Academics Retire and Servers Die: Adventures in the Hosting and Storage of Digital Humanities Projects

This article examines the technical development and afterlives of two projects, the CURSUS project (2000-2003) and the William Godwin’s Diary project (2007-2010) to undertake case studies in problems relating to hosting and storage of digital humanities projects. In both cases a combination of outside events or project decisions negatively impacted the project. This was discussed as part of a symposium for the Endings Principles for Digital Longevity and reflects on whether following these principles would have benefited these projects. Overall, the case is made that we should always be planning for events that could affect the sustainability of digital research projects.