Give a finished project a lasting website

The project is finished. Its public record remains.

A research collaboration reaches its final report. A public programme completes its term. A committee dissolves, an exhibition closes, or a campaign ends. The people move on, followed sooner or later by the hosting and the last person who remembers how the website works.

The work remains across the old site and its folders: reports, datasets, posters, photographs, presentations, recordings, publications, and the film from the final event.

Gather it while the paths are still known. One lasting website can keep the complete record published and within reach.

Use what already exists

Different people produced their parts according to different habits. One folder has immaculate templates, another has PDFs from an unknown source, and the final pilot offers spreadsheets. Nobody expected the shared storage to become the public record.

It does not need to be flattened first. Names, dates, languages, folders and neighbouring files give the material its first structure. What remains uncertain can remain visibly uncertain.

Make it a finished publication

The project's own parts become sections. Reports, datasets, posters, audio and video receive pages and addresses that can be cited. Search crosses the complete record. Where the evidence stops, the site says date unknown, probable author, or simply where the object was found.

Supply the old URL list and the useful addresses are carried forward. When no exact page survives, the nearest useful destination receives the reader. Printed papers cannot repair their links, so the new site meets them where they already point.

The finished publication expects no continuing stream of news or updates. It remains useful because the record is complete.

If the old site has a closing date, it becomes part of the project from the beginning so the new publication can be ready before the old one goes dark.