2

Planning and managing digitisation projects

Successful digitisation projects are the products of successful planning. Planning digitisation projects strategically will improve the quality of the project, assure a smooth and efficient workflow, and also reduce the overall cost of the project. A methodical approach will save time, effort and resources in the long run. Therefore, an ‘investment in this kind of planning will be amply repaid over the life of the project’ (NINCH, 2002).

According to Tanner (2001), at least one-third of technology-based projects that fail do so because of inadequate project management and control. Another third fail because objectives are not defined or the people involved in the project are not familiar with the project’s scope and complexity. Most of the rest fail because of problems with communications. Only a small percentage of failed technology projects do so as a result of problems with the technology itself. Tanner concludes, ‘an essential element to project planning is to ensure that the purpose of the project (or vision) is clear and is communicated to all involved’.

Knowing the purpose of the project and specifying clear goals is essential to success. Taking time to talk about issues and outcomes with people involved in the project will help clarify the project goals. Questions to ask and discuss include: What are the potential outcomes of the project? Does this digitisation project help the institution achieve its goals and missions? What are the target audiences? What should the final product look like? What are reasonable expenses for this project? What resources are available in-house? What kinds of funding are available?

Key components of a digitisation cycle

All digitisation projects follow a similar lifecycle through development and delivery. Understanding the steps involved in a digitisation project lifecycle will help in producing a realistic project plan. The key components of a digital imaging production cycle involve:

■ selecting material;

■ designing metadata;

■ digitising material;

■ creating metadata;

■ designing presentation;

■ delivering and disseminating the digital content;

■ maintaining the collection.

For each stage, the planning process needs to identify:

■ what work needs to be done;

■ how the work will be done;

■ who will do the work;

■ how long it will take to do the work;

■ how much it will cost (including equipment and staff time) to finish the work.

We will discuss the details of each of the lifecycle stages in the following chapters. Table 2.1 presents a brief list of what might be involved in each stage.

Table 2.1

Brief list of tasks involved in each stage of the digital image production cycle

Select material Develop criteria Select materials Prepare materials Local selection criteria Best practices Guidelines Special collection Archives Subject librarians Design metadata Analyse material Outline display features Determine relations between items Design file naming convention Design structural metadata Best practices Metadata standards Project requirements Metadata specialist Programmer Presentation designer Digitise material Assign correct filenames Image quality control Image processing Best practices Guidelines Scanning technician Create metadata Create template Create records Assign subject headings DCMS Metadata schemas Controlled vocabulary Cataloguer or metadata specialist Subject specialist Special collection and archives Design presentation Design navigation Configure the presentation system Design graphics Design homepage DCMS Markup languages Accessibility standards Graphic designer Web designer Metadata specialist Programmer Deliver and disseminate staff content Publicise the collection Notify potential users Search engines Library catalogues Websites Project manager Special collections and archives Public services librarian Webmaster Maintain the collection Monitor software and hardware Backup data Migrate data and systems DCMS Project manager Systems administrator Programmer Webmaster

Project management

The best practices for managing a digitisation project depend on the scale, various stakeholders, available resources and other factors that vary from project to project. However, several basic project management practices are critical to the success of all digitisation projects, including leadership, communication, documentation, workflow planning and prototyping.

Leadership

Leadership is a critical element for completing a digitisation project successfully. Each digitisation project must have a manager or a management team who takes responsibility for all aspects of the project. The manager must be knowledgeable about all components and stages of digitisation, standards and best practices, and issues and potential problems related to digitisation. But in order to be a good leader, the manager must also be able to inspire, motivate and influence the people involved in the project. It is often said, ‘you lead people and manage things’. A good project manager must, of course, do both.

One of the most effective ways to lead is by example. Setting goals, establishing a project plan with milestones, developing procedures, guidelines and workflow, creating and ensuring communication channels, reviewing progress, controlling quality, involving all stakeholders at the right time and place during the project, directing project implementation, and so forth, are responsibilities of project management that should set the tone for how a project will be implemented.

Leadership also involves being able to anticipate and plan for issues that may arise during the project. Project management should identify the risks and uncertainties that might affect the project and develop contingency plans for dealing with them. In addition, good project managers must be aware of the larger needs of their organisation and stakeholders so they can lead their projects towards those goals and suggest future projects that are strategically important.

Communication

Good communication is also key for successful project management. As Chapman points out:

Good management is largely an act of communication. If the people who work on the project understand the desired outcomes, they will provide better services; they will be aware of their individual contribution and how it relates to what others are doing; they will know why they are digitizing collections (the vision thing); and, perhaps most importantly, they will be better at recognizing when things go wrong. (Chapman, 2000)

Communication may take many forms and utilise different media and channels. Good communication is a prerequisite to many other project management practices such as leadership and documentation. Communication must be managed to ensure that necessary information is gathered and disseminated appropriately.

Any digitisation project, whether small or large, collaborative or institutional, will involve a group of people with different responsibilities. For example, an archivist or special collections librarian will need to select materials; a technician or student worker will scan the materials; a metadata specialist or a cataloguer will create the metadata, and a webmaster will design the presentation. The information technology (IT) staff will need to provide server, storage and other infrastructure. Although in small institutions, one person may carry multiple duties, it is rare that one person has all the skills needed for a digitisation project. If a project involves more than one person, there must be good communication to let people involved know their duties and desired outcomes, when they should accomplish their task, how their work relates to other people’s work, and who to contact if they have any questions or problems related to the project.

Large collaborative projects often form several committees to take responsibility for different aspects of the project. For example, a management committee is responsible for managing the project, obtaining funding, hiring or assigning staff, and making decisions on major issues of the project. A selection committee is responsible for developing selection criteria and selecting material for digitisation. A technical committee is responsible for selecting software and hardware, designing the system architecture, establishing technical specifications, resolving technical problems and issues, and so on. A metadata committee is responsible for assuring the project follows relevant metadata standards and best practices, developing guidelines for creating metadata records, etc. A web design...