how to create (and keep creating) a digital projects workflow

How to Create (and Keep Creating) a Digital Projects Workflow

All images taken from sites with no known rights or permissions issues. URLs on request.

Kat Hagedorn University of Michigan Library

October 26, 2015

When it comes to digitization projects, how does a content stakeholder know:

a.  how to get an a-ok on a project?

b. what those digital folks really need?

c.  if there’s room in the pipeline for their work?

DPP Conversation Approval More conversation Work Launch Maintain

Sometimes you start with only half of what you need.

DPP Conversation Approval More conversation Work Launch Maintain

Sometimes you need to do extra legwork to understand what you’re missing.

DPP Conversation Approval More conversation Work Launch Maintain

We started by evaluating other institutions’ digitization practices (eg, Penn State).

DPP Conversation Approval More conversation Work Launch Maintain

Our first draft was messy.

(It contained everything we could think of in terms of materials formats, rights conundrums, repository choices…)

DPP Conversation Approval More conversation Work Launch Maintain

We were surprised at how much wordsmithing was needed.

Instructions are a bear to write well.

DPP Conversation Approval More conversation Work Launch Maintain

But out of that information overload, after a couple iterations, we got the workflow down to a manageable series of steps.

DPP Conversation Approval More conversation Work Launch Maintain

Result is: a robust FAQ (eg, how creating better metadata improves access), and a rights and permissions worksheet.

DPP Conversation Approval More conversation Work Launch Maintain

We are confident that we have overcome our original hurdles.

The time is right to sit down and discover what is next for the 4th iteration of the workflow.

DPP Conversation Approval More conversation Work Launch Maintain

Current concerns:

•  multiple repositories

•  digital vs. digitized workflow

•  just “holding” the material isn’t enough!

DPP Conversation Approval More conversation Work Launch Maintain

How do we continue to discover new problems?

A survey?

User (stakeholder) stories?

Statistics on start to finish?

DPP Conversation Approval More conversation Work Launch Maintain

Light at the end of the tunnel? Ongoing process, but worth it.

DPP Conversation Approval More conversation Work Launch Maintain

http://www.lib.umich.edu/digital-library-production-service-dlps/starting-digitization-project

Contact: Kat Hagedorn khage@umich.edu

DPP Conversation Approval More conversation Work Launch Maintain