Sustaining and enhancing e- resources, not just archiving: Five Models for success (or failure) Paul S Ell Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis Queen’s University Belfast TELDAP 2011 Paul S Ell Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis Queen’s University Belfast TELDAP 2011

Summary  Introduction – who we are and what we do  Sustainability Model 1: The Database of Irish Historical Statistics  Sustainability Model 2: The Act of Union Virtual Library Project  Sustainability Model 3: The Stormont Hansard Project  Sustainability Model 4: Virtual Library of Core Materials on Ireland  Sustainability Model 5: The Vision of Britain through Time  Final thoughts  Introduction – who we are and what we do  Sustainability Model 1: The Database of Irish Historical Statistics  Sustainability Model 2: The Act of Union Virtual Library Project  Sustainability Model 3: The Stormont Hansard Project  Sustainability Model 4: Virtual Library of Core Materials on Ireland  Sustainability Model 5: The Vision of Britain through Time  Final thoughts

CDDA’s objectives  To develop strategic humanities e-resources  To develop methodologies that assist in the management and interrogation of the source materials to produce new perspectives and scholarship  To use these resources in its own research and publish scholarly books and journal articles  Concerned with the full lifecycle of e-resources from creation, deployment in research, dissemination, preservation and sustainability  Around NT$350,000,000, US$12m for all aspects of our work  To develop strategic humanities e-resources  To develop methodologies that assist in the management and interrogation of the source materials to produce new perspectives and scholarship  To use these resources in its own research and publish scholarly books and journal articles  Concerned with the full lifecycle of e-resources from creation, deployment in research, dissemination, preservation and sustainability  Around NT$350,000,000, US$12m for all aspects of our work

Sustainability model 1: The Database of Irish Historical Statistics  Give the basic data to someone else…  32,934,018 data values from 1821 to 1971  Mostly census data but also annual agricultural statistics, civil registration information, crime statistics...  Topics include population statistics, crop and stock data, language, literacy, religion, occupations, employment, housing, emigration, industry and industrial structure, trade and commerce, wages, pauperism etc.  Outputs include a book mapping the Famine  Give the basic data to someone else…  32,934,018 data values from 1821 to 1971  Mostly census data but also annual agricultural statistics, civil registration information, crime statistics...  Topics include population statistics, crop and stock data, language, literacy, religion, occupations, employment, housing, emigration, industry and industrial structure, trade and commerce, wages, pauperism etc.  Outputs include a book mapping the Famine

DBIHS Sustainability The ‘Give digital objects to someone to archive’ approach  All data deposited with the History Data Service as a condition of funding  Simple data files – ASCII, comma delimited – and detailed documentation deposited  Early project so no website, limited data complexity  RDMS functionality lost – but the software is long out of date anyway  Sun workstation on which much of the data resided lost once the project lead retired  This is more archiving/preservation than sustaining – resource functionality sacrificed to allow preservation of basic data The ‘Give digital objects to someone to archive’ approach  All data deposited with the History Data Service as a condition of funding  Simple data files – ASCII, comma delimited – and detailed documentation deposited  Early project so no website, limited data complexity  RDMS functionality lost – but the software is long out of date anyway  Sun workstation on which much of the data resided lost once the project lead retired  This is more archiving/preservation than sustaining – resource functionality sacrificed to allow preservation of basic data

Sustainability Model 2: The Act of Union Virtual Library  Do it within the organisation…  Imperatives – 200 th anniversary of the Act of Union, increased interest in the Act, access difficulties  Range of disparate and rare materials  60,000 digital objects  Parliamentary Papers, pamphlets, newspapers, manuscripts  E-content better than the analogue materials – enhanced searching, one stop shop   Do it within the organisation…  Imperatives – 200 th anniversary of the Act of Union, increased interest in the Act, access difficulties  Range of disparate and rare materials  60,000 digital objects  Parliamentary Papers, pamphlets, newspapers, manuscripts  E-content better than the analogue materials – enhanced searching, one stop shop 

Act of Union Sustainability  The ‘in-house solution’ to cut costs – from data capture, to the development of a database driven website  Information Services will ‘maintain’ the resource  No new content added  No big changes to the website  Risk of non-standard solutions  Few sustainability options as the resources is too focused to have mass appeal?  The ‘in-house solution’ to cut costs – from data capture, to the development of a database driven website  Information Services will ‘maintain’ the resource  No new content added  No big changes to the website  Risk of non-standard solutions  Few sustainability options as the resources is too focused to have mass appeal?

Sustainability Model 3: Stormont debates  Get someone else to maintain the web resource…  NT$15m AHRC grant and a NT$5m JISC grant  90,000 pages of ‘Hansard’ from the House of Commons from 1921 to 1973, and with JISC funding debates from the Senate  Web-based full text and page image searchable by MP, place, date, subject and free text  Links to texts of contemporary debates  In the past material difficult access, difficult to use with no integrated index, failed to impact on the study of Northern Ireland, and did not address an interest in devolved or coalition government  Get someone else to maintain the web resource…  NT$15m AHRC grant and a NT$5m JISC grant  90,000 pages of ‘Hansard’ from the House of Commons from 1921 to 1973, and with JISC funding debates from the Senate  Web-based full text and page image searchable by MP, place, date, subject and free text  Links to texts of contemporary debates  In the past material difficult access, difficult to use with no integrated index, failed to impact on the study of Northern Ireland, and did not address an interest in devolved or coalition government

