Last updated on July 4th, 2026 at 10:00 am
On June 16, 2026, the Arquivo.pt team welcomed Makiba Foster, leader of the Archiving the Black Web initiative. The purpose of the exchange was to share knowledge and best practices on how to involve local communities in the preservation of content considered important.
Here, we share some ideas and links that came out of this meeting.
Vision of the “Archiving the Black Web” Project
Archiving the Black Web was founded in 2019 in Florida, United States, with a special focus on communities that are underrepresented on the web. Its vision is to empower the community to preserve its own memory and culture.
The project’s strategy has involved offering training courses on the preservation of Web content. The training program is called WARC School (Web Archiving School).
By providing people with the tools they need to create a web archive featuring local, community-generated content that captures community dynamics, the Archiving the Black Web project contributes to the community’s self-esteem and development.
How Arquivo.pt encourages community participation
Arquivo.pt shares this view on community involvement in Web preservation. The more people who are able to help preserve their websites, the better.
To empower the community, Arquivo.pt offers training, including:
- A free MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on the NAU platform, dedicated to web preservation. Anyone can enroll, take the course at their own pace, and earn a certificate.
- A training program, offered in person or via webinars, structured into four modules.
The fourth module, titled Preservation of Websites: Do-It-Yourself!, demonstrates how to save web pages in a standardized format compatible with web archives, using free tools from Webrecorder.net. In other words, it enables individuals or teams to create their own web archives locally.
In addition to its educational programs, Arquivo.pt has created services that allow anyone to save content of interest to them, which is then integrated into Arquivo.pt:
- ArchivePageNow for saving web pages instantly
- On-demand captures for high-quality archiving
- Special thematic collections, usually created in collaboration with researchers
Know more
We invite you to learn more about the Archiving the Black Web project and explore the approaches of other projects focused on local communities. Get inspired and see how your community can be empowered by leveraging the ability to archive memories, experiences, and expressions shared across the Web and social media.