Publication Date
1-1-2026
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Internet Histories
DOI
10.1080/24701475.2026.2672795
Abstract
Web-based data dashboards provide critical points of access for users hoping to gain knowledge concerning environmental phenomena, yet their historical development has not been explicitly tracked in existing literature. This paper historicises environmental data on the web by examining preserved copies of the US-based non-profit organisation Surfrider Foundation’s coastal water quality monitoring data dating back to its earliest crawl via Wayback Machine in October, 1997. Building on literature concerning cultural techniques and the value of processual metadata, the study situates Surfrider’s data curation practices within broader shifts in web development during the identified historical period. Methodologically, it combines media archaeology and digital forensics to analyse changes in data formats, web design, and documentation practices. Findings show the site shifting from static HTML with rich sensory descriptions in 1997 to a dynamic web-based dashboard in 2025, which also correlates with increased reliance on specialised external libraries and standardised forms of representation. Considering these changes within the framework of changing cultural techniques for both scientific knowledge production and web development, the paper shows how the changing social impacts of data curation on the web exemplify broader social issues concerning knowledge production in digital environments.
Keywords
digital preservation, environmental science, sociology of knowledge, Web archives
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Department
Information
Recommended Citation
James A. Hodges. "Historicising Web-Based Environmental Data Dashboards: surfrider.org, 1997-2025" Internet Histories (2026). https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2026.2672795
Comments
This is an Accepted Manuscript version of the following article, accepted for publication in Internet Histories. It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.