As a web-writer as well as someone involved in an archive project at the moment, I find this issue emotive.
Yes artists need to be paid, but surely it's better that the works be safely archived for the future than that they disappear when a website closes down? Which is the fate of many works. I find myself very frustrated when a web project I've contributed to - even been paid for - just disappears. I don't think the Web should be an ephemeral time-limited medium and I really think we should support public web archive projects. Maybe those of you who come from an art background and also do installations have a different view and are inured to the work never again appearing in public.
I think of the model of a copy of a book being kept by the British Library for posterity - it's an honour, not something you demand payment for.
An archive is not the same thing as a private collection - in our case at least we are trying to build audiences not narrow them down. Many organisations that have been trying to build a bigger audience for digital works have closed down or cut down in the last year. When there isn't a workable business model for the "publishers" let alone the artists/writers, how are archives going to be funded to pay for works? Public archiving - where previously published and paid for works are being made freely available to scholars and the public - should surely be considered as a service to the artist/writer.
Helen Whitehead
web writer
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