DPC
Games with Online Play Components
Games with Online Play Components
 |
||
|
Video games with online components that have online elements for interactive aspects of play, in particular those with online multiplayer components. This does not exclude games that have both online multiplayer and offline single player components (e.g., Dark Souls has online multiplayer components but also has the ability for single player play in offline mode) but rather the focus on the entry is on the online components for interactive play and there is more potential to preserve the interaction. This excludes games that are no longer available legally. |
||
|
Digital Species: Gaming |
Trend in 2022:
|
Consensus Decision |
|
Added to List: 2019 (rescoped 2023) |
Trend in 2023:
|
Previously: Critically Endangered |
|
Imminence of Action Action is recommended within three years, detailed assessment in one year. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on a large group of people and sectors. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability It would require a major effort to prevent or reduce losses in this group, including the development of new preservation tools or techniques. |
|
Examples Dark Souls, Minecraft, Portal 2, Stardew Valley. |
||
|
‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Always online DRM; Controversies around IPR; lack of offline backup; changing business model of providers; limited recognition of value of game play; over dependence on goodwill of ad-hoc community; lack of preservation know-how at service providers; dependency on bespoke hardware or interfaces; Complex hardware dependencies or bespoke hardware. |
||
|
‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice Emulation pathway; source code; trusted repository; large user community; IPR supportive of preservation; strong documentation. |
||
|
2023 Review This entry, alongside the Games with Offline Play Components entry, was created from rescoping the previous Old or Non-current Video Games entry as part of the 2023 Bit List review. It was rescoped to highlight the differences in preserving online components as opposed to offline components in video games, specifically the dependency of servers. |
||
|
Additional Comments Whilst this entry focuses on games with online play components that are still accessible (any servers that have been shut down or discontinued would fall into the Shut Down or Discontinued Video Games entry), these games could potentially lose server support thus necessitating urgent action to preserve the online component whilst the server is still active. A recent example of this is the announcement in October 2023 of Nintendo discontinuing online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software from early April 2024. Whilst the offline component will still be accessible, the game will have lost features and/or game modes that use online components thus changing the nature of the game. Case Studies or Examples:
See also:
|
||
No Change
Towards even greater riskManuals, Documentation, and Associated Materials
Manuals, Documentation, and Associated Materials
| |
||
|
Manuals that support physical, born-digital, and hybrid-digital museum objects, including technical manuals and that may contain diagrams, images, videos and more. Manuals may include those specifically created for the object, and/or from the supplier or manufacturer (and may exist for the entire object, or for each component part). Covered here is other documentation critical for the management, preservation, access, and display of collections objects, including conservation records. Associated materials (such as sidecar or other technical files) can provide insight into the digital content held in the collection. Encompassed in this entry is both information for internal use, supporting outgoing loans, as well as an information source for current and future researchers. |
||
|
Digital Species: Museum and Gallery |
New Rescoped Entry |
Consensus Decision |
|
Imminence of Action Action is recommended within three years, detailed assessment within one year. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on people and sectors around the world. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability Loss seems likely: by the time tools or techniques have been developed the material will likely have been lost. |
|
Examples Manuals created for the object and/or from the supplier or manufacturer; conservation records and other forms of documentation. |
||
|
‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Poor documentation; lack of preservation planning; held in proprietary file formats. |
||
|
‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice Strong documentation; preservation capability; open source or commonly used file formats. |
||
|
2023 Review This entry was added in 2019 under ‘Digital Materials in Museums and Galleries’ and previously rescoped in 2021 to ‘Supporting Digital Materials for Museums and Galleries’. The 2023 Bit List Council superseded the entry, splitting it into six discrete entries as the scope of the single entry was too broad to provide the guidance needed. The recommendation to break this entry down was also made by the 2021 Jury, as the types of digital collections content in museums can be vast and offer particular risks in museum and gallery contexts. For museum objects (including physical, born-digital, and hybrid-digital) a manual for the object may be critical to being able to provide access to, display, and/or maintain, regardless of whether the object is being retained in a museum collection as a 'working' or 'non-working' object, which can be dependent on the types of materials the object is constructed from. For complex objects - physical and digital - there can be a significant dependency on these manuals and similar documentation. The extreme result of not having access to a manual may be that the object is unable to be maintained or displayed in the future. Associated materials may provide technical insight for both internal use and for researchers. For certain researchers, manuals and documentation may provide critical insight, and be of more value to the research than the object itself. |
