Indeed, the Archive has been a resource to the League, helping digitize its historical documents

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“It’s great to have a funky building that can host us,” Diebler said. “And it introduces people to a venue or service they might not actually have been exposed to—educating people on what the Internet Archive does.”


With an in-person gathering, Diebler said, citizens have the opportunity to walk up to candidates and ask questions—something that is not possible over Zoom.

“It’s such a big election this year with so much on the ballot,” she said. “It’s even more important to have accessible resources and understand where candidates stand on important issues.”

Emily Capage, organization administrative photo restoration service with the ACLU in San Francisco, who partnered with the League on the forums, said it was important for voters to have a place to learn about the candidates.

“People don’t often get to see them face to face. It’s our right to be able to learn and be educated,” she said. “Local politics matter. It affects our day-to-day lives more than larger national policies.”

For the money and politics event in October at the Internet Archive, Joe Rivano Barros was invited to speak. He is a senior editor of Mission Local, an independent news site based in the Mission District, and has been tracking who is funding the various ballot initiatives. “People just don’t know or get information from the campaign itself,” he said. “We shine more light on money and politics.”


There’s something about an in-person event, where people make an effort to attend, that elevates the quality of the conversation, he said. “The Internet Archive is great because it’s vast and has the tech all set up,” Barros said. “They’ve been very generous.”

In the newsroom, Barros said he regularly taps into resources available through the Internet Archive, such as archived campaign websites, and he also submits materials to be preserved. “It’s a wonderful tool for journalists,” he added.

Sirchuk added that the Internet Archive is focused on preserving written knowledge, but it also values oral history. “That information doesn’t get spread if there isn’t a forum for that knowledge exchange,” he said. “And what’s cool about the forum as a format is that you can compare knowledge in real time, listen to four or five responses to see which connects with you and then do more research.”

The events at the Archive are recorded, backed up and added to the online collection for anyone to access at their convenience for free.

Anson Ho, production supervisor for SFGovTV, live streamed and recorded the fall forums at the Archive building. He appreciated the good audio, lighting and infrastructure provided.

“It’s such an amazing opportunity that they have the community space,” Ho said. “San Francisco is very dense and sometimes it’s hard to find public spaces that big to have people come and gather.”

Capage of the ACLU added that, as a nonprofit operating on a tight budget, it’s hard to find affordable venues for events. She’s grateful to partner with the Internet Archive, she said, and hopes to use the facility again in the future.