Sustaining digital projects
Mar 28, 2015
Sustaining digital projects
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.
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!
Sustainability Planning
What to sustain?Institutional support?Legal issues and licensing?Relationships with partners and audience? Preserving access?Potential income streams?
possibility of chargingother income streamsnew grants?
Risk and reward assessment
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 researchBuild evidence base for decision makingExplore your relationship with the audience Understand audience expectationsAddress actual information needs and goalsUnderstand size and nature of marketIdentify areas to add value
Audience surveys overview
1. Know what you want to know, and2. 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 methodCompare the results with your activities.
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?
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?
Understanding the audience: methods
Feedback – offer the opportunity to give feedback
SurveysQuantitative – how many users, most used resources etcQualitative – the richness of the experience
Focus groups or advisory/steering groups
“Watching” audience behavior
Building your identity, builds opportunity
Reputation
Relationships
Experience VisionIdentityIdentity
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
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?
Sustaining digital projects: Sources of income
Revenue models and channels to market
Advertising model
Infomediary model
Merchant model
Affiliate model
Community model
Subscription model
Utility model
Advertising model
Infomediary model
Merchant & utility models
Affiliate model
Community model
Subscription model
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?
Sustainability Summary II – Workflow
SelectScanCreate derivativesQuality controlCreate metadataQuality control
ManagementBack ups/digital preservationAdministrative tasksQuality Control
Sustainability Summary III – Staffing & Costs
StaffTrainingEquipmentSoftwareVendor costs, if outsourcingMarketing
WorkspaceMaterial preparationPreservationManagementWeb site designOverhead