||
Native Cloud Formats
Native Cloud Formats
| |
||
|
This entry covers all native cloud formats that exist within a cloud system but cannot be exported in their native format. The data for these formats is held within the system and they are rendered within a browser. |
||
|
New Entry |
Consensus Decision |
|
|
Imminence of Action Action is recommended within three years, detailed assessment within one year. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on people and sectors around the world. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability It would require a major effort to prevent or reduce losses in this group, possibly requiring the development of new preservation tools or techniques. |
|
Examples The most widely known example of this is Google formats such as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Jamboard. |
||
|
‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Lack of preservation capacity in provider; dependence on proprietary products or formats; lack of export functionality; insufficient documentation; lack of conformance or validation; lack of preservation commitment or planning; inaccessibility to automated web crawlers. |
||
|
‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice Reduction of dependencies; improved export functionality; clear migration pathways; application of records management standards; version control; integrity checking; comprehensive documentation; access to web harvesting; technology watch. |
||
|
2023 Review This is a new Bit List entry added in 2023 to draw attention to the particular challenges of preserving native cloud content that cannot be exported and preserved in their native cloud formats. While there are some similarities with the ‘Cloud-based Services and Communications Platforms’ entry risks relating to dependencies on service and provider business models and the terms and conditions imposed, this entry focuses specifically on the distinct risks relating to preservation of digital content and data in native cloud formats (with these formats held within cloud-based systems and rendered within web-based browsers). Currently, in order to view the files outside of the system, an export format has to be chosen (e.g., PDF, Microsoft Office, HTML). This process has issues with proving the integrity of the exports, as conventional methods (such as checksum) are not valid. There is also the issue that the original cloud formats hold all edits and versions, the export may only preserve the current version of the file without edit history and misleading revision identifiers. As the cloud formats are browser based web archiving options have also been explored but there is no current automated way to harvest a large collection of files. For these reasons, major efforts are needed to develop new tools and techniques to capture and preserve the data to prevent or reduce loss. |
||
|
Additional Comments There are case studies already in development demonstrating good progress in this area, for example from the TNA and University of Sheffield, which will be shared as part of a DPC event on 14th November 2023. This is shortly after the publication of the 2023 Bit List but the recordings and outputs will be shared for inclusion in the next Bit List report.
Case Studies or Examples:
See also:
|
||
PC Games
PC Games
| |
||
|
PC games include all games that were designed to be played on a personal computer (PC). |
||
|
Digital Species: Gaming |
New Entry |
Consensus Decision |
|
Imminence of Action Action is recommended within three years, detailed assessment in one year. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on a large group of people and sectors. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability It would require a major effort to prevent or reduce losses in this group, including the development of new preservation tools or techniques. |
|
Examples SimCity 3000, Factorio, World of Warcraft, Starcraft II, Phasmophobia |
||
|
‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Controversies around intellectual property rights; lack of offline backup; changing business model of providers; limited recognition of the cultural and historic value of game play; complex intellectual property rights; loss of underlying code or gaming engine; limited or no commercial interest; dependency on remote servers that are closed; limited recognition of value of game play; over-dependence on goodwill of ad-hoc community. |
||
|
‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice IPR supportive of preservation; strong documentation; source code; emulation pathway; trusted designated repository or community taking preservation responsibility and capable to deliver. |
||
|
2023 Review The 2023 Council created two new entries, Console Games and PC Games, to complement the already existing entry of Smartphone Gaming. This was done to highlight the unique preservation issues that exist for each of these categories as well as the differences in preservation risk. |
||
|
Additional Comments The three most common operating systems for PCs are Windows, macOS and Linux. Not all operating systems can run all PC games, and operating systems as a limitation on games becomes a limitation on video game preservation. Gamers tend to find workarounds to operating system limitations through emulation, but this creates dependencies on emulators being maintained. New versions of operating systems can also be detrimental as older games may not be able to run on newer versions or may need workarounds to allow them to run. Future changes to the Bit List might need to consider Video Game Mods as a separate category. Whilst mods do exist for consoles, the majority of gaming mods tend to be for PC games and, for many games, especially older ones, mods become a staple in playing games. It is not uncommon to see utility mods being suggested in forums when players pick up older games and there is often functionality built into games to allow players to create mods. Case Studies or Examples:
See also:
|
||
Smart TV Apps
Smart TV Apps
| |
||
|
Apps created for smartphones. Many are deprecated quickly but others survive through multiple update cycles. It is hard to maintain version control and often dependent upon the company that publishes them. There is no clear agency or mandate to record or collect. |
