At the first Future Histories workshop meeting we decided to carry forward discussions by exploring 3 possible models for finding a way to make our digital resources sustainable and future-proof. The following models have been proposed by Lucy Reynolds, William Fowler, and Daisy Abbott & Mick Eadie:
1. A minimalist approach, which would be a completely devolved network where each project looks after itself but links to other related projects/resources
Design a very simple site using open source programmes such as Typo 3 or Joohla. This provides a simple content management system which is free, easy to set up and configure.
You will need to find a website, for example Bluehost which can store the data online for a very reasonable cost. Thus this does away with the need for a physical place to store/host your data. It’s perfectly secure too – and is what we use for most of our data.
Most content management systems as above have a Flickr plug in (or another photo site) which allows you to show and store the images, in this case your scanned papers etc. Thus you can store your scanned materials in Flickr but they will appear within the context of your own website.
This ‘minimalist’ website allows you can use the many open source resources available online to create and service a functional website and content management system at little cost – but which will be secure and fast. It can also be tagged/linked to other book marking Web 2 sites which encourage sharing information about good sites. See del.icio.us for an idea of what I mean here.
- Lucy Reynolds
2. An umbrella website, which acts as a single portal to give centralised access to a number of related projects
Each resource is described and contextualised on the portal page;
Each resource maintains a discrete identity;
The portal enables searches that extend through all the resources.
Strengths
Searching through all sites highlights the different resources available and increases the use of each;
Each resource remains autonomous while the outcomes for the researcher increases;
Similar information may be presented very differently within each resource encouraging a greater contextualisation in the researcher’s field of interest;
Issues
The problems of practical and financial sustainability remain, however, the promotion and increase of use of each resource would assist the arguments for funding and support.
Are all databases created the same way, is it practical/possible to link them?
Would users go through the portal if their interests remain specific?
How could this be encouraged?
How user-friendly can this be made?
Who maintains responsibility for the portal?
This would require a team of representatives from each resource.
How would updates and changes to each resource affect the portal site?
Would there be any cross-institutional political concerns around identity and this cross-mapping?
- William Fowler
3. A larger self-sustaining and extensible project, involving collaboration between institutions
This is a proposal to solve all issues as regards sustainability and long term access to collections of Moving Image and Sound material, and their associated ephemera, funded through UK HE funding streams and beyond by:
building a consortium of key stakeholders and collection owners and developing a terms of reference between them;
setting up a dedicated Web Gateway that provides access to the consortium’s digital content for the long term;
building on the original consortium to allow for all UK education funded collections to be potentially made available through the Gateway.
The aims of the project are
To build a critical mass of moving image and sound material accessible from one place;
To facilitate meaningful cross searching of many partner collections;
To provide a stable technical environment that is self sustaining and available long term;
To allow registered users/collections access to upload content and interact with the system easily themselves, thus automating the system.
Budget and Staff Costs
The project will be over three years and will require £500,000 of funding to set up.
The project will require the following staffing:
1 full time project manager
1 full time project officer
1 full time software developer
Sustainability
After the initial funding period is complete, the Gateway will be self-sustaining. This will be achieved through a fully automated system that requires minimal server and website maintenance. The Consortium will agree as part of their terms of reference to share the cost of this. Estimated at around 2k per annum for server hosting and maintenance and 4k for and web editor working one day per week. Thus a total of £6000 per year will be sought from the partner institutions. This will mean the core system will be maintained, and through the automating of the content provision mechanisms, will be able to grow of its own accord.
Workpackages
WP1: Build a technical infrastructure, including streaming server and storage issues as regards storing high quality digital files, and database development.
WP2: Develop common indexing schema, and assess the implementation of user generated tagging/metadata and ontology development to assist this.
WP3: Build web front end.
WP4: Develop prototype APIs to allow for remote uploading and cataloguing of content.
WP5: Usability testing of tools and website.
WP6: Publicity and outreach into the community.
- Daisy Abbott & Mick Eadie
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