Conclusions

 

Our group findings of the Internet Archive and the Wayback Machine indicate that the service is a valuable and unique one in which many types of people interact. Our research was the first phase in the preliminary findings area and we recommend the development of further phases for a more comprehensive use profile. Future research methods could be to conduct extensive field study and interviews with more users, an online survey for Archive visitors and implementation of design considerations that are more user-centric. A thorough future examination of the archive should also look for areas of growth and expansion of the Archive based on current usage. For example, if users are interested in the bottom statistical portion of the Archive, then it should be made more prominent on the opening page.

Whereas our findings often pointed in directions we expected, there were also some unexpected findings that we were pleased to discover and present to the IA Founder. The typical archive user is a computer professional, but we did not expect there to be a significant use population represented by homemakers and hobbyists looking for recipes and articles. The unexpectedness of the use was incorporated into our recommendations for a friendlier interface that also prominently explains its technical capacity and search mechanism.

Our experience and work with the Archive indicated to us that there is a wealth of valuable information contained within the Archive and tapping into the best way to make it available should be the ultimate concern in meeting the vision of the Archive and making it a tool that users return to again and again.