Everything, By Everyone: An archival perspective on the preservation of Flash media

Abstract: This master’s thesis examines and evaluates different ways of preserving media reliant on the now defunct Adobe Flash technology. The purpose is dual; both to examine and evaluate Flash preservation from an archival point of view, and to contribute to the existing research on Internet communities’ preservation initiatives. The research and data collection for the thesis is focused on the preservation of games on the website Newgrounds, and of the webcomic Homestuck. The preservation projects are evaluated against a list of archival criteria based on current archival research and theory. Data on attitudes towards them and others’ experiences of them is gathered from online sources using netnographic methods. The projects and attitudes toward Flash preservation are then discussed using Terry Cook’s archival paradigms and Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of fields and cultural capital. Legal and ethical aspects of community preservation are also discussed, as the projects sometimes exist in legal grey areas, while at the same time providing unique and valuable preservation solutions. The study finds that Flash media has a low cultural capital, despite having been ubiquitous on the web for over a decade and shaping interactivity on the Internet. This contributes to the current low interest in Flash media outside dedicated communities, despite much of it meeting the criteria for classification as digital heritage. The research indicates that the community driven preservation projects examined preserve Flash media deemed important by each respective community, and may on a small scale even help keep Flash media alive. The thesis reaches the conclusion that while the preservation projects are created and maintained by people with high levels of technical knowhow and passion, they sometimes lack the resources and the archival perspective in regard to aspects like longevity, accessibility, and metadata that an archival institution could offer. It is therefore important that communities preserving digital heritage both seek and receive aid from ALM institutions, and that ALM institutions in turn appreciate the potential for mutual exchange of knowledge.