What resources are we focussing on?: Difference between revisions

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*What resources do you have available?
[[File:Question what.png|400px|right|What?]]
      Is this entirely new, or an extension of something you are doing already in part or in whole?
====What resources do you have available?====
      Think about: staffing/skills, technical infrastructure (storage, processing), processes (e.g. cataloguing)
*Money and people/time. Find out whether you can make the case for one or the other more easily.
*Know whether this is entirely new, or an extension of something you are doing already in part or in whole.
*Think about: staffing/skills, technical infrastructure (storage, processing), processes (e.g. cataloguing)
*Distinguish reccurent costs from capital investment costs.


*Where does the stuff come from?
====Where does the stuff come from?====
      Who are the producers? Do you have an ongoing relationship?
*Know your mandate, collecting policy, retention schedule.
      How much context is provided?
*Know your producers and the nature of the relationship. Develop working understandings where possible.
      How much control do you have over the source?
*Understand the amount of influence you have and the guidance and support you can provide to control what you receive.
      What is your mandate, collecting policy, retention schedule?
*Make sure you receive enough contextual information, or can create it during acquistion.
*Define an exit plan where possible.
*Try to plan and project for the types and quantities of content you are likely to receive based on your collections policy.


*Have you got a skills gap?
====Have you got a skills gap?====
      Who is in post already?
*Map existing roles and responsibilities.
      Is there a bottleneck, or too much focus on a few people? Do you have a succession plan?
*Identify gaps or unrealistic expectations by consulting staff, community team profiles and job descriptions.
      Do you need to create new posts?
*Decide whether the gaps or bottlenecks can be addressed by training for existing people or hiring new posts.
      Do you need a training programme for people who are in post already?
*Understand willingness to change - whether you can stop doing things you do now and change job roles.
      Do you need to stop doing things and change job roles? And can you?!
*Define a skills roadmap showing development over time. Include succession planning.
      Do you have a skills roadmap? What skills can you build over time?


*Have you got the infrastructure you need?
====Have you got the infrastructure you need?====
      Ingest - tools for characterisation, fixity, etc.
*Accessioning workstation - capacity to process various media types.
      Store - capacity, understanding growth, redundancy/backups
*Ingest - tools for characterisation, fixity, etc.
      Access - user requirements, interfaces for discovery/rendering, accessibility
*Store - capacity, understanding growth, redundancy/backups.
      Can you prioritise? Do you have an infrastructure roadmap?
*Access - user requirements, interfaces for discovery/rendering, accessibility.
*Consult with other stakeholding departments to determine who has responsibility for supporting infrastructure.
*Are there existing resources within the wider organisation that could provide infrastructure.
*Prioritise your implementation with a clear roadmap. Don't try to do everything at once!


*What are the access conditions affecting nature of resource?
====What are the legal constraints on your digital assets?====
      Are there sensitivity issues?
*Determine IPR, data protection and potential liability issues. Are they known or do they need to be reviewed?
      Are there closure periods, embargos?
*Ensure that depositor conditions are clear (closure periods or embargos, reproduction rights, etc.)
*Define use cases. Define user requirements (as far as they can be anticipated). For example authenticity - will material be available remotely?.


Technical
====What is the condition of your digital assets?====
*What do you need to know - how much detail? Know what you don't need to know. What is enough information?
*Know what you need to know - how much detail?
*What have you got: complexity/diversity, volume/growth
*Know what you don't need to know. What is enough information?
*Do you have large files that are difficult to process or move around your network?
*Think about complexity/diversity, volume/growth.
*What is the carrier medium?
*What is the integrity of the content? Is it sanitised? Can you safely ingest it?
*What is the authenticity requirement?
*Are the assets organised or catalogued in anyway?
*What formats do you have?
*Is there any supporting material that provides wider context?
*What problems do your formats cause? (e.g. can you render the format? do files render correctly? what level of QA does the collection need - e.g. file by file? - do you have the resources available for the workflow? what tools are you using?)
 
*What degree of stabilisation of assets is required via emulation etc
====What are the bit-level problems?====
*What are your Bit-level / carrier medium solutions?
*Save the bits!
*What are your refreshment cycles?
*Find fragile media (e.g. floppy disk, CDs/DVDs, flash drives)
*Volume/complexity/quantity: Large files, complex technology or large numbers of files can be problematic for data management.
*Derive fixity information and check it regularly.
 
