Web Decay Analysis and Digital Archiving of Websites of Technical Institutions

a view from Wayback Machine

Abstract

Web Decay analysis is essential for evaluating website management and conducting regular link audits. This research is centred on evaluating the efficacy of the Wayback Machine in preserving websites belonging to Technical Institutions in the Northeastern Region of India (NEI). The specific objectives encompass comprehending archiving frequency, conducting quantitative and qualitative analyses of web links to compare features, and ranking technical institutions based on their utilisation of theWayback machine. In this investigation, all technical institutions' websites in North East India were virtually surveyed using web browsers.Atotal of thirteen (13) technical institutions in the Northeastern Region of India were included in the study. The data obtained from theWayback Machine (InternetArchive, n.d) pertain to the URLs of the technical institutions in North East India from 2013 to 2023. The analysis was performed using MS Excel 2019 and SPSS software to statistically compare the institutions' websites,
revealing that theWayback machine automatically archives all technical institution websites in NEI indiscriminately. It has proven to be a powerful tool for retrieving domain-specific information and understanding the paths to website demise. The study underscores the utility of the Wayback Machine in examining archival content, formats, and links and highlights the inconsistencies in capturing different files. It is revealed that there is a significant variation in the frequency of archiving the websites among technical institutions in NEI. The findings emphasise the need for an independent mechanism to archive websites, ensuring the retrieval of dead links for future reference.