||
|
Digital Species: Apps |
New Entry |
Consensus Decision |
|
Imminence of Action Action is recommended within twelve months, detailed assessment is a priority. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on many people and sectors. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability Loss seems likely: by the time tools or techniques have been developed, the material will likely have been lost. |
|
Examples UlangoTV; ITV Hub; Plex; apps created for older or no longer manufactured TVs. |
||
|
‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Device dependence; Poor documentation; Lack of preservation interest or mandate by company; Deletion of stores or apps. |
||
|
‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice Strong documentation; Development of tools to archive stores and preserve menus online via the WARC format, and for HTML5 and Flash only based smart TV media; Designated repository taking preservation responsibility and capacity to deliver. |
||
|
2023 Review This is a new Bit List entry added in 2023 to draw attention to the particular challenges of content and software preservation for apps designed and used for smart TVs. While there are some similarities with the ‘Smartphone Apps’ entry in regard to device dependency, frequent updates, and lack of preservation interest or mandate by companies that publish them, this entry focuses on the distinct risks relating to the availability and access to apps made specifically for smart TVs, which can be more short-lived, variable, and challenging to access and find a rootable version for preservation actions. These apps, designed and used specifically for smart TVs, are deprecated quickly or undergo frequent updates. It is challenging to maintain version control and preserve the content. Preservation efforts often depend upon the availability and access to rootable versions of the apps by the companies that publish them, particularly for older TVs that are no longer manufactured. There also remains a lack of clear agency or mandate to record or collect from corporate owners and barriers to access for preservation efforts outside this context. |
||
|
Additional Comments The 2023 Bit List Council also recommends that the next major review for the Bit List consider creating a new ‘Broadcast’ species group where this entry may be better suited. Council members additionally noted that it may be better to have a broader smart device apps entry rather than specifically Smart TV Apps and Smartphone Apps as separate standalone entries. The risks posed by these apps can apply to a variety of devices; for example, before Smartphones there were PDAs, and there are now Smart fridges, set-top-boxes, fire sticks, e-book readers, and other devices which have apps. For this reason, they recommend that the next major review for the Bit List includes a rescoping of Smart TV Apps and Smartphone Apps to consider: What differentiates these apps from others? What cultural heritage purpose do these apps serve? Are organizations collecting them? Are there distinct aggravating factors or risk profiles? In regard to preservation actions, rooting methods for old smart TVs are often non-existent or hard to do (and sometimes manageable when they do exist); it is challenging to buy or find owners of older smart TV units with removed-from-the-store apps that have rootable versions and/or is willing to root. The content these apps contain can hold social and cultural significance; they can provide a history of television, entertainment, and exclusive or unique content only made available through the apps specifically designed for smart TVs. Although there is a small community of people interested in old smart TVs and a bigger one focused on new ones too; In the future, when the technologies become even more obsolete, there will be researchers and others interested in looking back at Smart TVs as a piece of the history of entertainment and even culture. Case Studies or Examples:
|
||
Adobe Flash Animations and Interactive Applets
Adobe Flash Animations and Interactive Applets
 |
||
|
Animations, games, and other interactive applets created with Macromedia Adobe Flash Player and Shockwave Flash, along with their accompanying websites. These are primarily .swf files, but they can also include networked collections of .swf files and external assets, as well as the web pages where they are displayed. |
||
|
Digital Species: Web |
Trend in 2022:
|
Consensus Decision |
|
Added to List: 2019 |
Trend in 2023:
|
Previously: Practically Extinct |
|
Imminence of Action Immediate action necessary. Where detected should be stabilized and reported as a matter of urgency. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on people and sectors around the world. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability Loss seems inevitable: loss has already occurred or is expected to occur before tools or techniques develop. |
|
Examples Flash and Shockwave based games; cartoons; interactives. |
||
|
‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice Migration plan initiated; supported in multiple browsers; security vetted; emulation pathway. |
||
|
2023 Review This entry was added in 2019. The 2019 Jury noted that flash animations and applets were a mainstay of interactive web design from the late 1990s. Flash animations and interactives are created using tools supplied by the Adobe of the same name. Although Flash enables the development of sophisticated interaction at low cost over the web, it has had a chequered history in terms of browser support and has been plagued by security concerns. The 2020 Jury added the trend towards greater risk based on the indication by Adobe for some time that there would be withdrawal of support to Flash Animation. The 2021 Jury noted the discontinuation and withdrawal of support did indeed occur. Flash is no longer supported, and loss has already occurred with Adobe's deprecation of Flash and lack of support in modern web browsers. For this reason, the classification moved from Critically Endangered to Practically Extinct with a trend towards greater risk given the loss of dependence on Flash, which has resulted in new aggravating conditions for migration pathway, emulation pathway, source code, lack of capacity or motivation to support, no commercial interest. The 2023 Council agreed with the Practically Extinct classification and noted an increase in imminence of action required with greater inevitability of loss. |