====What are the low level digital preservation challenges?====
*Identify the variety of formats, and number of files in each format.
**use format identification tools.
*Determine the problems that these formats might cause:
**decide the level of analysis you can realistically achieve
**pro-active (checking all files and formats)
**approaches: consult the community format registries
**does a file validate against it's file format specification? Does this matter? Can you identify long term risks? Can you check if the file renders correctly, now?
**reactive (provide files as-is and wait for problems to be reported)
*What metadata (descriptive and preservation) do you have? Do you need to create any more?
**Just in case metadata can be costly. Each field should have a clear use case.
*Identify your needs for documentation and the needs of your depositors and users.

Latest revision as of 15:00, 8 August 2013

What?

What resources do you have available?

  • Money and people/time. Find out whether you can make the case for one or the other more easily.
  • Know whether this is entirely new, or an extension of something you are doing already in part or in whole.
  • Think about: staffing/skills, technical infrastructure (storage, processing), processes (e.g. cataloguing)
  • Distinguish reccurent costs from capital investment costs.

Where does the stuff come from?

  • Know your mandate, collecting policy, retention schedule.
  • Know your producers and the nature of the relationship. Develop working understandings where possible.
  • Understand the amount of influence you have and the guidance and support you can provide to control what you receive.
  • Make sure you receive enough contextual information, or can create it during acquistion.
  • Define an exit plan where possible.
  • Try to plan and project for the types and quantities of content you are likely to receive based on your collections policy.

Have you got a skills gap?

  • Map existing roles and responsibilities.
  • Identify gaps or unrealistic expectations by consulting staff, community team profiles and job descriptions.
  • Decide whether the gaps or bottlenecks can be addressed by training for existing people or hiring new posts.
  • Understand willingness to change - whether you can stop doing things you do now and change job roles.
  • Define a skills roadmap showing development over time. Include succession planning.

Have you got the infrastructure you need?

  • Accessioning workstation - capacity to process various media types.
  • Ingest - tools for characterisation, fixity, etc.
  • Store - capacity, understanding growth, redundancy/backups.
  • Access - user requirements, interfaces for discovery/rendering, accessibility.
  • Consult with other stakeholding departments to determine who has responsibility for supporting infrastructure.
  • Are there existing resources within the wider organisation that could provide infrastructure.
  • Prioritise your implementation with a clear roadmap. Don't try to do everything at once!

What are the legal constraints on your digital assets?

  • Determine IPR, data protection and potential liability issues. Are they known or do they need to be reviewed?
  • Ensure that depositor conditions are clear (closure periods or embargos, reproduction rights, etc.)
  • Define use cases. Define user requirements (as far as they can be anticipated). For example authenticity - will material be available remotely?.

What is the condition of your digital assets?

  • Know what you need to know - how much detail?
  • Know what you don't need to know. What is enough information?
  • Think about complexity/diversity, volume/growth.
  • What is the integrity of the content? Is it sanitised? Can you safely ingest it?
  • Are the assets organised or catalogued in anyway?
  • Is there any supporting material that provides wider context?

What are the bit-level problems?

  • Save the bits!
  • Find fragile media (e.g. floppy disk, CDs/DVDs, flash drives)
  • Volume/complexity/quantity: Large files, complex technology or large numbers of files can be problematic for data management.
  • Derive fixity information and check it regularly.

What are the low level digital preservation challenges?

  • Identify the variety of formats, and number of files in each format.
    • use format identification tools.
  • Determine the problems that these formats might cause:
    • decide the level of analysis you can realistically achieve
    • pro-active (checking all files and formats)
    • approaches: consult the community format registries
    • does a file validate against it's file format specification? Does this matter? Can you identify long term risks? Can you check if the file renders correctly, now?
    • reactive (provide files as-is and wait for problems to be reported)
  • What metadata (descriptive and preservation) do you have? Do you need to create any more?
    • Just in case metadata can be costly. Each field should have a clear use case.
  • Identify your needs for documentation and the needs of your depositors and users.