1. Sustaining digital projects
King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Sustaining digital projects
© Tanner, KCL 2005

2. Sustainability Planning
King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Sustainability Planning
What is sustainability?
Big Picture:
Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
For projects sustainability is:
A product or process that can be maintained over a long period of time, especially after grant monies disappear, that is beneficial to stakeholders & the host institution.
© Tanner, KCL 2005

3. Sustainability Planning
King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Sustainability Planning
What to sustain?
Products
Services
Processes
Expertise and knowledge
People
To sustain any of these requires focus and clear objectives.
It also requires a cool head to decide what to not sustain!
© Tanner, KCL 2005

4. Sustainability Planning
King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Sustainability Planning
What to sustain?
Institutional support?
Legal issues and licensing?
Relationships with partners and audience?
Preserving access?
Potential income streams?
possibility of charging
other income streams
new grants?
Risk and reward assessment
© Tanner, KCL 2005

5. Understanding the audience
King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Understanding the audience
If you do not understand the audience then you cannot plan for sustainability
Audience and other stakeholders define the market potential and value of your digital assets
Audience/stakeholder research
Build evidence base for decision making
Explore your relationship with the audience
Understand audience expectations
Address actual information needs and goals
Understand size and nature of market
Identify areas to add value
© Tanner, KCL 2005

6. Audience surveys overview
King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Audience surveys overview
Know what you want to know, and
Know how you will use the results.
Define the purpose of the research.
Try to find out if the information you need is already available.
How much is it worth to you, to know this?
Which research method is most appropriate?
Who will do the research?
Apply method
Compare the results with your activities.
© Tanner, KCL 2005

7. Audiences – what you want to know
King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Audiences – what you want to know
How large is the audience?
What kind of people make up the audience?
Where is your audience?
When does your audience use your resource?
How do your audience members spend their time? How much of their time is spent being part of your audience?
What type of content interests your audience most - and least?
© Tanner, KCL 2005

8. Audiences – what you want to know
King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Audiences – what you want to know
What styles of presentation do your audience prefer, and what styles do they dislike?
Which activities, attitudes, and other effects do your publications cause among your audience?
How will your audience react to a new kind of program or article that you might introduce?
What is preventing people from being part of your audience?
How can you increase your audience?
© Tanner, KCL 2005

9. Understanding the audience: methods
King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Understanding the audience: methods
Feedback – offer the opportunity to give feedback
Surveys
Quantitative – how many users, most used resources etc
Qualitative – the richness of the experience
Focus groups or advisory/steering groups
“Watching” audience behavior
© Tanner, KCL 2005

10. Building your identity, builds opportunity
King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Building your identity, builds opportunity
Reputation
Experience
Identity
Vision
Relationships
© Tanner, KCL 2005

11. Risk Management
“We have no future because our present is too volatile. We have only risk management. The spinning of the given moment’s scenarios.”
William Gibson, Pattern Recognition (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2003)
Risk consequence is hard to define in the digital environment
the volume is enormous so selection is essential
previously information sources self selected through format, durability and luck – digital conveys none of these advantages
selection assumes precognition of future significance
Risk management is our most important tool to spin the moment’s scenarios

12. Risk Management Risks Consequences high risk low consequence high risk
high consequence
Risks
low risk
low consequence
low risk
high consequence
Consequences

13. King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Information versus attention economies
“The claim that the Internet will replace libraries often is based on questionable assumptions. Three common misconceptions are that all useful information exists somewhere on the Internet, that information is available without cost, and that it can be found by anyone willing to spend enough time searching for it.” Borgman, C. L. (2001) From Gutenberg to the global information infrastructure: access to information in the networked world, The MIT Press
“iPod therefore iAm” Cover headline, Newsweek July 26, 2004 issue
© Tanner, KCL 2005

14. What this means for sustainability
Attention is vital to economic sustainability
Therefore access is valued more than preservation by our consumers who are ultimately our benefactors
In the information/attention economy without access there are no long term strategies that will be economically sustainable
Linking access and preservation to human information desire rather than grand technical schemes will thus be most economically sustainable
The question remains: how do we select what we sustain and who will pay?

15. Sustaining digital projects: Sources of income
King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Sustaining digital projects: Sources of income
© Tanner, KCL 2005

16. Revenue models and channels to market
King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Revenue models and channels to market
Advertising model
Infomediary model
Merchant model
Affiliate model
Community model
Subscription model
Utility model
© Tanner, KCL 2005

17. King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Advertising model
© Tanner, KCL 2005

18. King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Infomediary model
© Tanner, KCL 2005

19. Merchant & utility models
King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Merchant & utility models
© Tanner, KCL 2005

20. King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Affiliate model
© Tanner, KCL 2005

21. King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Community model
© Tanner, KCL 2005

22. King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Subscription model
© Tanner, KCL 2005

23. Sustainability summary
King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Sustainability summary
Understand your audience
Deliver value
Consider the risks in continuing
Who will pay?
How much will they pay?
What models best fit your needs?
© Tanner, KCL 2005

24. Sustainability Summary II – Workflow
King’s Digital Consultancy Training
Sustainability Summary II – Workflow
Select
Scan
Create derivatives
Quality control
Create metadata
Management
Back ups/digital preservation
Administrative tasks
Quality Control
© Tanner, KCL 2005

25. Sustainability Summary III – Staffing & Costs
Training
Equipment
Software
Vendor costs, if outsourcing
Marketing
Workspace
Material preparation
Preservation
Management
Web site design
Overhead