||
|
Additional Comments Flash represents a significant amount of the creativity of websites in the early 2000s including net-based art and cartoons. With extinction, archives will need to consider if it is possible to preserve interaction through the development of new web archiving and emulation tools and techniques. These are culturally significant artefacts or so of the web and were a gateway for many early game developers given the ease of which Flash games could be made. It’s important to note there are quite a number of community projects working on this, whilst the focus tends to be on Flash games there is still work around Flash animations. Projects like Flashpoint Archive do have their own workflows for getting the games/animations but have their own preservation issues. The survival of Flashpoint is reliant on a small group of people with the storage space entirely relying on one person maintaining it. Other Flash game archives exist as well, such as Flash Game Archives. The Internet Archive has a number of Flash game collections as well. There is also work being done around emulating Flash within web browsers through Ruffle which increases access to Flash games and animations. Case Studies or Examples:
See also:
|
||
Shut Down or Discontinued Video Games
Shut Down or Discontinued Video Games
|
|
|
|
|
Video games where the servers have been shut down or where the game has been delisted across digital platforms and is no longer able to be legally purchased directly from the digital marketplace (loss has already happened). It includes older and non-current video games designed and played on platforms and devices that are no longer supported. This group also includes older editions of games that have been delisted and replaced by newer or remastered editions. |
||
|
Digital Species: Gaming |
Trend in 2022:
|
Consensus Decision |
|
Added to List: 2017 (rescoped 2023) |
Trend in 2023:
|
Previously: Critically Endangered |
|
Imminence of Action Action is recommended within twelve months, detailed assessment is a priority. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on a large group of people and sectors. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability Loss seems likely: by the time tools or techniques have been developed the material will likely have been lost. |
|
Examples City of Heroes, The Matrix Online, Club Penguin, P.T., Sims 1, Metro 2033, Darkspore, Maplestory 2 |
||
|
‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice Emulation pathway; source code; IPR supportive of preservation; support of grassroots efforts; support for preservation from game publishers/developers; removal of Always-Online DRM. |
||
|
2023 Review This entry was added in 2017 under the Gaming species under the title “Old or Non-current Offline Video Games” and was rescoped in 2023. The Council noted that the original description and scope of the entry conflated several issues and was unclear in its purpose, referring both to games that have experienced loss and older games that are still available. The change of status from Critically Endangered to Practically Extinct reflects the adjusted scope as games that fall under this entry have already experienced loss, in terms of servers, the actual game and users. Efforts to keep these games “alive” or in circulation are reliant on legally dubious measures such as private servers and key reselling. It was also decided to remove reference to the age of the video game in this entry given that there has been an increase in server-reliant games shutting down within a year or two of launch that are more at risk than older games that are still being sold. |
||
|
Additional Comments The key element of this entry is that loss has already happened. Whilst there are numerous hobbyists working on preserving individual games and servers, the critical mass of users has now been lost for these games. Additionally, whilst the work being done by hobbyists is often vital to the survival of these games, the legality of these projects are in question and are often prone to shutting down without warning. Organizations like the Videogame Heritage Society provide a space to share advice and guidance on preserving video games but the sheer breadth of shut down and discontinued games means that a collaboration between hobbyists, organizations and game developers is what is required to begin solving this issue. It is also worth noting that Always-Online DRM is a key issue in this area as if the servers shut down where a game has this type of DRM, then even the singleplayer part of the game can no longer be played without DRM circumvention, which is not legal. Darkspore is a key example of this happening. A unique example to point out here around shut down MMOs is Maplestory 2, which closed its global services in May 2020, less than 2 years after the game received a global release. Nexon, the game’s publisher, released a number of assets including designs, concept art and illustrations on their website as well as uploaded all the music onto YouTube. These assets were released for non-commercial and personal use only. Case Studies or Examples:
See also:
|
||
Legacy Interfaces and Services Offered Online by Major Companies
Legacy Interfaces and Services Offered Online by Major Companies
| |
||
|
Online services with unique interfaces that change regularly and through those changes provide a different experience and different content to their users. |
||
|
Digital Species: Social Media |
Trend in 2022:
|
Consensus Decision |
|
Added to List: 2019 |
Trend in 2023:
|
Previously: Practically Extinct |
|
Imminence of Action Immediate action necessary. Where detected should be stabilized and reported as a matter of urgency. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools or services within this group would have a global impact. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability Loss seems inevitable: loss has already occurred or is expected to occur before tools or techniques develop. |
