Find, save, check
Chapter 05 / 18
Keep what you find
A page may change tomorrow. Keep a record of what you saw today.
Keep more than the picture
A screenshot shows a view, but may miss the address or other content. Write the URL, title, source, time and time zone. Add your query. Note missing images. Wayback Machine may have old copies, but it does not have every day.
Keep the original
A hash helps compare saved files. It does not say the file is true or safe. Put your marks on a work copy. WARC holds web records. WACZ puts archive data and extra information in a package. Open and check the saved copy.
The record path
Enlarge ↗Read as text
- Live source
- Original copy + time
- Work copy
- Comparison note
Same terms in both languages
Keep these words
- Preservation
- Saving a record with its context.
- Collection log
- What did you do, when, and with which source?
- SHA-256
- Makes a hash value from file bytes.
- Archive time
- When an archive saved its copy.
- Baseline
- The first state used for a later comparison.
A small example
Let’s do it together
At 10:00 the notice says ‘Open’. At 16:00 it says ‘Closed’. Keep both records.
Save the first record with its URL and UTC time. This is your baseline.
Save the new record as another file. Do not overwrite the first.
Write the change: which word changed? Say if you do not know the exact change time.
From my research notes · Real record
Kīlauea: keeping a source copy
This is a real USGS camera record. It brings together daily views from 14 April to 20 August 2018. Below is a saved copy of the original video.
Saved original video
40-second silent camera sequence. The dates appear in the image. The original file is unchanged. USGS / Hawaiian Volcano Observatory · Public Domain
Open the archive record
- Saved
- 2026-09-15
- SHA-256
3f9d71ee6ad3b1385687e330dc3ba6a211d958514fad4b0c0259b33fd372cb63
Read the record
- The source page is dated 28 August 2018. That is not the date of every frame.
- The archive record gives the save date, 15 September 2026, and a SHA-256 hash.
What I can write
I keep the video, source link, save date and hash together. Later I can check if I have the same file.
Where I stop
A hash checks file identity. It does not prove that a story about the event is true. This is a video archive, not an archived web page.
These are existing public records. The images are resized for reading; no new image detail was generated.
Close the notes. Think first.
Your turn
A URL gives 404 today. Should you delete its old record?
Read the explanation
No. 404 is the response now. It does not show the old page never existed. Save today’s check separately.
Reading record
Only on this browser. These marks are not test results.Sources
I used my study notes and wrote new practice examples. The source PDF is not distributed here.
About the sources and rights