Stormont Sustainability  The ‘get someone else to maintain the web resource in the long term’ approach  Around NT$3.5m given to the AHDS Executive to develop and maintain the site, with a further NT$3m to enhance search functionality and NT$3m to ingest the Senate debates  No funding model to develop additional content, although the subsequent JISC grant allowed Senate Debates to be added  Complex resource with bespoke functionality  Although AHRC questioned the ‘high-level’ of funding given to AHDS it probably was not enough  Subsequently funding was withdrawn from AHDS leading to further questions about long-term sustainability  The ‘get someone else to maintain the web resource in the long term’ approach  Around NT$3.5m given to the AHDS Executive to develop and maintain the site, with a further NT$3m to enhance search functionality and NT$3m to ingest the Senate debates  No funding model to develop additional content, although the subsequent JISC grant allowed Senate Debates to be added  Complex resource with bespoke functionality  Although AHRC questioned the ‘high-level’ of funding given to AHDS it probably was not enough  Subsequently funding was withdrawn from AHDS leading to further questions about long-term sustainability

Sustainability model 4: Digital Library of Core Materials on Ireland  Give it to an aggregator…  NT$30m grant from JISC to digitise journals, monographs and manuscripts relating to Irish Studies and create the foundations of a digital library resource  Up to 75+ journals covering 200 year period and about 700,000 pages, 2,500 pages of manuscript, 205 key monographs  Machine-readable text for all journals and monographs and some manuscripts  Digital content better than the analogue – more journals, easier ways to search them, non-linear approaches  Give it to an aggregator…  NT$30m grant from JISC to digitise journals, monographs and manuscripts relating to Irish Studies and create the foundations of a digital library resource  Up to 75+ journals covering 200 year period and about 700,000 pages, 2,500 pages of manuscript, 205 key monographs  Machine-readable text for all journals and monographs and some manuscripts  Digital content better than the analogue – more journals, easier ways to search them, non-linear approaches

Sustainability of the Journals project  The ‘give it to an existing disseminator of e-content’ approach  JSTOR partner well established as a provider of academic journals online  A marketable resource relating to Irish Studies of critical mass  Content chosen by academics for academics  Provides basic research materials - humanities scholars not required to change the way they work - a model suggested by the British Academy  Material will continue to be augmented – it won’t be a dead archive with new journal issues added, and new journal titles  Sustainable business model with JSTOR with subscriptions outside Britain and Ireland and free access within  The ‘give it to an existing disseminator of e-content’ approach  JSTOR partner well established as a provider of academic journals online  A marketable resource relating to Irish Studies of critical mass  Content chosen by academics for academics  Provides basic research materials - humanities scholars not required to change the way they work - a model suggested by the British Academy  Material will continue to be augmented – it won’t be a dead archive with new journal issues added, and new journal titles  Sustainable business model with JSTOR with subscriptions outside Britain and Ireland and free access within

Sustainability model 5: Vision of Britain through time  Develop an income stream through adverts…  Based on the Great Britain Historical GIS, the first and largest historical GIS in Europe.  Contains census data from 1801 to 2001  Augmented with multimedia materials: historical maps, historical gazetteers, travel writing, and statistical maps  One of the most popular web-based academic resources – 2/ ,677 page views; 181,389 visits, 73.50% NEW visitors  Develop an income stream through adverts…  Based on the Great Britain Historical GIS, the first and largest historical GIS in Europe.  Contains census data from 1801 to 2001  Augmented with multimedia materials: historical maps, historical gazetteers, travel writing, and statistical maps  One of the most popular web-based academic resources – 2/ ,677 page views; 181,389 visits, 73.50% NEW visitors

Vision of Britain Sustainability model  The ‘use Google Ads approach’  Standard Adsense agreement  Income from adverts concerning books, services and more  Location specific advertising  NT$60,000 monthly income with month on month increase  But, only viable with a popular resource  The ‘use Google Ads approach’  Standard Adsense agreement  Income from adverts concerning books, services and more  Location specific advertising  NT$60,000 monthly income with month on month increase  But, only viable with a popular resource

Sustainability challenges  Preservation is not usually the same as sustainability  Key, core, strategic resources are always going to be easier to sustain  Critical mass is probably important: so should emphasis be placed on e-Science and particularly the Data Grid to integrate materials?  Should sparse funding be concentrated in terms of resource collection and management in Expert Centres in ICT to achieve economies of scale and best practice – the Data Archive argument?  Will Institutional Repositories work?  Are funders being fair in not funding sustaining resources?  What about small data silos?  Does e-scholarship need to deliver so that resources are more valued?  Preservation is not usually the same as sustainability  Key, core, strategic resources are always going to be easier to sustain  Critical mass is probably important: so should emphasis be placed on e-Science and particularly the Data Grid to integrate materials?  Should sparse funding be concentrated in terms of resource collection and management in Expert Centres in ICT to achieve economies of scale and best practice – the Data Archive argument?  Will Institutional Repositories work?  Are funders being fair in not funding sustaining resources?  What about small data silos?  Does e-scholarship need to deliver so that resources are more valued?

Conclusion 1.Give the digital objects to someone else to look after solution 2.The keeping everything in house solution 3.Get someone else to disseminate the content solution 4.The subscription solution 5.Advertising revenue solution 1.Give the digital objects to someone else to look after solution 2.The keeping everything in house solution 3.Get someone else to disseminate the content solution 4.The subscription solution 5.Advertising revenue solution