|
Examples Interfaces to Facebook, Hotmail, Ask Jeeves, Tweetdeck, MySpace and many others. |
||
|
‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice Robust and extensive web archives with strong documentation of search algorithms, ranking and personalization of interfaces. |
||
|
2023 Review This entry was added in 2019 to highlight the configuration of interfaces and, therefore, the ever-changing arrangement and presentation of content. Personalization means that the same query can produce quite different results to different users at the same time; the application of machine learning to behavioral surplus means the same may obtain different results at different points in time. That is over and above the rapid churn in the appearance of web interfaces. There is little appreciation of the implications for the use of online services and the potential for manipulations that arise. Moreover, the digital preservation community, which is historically concerned with data rather than interface, has only rudimentary tools to address this challenge. The 2021 Jury agreed but noted a trend towards greater risk due to security issues posed by hosting legacy technology software and services which have prompted disposal of content imminently without adequate review or selection. The 2022 Taskforce agreed these risks remain on the same basis as before (‘no change’ to trend). The 2023 Council agreed with the Practically Extinct classification and noted an increase in imminence, recognizing that while the need for major efforts to prevent or reduce losses continues, it is now much more likely that loss of material has already occurred, and will continue to do so, by the time tools or techniques have been developed. |
||
|
Additional Comments The 2023 Bit List Council additionally recommends that the next major review for the Bit List includes a consideration of merging this entry with ‘Consumer Social Media Free at the Point of Use’ and or new entry on interfaces of social media platforms, to provide examples of loss prompted by aggravating conditions. The interfaces alone have less impact if they are gone (since many research uses are interested in the extracted data). However, it's an important distinction for us to make that we could end up preserving social media data as datasets in the long run, meaning that the look and feel (which serves a different sort of purpose) will be lost. A number of social media researchers in groups like the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) may care more about the data, but perhaps it is worth exploring a bit more about their interest in interfaces. Without the interfaces and underlying software that enables social media platforms, it will be impossible to preserve the look and feel and even meaning of a large portion of content that depends on particular functionality or interface to be accurately or authentically interpreted, including for evidential uses, art works, design research, and historical / qualitative research. The loss of these interfaces (or lack of any indication of robust documentation by platforms) means a significant gap in the cultural heritage of many communities and even entire nations. For example, some content creators on YouTube may lose access to their content and accounts due to copyright infringement claims or reports of inappropriate content, which may or may not be supportable. The risk of loss is higher if the content is not stored anywhere else. Though some mitigation methods are available through the platform, this issue may only affect a small number of accounts. Some of the content/iterations of these are likely preserved to an extent within existing web archives but not as targeted collection efforts. As we've seen with myspace and other platforms where the platform producers decide to remove content or shut down rather quickly, it can be too late if this content has not been preserved already. The authenticity of displaying social media content from 2014 through modern interfaces is questionable, and without recording the interface at the time, it is not currently possible to recreate older interfaces. You'd think the platform owners would have the older versions saved, but these are not available at the moment, and it would be worth engaging in a conversation about making them available to cultural heritage institutions for display purposes. Some of this information is almost certainly lost already (some through deliberate erasure). The imminence of action depends on the type of institution. |
||
Non-standard Public Records
Non-standard Public Records
| |
||
|
Records created in the course of public administration and subject to public records legislation but created on unofficial channels and platforms and therefore subject to unlawful destruction whether by accident or design. |
||
|
Digital Species: Legal Data |
Trend in 2022:
|
Consensus Decision |
|
Added to List: 2019 |
Trend in 2023:
|
Previously: Practically Extinct |
|
Imminence of Action Action is recommended within twelve months, detailed assessment is a priority. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on people and sectors around the world. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability It would require a major effort to prevent or reduce losses in this group, possibly requiring the development of new preservation tools or techniques. |
|
Examples Content and messages from cloud-based instant messaging services (such as WhatsApp or Snapchat) that pertain to public administration and are subject to public records legislation but concealed from or inaccessible to archival agencies. |
||
|
‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice Archival pathway; public officials briefed on the nature of public records and the penalties for illegal disposal; boundary between public and private correspondence; cloud services administered transparently; export functions. |
||
|
