites preserves some of this information so that people will have insight into today’s online society at a later date. In addition to the XS4ALL collection, the web collection includes sub-collections covering topics such as LGBTIQ+, philosophy and religion, COVID-19 and crafts.
XS4ALL
In 2019, it was announced that XS4ALL was to be incorporated into its parent brand, KPN. The end of XS4ALL as a separate host provider also meant that XS4ALL websites would gradually go offline. So, the KB got to work archiving as many of these websites as possible before they disappeared. In April of this year, the definitive end date was announced: XS4ALL would cease to exist entirely as of 1 July. Of the more than 3,500 archived websites, over half were already offline. A final snapshot of the last 1,600 websites was taken in a single operation, ensuring that the most recent versions are now preserved in the web collection.
The importance of archiving
The KB has a vast collection of books; since 1974, we have collected a copy of everything published in or about the Netherlands. But society is becoming increasingly digital, and more and more information is now available on the internet. Under current legislation, archiving websites is a difficult, time-consuming process. The KB therefore urges the government to speed up the introduction of new legislation that makes it easier to archive websites. Digital history is now being lost every day, and this has to change.
