National Archives Seeks to Revamp How Presidential Library Archives Social Media

The National Archives and Records Administration is looking to industry for ideas around how it might improve the way it collects and archives social media data from presidential administrations.

NARA laid out its tentative plans in a request for information July 14. Through the RFI, NARA seeks information from companies “capable and interested in utilizing the agile development process to design, develop and implement an interactive, user-friendly President Library website component to president the public with archived social media data” that meets NARA standards.

NARA works with the Director of Presidential Libraries to administer a network of libraries that each host a wealth of written and published materials from presidential administrations for future public consumption.

Previous administrations have used third-party tools to collect and archive a variety of social media information and posts from Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube and transferred that data to NARA for retention. According to the RFI, ownership of live social media accounts transfers to NARA following each administration, but NARA provides public access to those social posts through their respective native platforms. However, the RFI makes clear NARA is moving away from using native platforms, in part because some platforms “do not display the full record of data which could include edited or deleted content.”

“For this task order, the contractor will utilize an agile process to implement the component with data archived from the following social media platforms: Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube,” according to the RFI’s draft statement of objectives. “This methodology defines the repeatable process which ultimately deploys user-facing features in small sprints lasting two to five weeks, with no inherent defects.”

A potential contractor would perform several key functions, including: performing audience research to determine usability and best practices; design a scalable look and feel; web development; migrating exported data; configure a search engine; review and test the component; assist in the component’s launch and provide post-launch support.

Interested parties must respond by July 26.