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