Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Good project planning and digitisation Ed I Bremner

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Technical Advisory Service for Images  Advice and guidance in digitisation  Funded by the JISC  Free for the academic community  High quality training  Web site:  Mailing list:

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Back to the Future We will be:  Working with new technology  Acquiring new skills  Establishing good practice  Working with a ‘good enough’ technology  Considering Quality vs Cost

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Planning is Everything Start with a clear vision “If you don’t know where you are going it is very hard to get there”

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Planning is Everything The more specific you can be about what you are going to do....and how...the easier it will be to do it. Now is the time to work it out!

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Planning is Everything You need to consider  Feasibility Studies  Project Specifications  Communication Strategy then you can go into production....

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Feasibility Studies  User needs survey  Collection research (and copyright!)  Capture issues  Conservation issues  Stakeholder buy-in  Need for training  Risk analysis  Budget analysis any of these can effect project costing!

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Feasibility Studies Now is the time to establish your compromises.....agree your goals and get them written down These will be the basis for your Project Specifications

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Project Specifications First the bad news.... No Generic Quality Standards! Now the good news.... No Generic Quality Standards!

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Project Specifications  Project aims and outcomes  Selection criteria strategy  Image and Indexing deliverables  Metadata strategy  Workflow strategy  Quality assurance strategy  Digital Preservation strategy

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Communication strategy A breakdown in communication is the one common denominator in every struggling project. It is critical at all layers of your project

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Communications With whom?  Production team  Steering committee  Funders  Digitisation community  Public Communication works both ways

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Communications How?  In person  Mailing lists  Visits  Conferences & Seminars  Open days

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Going into Production  Understanding the workflow  What affects the cost  Why things don’t always work

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Understanding the Workflow  Create pilot systems Test and time all workflow Find and ease the bottlenecks  Establish standard workflow  Write workflow documentation Capture manuals Indexing manuals (scope notes) Content guidelines

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Understanding the Workflow Despite all your efforts, and all your standardisation....things will go wrong..... Be prepared to change!

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. What affects the cost? Feasibility Studies should prevent any nasty surprises.....but watch out for:  Preparation and movement of works  Any required conservation work  Legacy Data (Images & Metadata)  IT support  Extra indexing costs  Remember delivery costs

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Why things don’t always work The big reasons  Un-specified (or unknown) goals  Insufficient Feasibility Study  Insufficient Project Specifications  Lack of communication  Lack of training

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Why things don’t always work The little reasons  Quality assurance vs Quality Control  Scope creep  Slippage  Reliability and performance of hardware, software and project team  Low standard legacy data  Lack of support (technical & admin)

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. A few things to remember Ed I Bremner

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. A few things to remember You need good IT support IT people hate images Images are big Images cripple slow networks Key personnel will leave People won’t understand what you are trying to do

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. An image will look fine to one person and faulty to another CDs don’t last for ever Photography is a skill All images need a unique identifier Use a standard naming structure Digital archives can be huge Writing CDs can be slow A few things to remember

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. A £200 scanner will not work as well as a £2,000 scanner A £2,000 scanner can’t do the same job as a £20,000 scanner Hardware....breaks Software.....crashes Humans....fall ill Whatever happens.....keep talking A few things to remember

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. No Metadata Framework will be a perfect fit for your project However beautiful your images....without Metadata they are useless You will learn more when it goes wrong than when it goes right Not everyone thinks digitisation is such a great idea A few things to remember

Hosted at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol. Digitisation is not simple Good documentation is fundamental Legacy Data is rarely what you want You won’t know if you chose the right database....until its too late Back ups can fail....and do A perfect image for the monitor is not the same as the best image for print A few things to remember