The Firefox Digital Memory Bank: Collecting and Preserving the History of Firefox and Mozilla

The Firefox Digital Memory Bank: Collecting and Preserving the History of Firefox and Mozilla

The Firefox Digital Memory Bank: Collecting and Preserving the History of Firefox and Mozilla

The Center for History and New Media (CHNM) at George Mason University is developing new approaches to online collecting of history with a particular focus on the problem of documenting a historical subject that has few central archives and institutions: open source. With Mozilla’s cooperation, a new Firefox Digital Memory Bank will become a centerpiece of our recently launched Open Source Historical Archive (http://opensourcearchive.org/), CHNM’s larger effort to collect, preserve, and analyze the history of open source as a cultural movement, spanning both free/libre and open source software and broader examples of commons-based peer production like Wikipedia. By using proven online collecting techniques and consolidating scattered materials, we aim to create and preserve a more thorough record of Firefox, Mozilla, and their key role in the open source movement.

1. Organize and archive Mozilla’s existing video testimonials and ads and make them publicly available;

2. Conduct IM and web cam interviews with former and current employees, engineers, testers, and users;

3.Conduct broad-based outreach efforts to collect other materials such as emails, original IM transcripts, documents, and written histories;

4. Develop contextual materials and publish two professional papers on the history of Firefox and Mozilla;

5. Archive materials located within the Mozilla museum, ex-Mozilla.org, and similar existing collections to ensure their long term viability;

6. Permanently preserve and provide access to the entire Firefox and Mozilla collection to future generations of researchers, scholars, students, programmers, and members of the general public.

Mozilla Foundation

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