Learning to Say No : Archives in the Digital World

Transcription

1 Learning to Say No : Strategic This is 40 Considerations point text for Archives in the Digital World Gill Sans or another sans-serif text is easiest to read from a distance Dr Jennifer Edmond Trinity College Dublin and Project CENDARI APEX Conference, June 2013 CENDARI is funded by the European Union under the 7 th Framework Programme for Research

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3 What Strategy is not: Strategy is not an aspiration ( our strategy is to be number one ) Strategy is not an action ( our strategy is to seek funding ) Strategy is not the aspects of operations that are important (proliferation of strategies) Strategy is not what you have done in the past Michael Porter, presentation to HBS

4 Strategy in Chess Not to win Not to capture pieces No knight strategy Not to be good

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6 What is Strategy? The continuous and collective exercise of foresight in the integrated process of taking informed decisions affecting the future (Lockwood and Davies, 1985)

7 One Strategy not a Strategic Plan! Strategy is an integrated set of choices: what is our winning aspiration; where will we play; how will we win; what capabilities need to be in place; what management systems need to be instituted? Roger Martin

8 Do I have a strategy? This is 40 point text Gill Sans or another sans-serif text is easiest to read from a distance

9 Do I have a strategy? This is 40 point text Can you map your unique assets Gill Sans or another sans-serif text is easiest to read from a distance to the opportunities in your environment? (but also )

10 Do I have a strategy? This is 40 point text Gill Sans or another sans-serif text is easiest to read from a distance What is the reason you didn t do what you didn t do?

11 NARA Digitization Strateg(ies) Strategy One: NARA will gather and make available on the web archival materials that we have already digitized in the course of performing our agency functions, but for one reason or another are not available online. Strategy Two; NARA will establish partnerships with organizations from a variety of sectors (private, public, non-profit, educational, Government) to digitize and make available holdings. Strategy Three: NARA will conduct digitizing projects on its own with materials that are not appropriate for partnerships. Strategy Four: NARA will pursue digitization of archival materials as part of its preservation reformatting approach. Strategy Five: We will continue to make our online catalog (currently the Archival Research Catalog, ARC) a hub for discovering NARA's digital images

12 NARA Digitising Objectives Provide This online access is to 40 an increased point number text of our holdings. Enhance preservation of records by reducing wear and tear on the originals for reference and reproduction. While digitizing for access has some preservation benefits, it is not the same as preservation digitizing. We will not destroy or deaccession any originals that are digitized for access. Gill Sans or another sans-serif text is easiest to read from a distance Provide access to those materials that can no longer be accessed in their original format. Enhance users' understanding of records authenticity and archival context (e.g., who created the records; why were they created; how were they used). Use resources effectively. For example, original records that have been digitized may be relocated to less expensive archival storage locations. Partnerships, where the partner provides resources for digitizing, would expand the scale of digitizing beyond what NARA itself can do. Improve our service to customers consistent with their evolving expectations and with consideration of NARA's available resources and customers' willingness to pay for value-added or convenience services. Promote equitable access to Government information by the public.

13 Smithsonian Institution Digitization Strategic Plan Goal 1: digital assets Provide unparalleled access to Smithsonian collections, research, and programs by creating, managing, and promoting the Institution s digital assets. Goal 2: digitization program To pursue its mission in the 21st century, integrate digitization into the core functions of the Smithsonian. Goal 3: organizational capacity Through novel, innovative approaches, secure sufficient resources and build capacity to create and sustain a digital Smithsonian.

14 University of Manchester Library Strategic Principles for Digitisation Content priorities We will work in partnership with academic staff to ensure our priorities for digitisingcontent are aligned to the research and teaching objectives of the University. Communication and awareness: We will communicate the digitisationstrategy to stakeholders using a variety of methods, and develop a marketing strategy for our digitised collections. Funding and resources: We will develop an infrastructure and governance to support digitisation workflows. Access: We will move towards a more seamless interface for discovering and accessing digitised content and make digitised content visible and easy to navigate via the website. Sustainability: We will aim to improve the skills gaps of academic staff/students through improved training and online resources

15 This is 40 point text WHY IS STRATEGY SO Gill Sans or another sans-serif text is easiest to read HARD? from a distance

16 The Trilemma You can have it GOOD! You can have it CHEAP! You can have it FAST! (pick two)

17 CENDARI s Strategy Pilot This a digital is 40 research point infrastructure text for historians** that is easy to use and essential to their research goals, leveraging extant analogue networks to enhance usability of digital resources Gill Sans or another sans-serif text is easiest to read from a distance ** Two Pilot Areas World War I Medieval European Culture

18 CENDARI s Strategy Pilot This a digital is 40 research point infrastructure text for historians** that is easy to use and essential to their research goals, leveraging extant analogue networks to enhance usability of digital resources Gill Sans or another sans-serif text is easiest to read from a distance (but not create new resource content unless maybe it s a critical finding aid!)

19 Why? When? What? Where? Who? How?

20 WHY? Define Audiences This is 40 point text Imagine four possibilities - Gill Preservation Sans or another only sans-serif text is - easiest To serve to read a particular from a set distance of users - To please funders - Because you think you should What leads/follows? What is the incremental cost benefit of additional foci?

21 WHY? Assessing Impact (Audiences of the future?) Sociological Factors (immigration, ageing) Technological Factors (collaboration, development) Environmental Factors (legislation, pressure) Economic Factors ( markets for research) Political Factors (funding, EU expansion, government policies) STEEP

22 WHAT? Inform the Decision This is 40 point text - What is available? (eg. what are the opportunities located in that topdown sphere?) Gill Sans or another sans-serif text is easiest to read from a distance - Technologies - Standards - File Formats - Beware of Success stories - Be aware of the commitment

23 This is 40 point text Gill Sans or another sans-serif text is easiest to read from a distance

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25 Digital objects aren t just for Christmas Content selection This is 40 point text Content preparation (eg preservation, location, pulling, refiling) Basic descriptive and technical metadata collection Creation of digital surrogate Quality control of digital copies and metadata Making publicly accessible (internally, online or wider?) Maintenance of digital copies and metadata Migration of digital objects into new formats and systems Integration of digital objects with emergent aggregators/ portals Gill Sans or another sans-serif text is easiest to read from a distance etc etc

26 What? Start Small: Pilot Projects - Can meet their own goals outreach? efficiency? - Exercise in Focus - Selection process: time? place? event? user? opportunity? - How far to go? What is the end goal? - Images? Metadata? Transcription?

27 WHO? Outsourcing What do your people cost? How specialised are they? How big is the project? What might be the long term benefits (if any) and short term costs? Gill Sans or another sans-serif text is

28 A core element of many digitisation strategies (funding/audiences) Double edged - knowledge partners (APEX) - technology partners (EF - EDM) - audience partners (CENDARI) - content partners - corporate partners - funding partners (eg cross border) WHO? Partnering

29 HOW? Giving Access Means This is 40 point text - Free versus paid use? - Licensing? Gill Sans or another sans-serif text is - All easiest or some? to read from a distance - Content or metadata? - Exclusivity (critical in some partnerships)

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