2023 Review This entry was added in 2019 as a subset of an entry in 2018 for ‘Digital Legal Records and Evidence,’ which the Jury split into four different entries in order to draw attention to the different challenges and priorities that arise. The 2019 Jury gave this entry the strongest indication of risk available. This group includes those records which may contain politically damaging or uncomfortable realities and thus be at risk of deletion and may be concealed from archival agencies whether by accident or design. The 2019 Jury also noted that the destruction of certain classes of public records is unlawful, whether or not it is deliberate. The 2020 Jury added the trend towards greater risk based on the ‘pivot to digital’ necessitated by the Pandemic resulting in widespread changes in workflow and in the platform for the delivery of government, with significant amounts of remote working. These changes happened rapidly, often without time to consider the preservation and record keeping implications. In those circumstances, it was reasonable to suppose the risks expanded in size as well as scope. The 2021 Jury agreed but found no significant increase or decrease to the trend. They added that there should be a balance between trying to preserve what has already been created using these channels and trying to educate against/prevent records from being created this way in the future. The 2022 Taskforce found no significant trend towards even greater or reduced risk. The 2023 Council agreed with the Practically Extinct classification and noted a slight decrease in the effort needed to preserve and the imminence of action required when compared to the 2021 Jury review, suggesting that overall risks remain on the same basis as before with major efforts are needed but loss is not entirely inevitable. |
||
|
Additional Comments Even records created on official channels and platforms are potentially being subjected to unlawful destruction through subversion of official formal processes. This is a ‘small effort to fix’ in terms of the technology to export data. But loss seems likely unless there is stronger monitoring and enforcement of the policy around this. Agencies responsible for the public record will not be able to completely control their public servants' use of unofficial channels (but could tighten), so they need methods to obtain from unofficial channels. Very important for public accountability and transparency of the state. Obviously, these records should not be created using these channels in the first place. It is probably unlawful for those in public office. However, we know there has and always will be this kind of backdoor activity and pretty much always a scandal when it is revealed. The challenge is managing to collect it. |
||
Older Open Source Intelligence Sources
Older Open Source Intelligence Sources
| |
||
|
Older open source intelligence produced, collected and analysed from publicly available social media and web content with the purpose of answering a specific intelligence question and that supports crowd-sourced investigation and fact-checking to verify or refute claims of state agencies and rebel groups in the context of historic political or military conflict. |
||
|
Digital Species: Legal Data |
Trend in 2022:
|
Consensus Decision |
|
Added to List: 2019 |
Trend in 2023:
|
Previously: Practically Extinct |
|
Imminence of Action Immediate action necessary. Where detected should be stabilized and reported as a matter of urgency. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on people and sectors around the world. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability Loss seems likely: by the time tools or techniques have been developed the material will likely have been lost. |
|
Examples Social media sources relating to the Arab spring. |
||
|
‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice Offline backup documented and available for recovery. |
||
|
2023 Review This entry was added in 2019 from a nominated entry that was split into three subsets by the 2019 Jury relating to current, recent, and historic sources. This entry relates in particular to materials published at the time of the ‘Arab’ spring. Social media companies had initially taken little or no action with respect to social media content in conflict zones, taking the view either that they were mere technical platforms and therefore not responsible for editorial; or that the platforms were being used largely for social good, loosening the control of the media from oppressive regimes. However, as the Arab Spring progressed, the companies came under significant pressure to monitor content with more care, in part because terrorist groups had begun using social media platforms for propaganda purposes. The social media companies responded by implementing algorithms that removed or deleted content. This had the unintended consequence of deleting or suppressing content that was being used in open source investigation for journalistic or judicial purposes and may have resulted in refutation or prosecution. The 2019 Jury recognized the duty of care that social media companies have towards their users and is in no sense seeking to have that material re-published on the open web but noted the unintended consequence for journalists and investigatory authorities from the rush to deletion, illustrating how this entry further underlines the relative fragility of all social media content. The 2021 Jury agreed with the current classification and description with no change to trend. The 2022 Taskforce also found no change to trend. The 2023 Council agreed with the current Practically Extinct classification with the overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (no change to the trend). |
||
|
Additional Comments The Council also added clarification to the meaning of ‘open source’ for this entry, to explain its meaning in relation to intelligence openly available online, noting that open source can also refer to a specific software or content licence that permits limited uses of IP so this distinction would be helpful for readers. This is important for social context but may be picked up inadvertently through other ways; it remains ambiguous about who has ultimate responsibility for collecting and preserving this. See also:
|
||