Wikispaces closes and the BNE tries to save Spanish wikis

A couple of months ago, Wikispaces already warned its users: it closes next July .The US wikis service will progressively close its sites, from free to premium, that will disappear at the beginning of next year.Secondly, you can read on their website, the complete technical review that they have carried out over the last twelve months on the infrastructure and software they use to serve Wikispaces users confirm that the investment required to adapt the infrastructure and code to modern standards is very substantial.

wikispaces closes for economic reasons

»We have explored all the possible options to maintain Wikispaces, but we have considered that it is no longer viable to maintain the service in the long term.Therefore, with a little nostalgia, we will begin to close this year», the statement continues.

Wikispaces is a free web hosting service that was founded in 2005 and, since then, has been used by educators, businesses and people around the world.Now, for economic reasons, they have been forced to finish the wikis service.

The BNE has collected more than 240 wikis

This closure has dismayed institutions in different countries and some, such as the National Library of Spain (BNE) have been put to work so that the effort of all Wikispaces users has not been in vain. the BNE l already has more than 240 national wikis compiled from various themes, thanks to the collaboration of other libraries and individuals and wikis lovers, as published by Leaf Router.

Shortly after the Wikispaces platform, which mainly houses educational resources and of considerable repercussion in Spain, announced its dissolution, the National Library communicated its intention to save the Spanish wikis because the service is among the resources for teachers recommended by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports.

»Since it is not possible to narrow down by country in the Wikispaces environment, it is not possible to know what contents are subject to legal deposit to be collected by the BNE.Therefore, everyone's collaboration is particularly necessary to identify Spanish wikis preserve as documentary heritage, before Wikispaces closes definitively.It is a web collection that we call »at risk», and that the Management Area of ​​the Online Publications Deposit launches when there is news of the closure of any site web », explained the BNE through its website.

From the institution ask for collaborators, to expand their network and to preserve more content. Suggestions can be sent to the mailbox archivoweb@bne.es.