Ministerial NEtwoRk for Valorising Activising in digitisationA Handbook on Good Practice in DigitisationA Handbook on Good Practice in Digitisation

Borje JustrellBorje JustrellNational Archives of SwedenNational Archives of Sweden

The Lund Principles• ”…it would be desirable if Member States could

commit themselves to:/…/– accelerating take-up of good practice and of

appropriate skills by disseminating across Europe examples of good practice, identified according to agreed features (typology)…”

• ”…the European Commission /…/ should work with Member States to: /…/– advance the dissemination of good practice by

promoting centres of competence which can provide leadership and support for stakeholders on key issues and technologies…”

Objectives of Minerva Work Package 6

1. Support the development of skills and increase of efficiency in digitisation by encourage take-up of good practice

and encourage promotion of “Centres of Competence”.

2. Support Minerva work packages 2-5 in the selection and identification of guidelines.

The Handbook on Good Practice

• A first harvest from the work carried out to date in the Minerva project.

• It allows third parties to benefit as soon as possible from the work of the Minerva project.

• It includes the results of an survey of best practice examples conducted in connection to a NRG meeting in Alicante in May 2002.

State of the Art

Examples of good practice collected in connection to the NRG meeting in Alicante indicate that:

• The target audience for digitisation projects differs widely

• Areas like accessibility, copyright issues, preservation, and quality aspects are in focus for today's projects

• Areas like management, work flow are not that popular

• Many digitisation projects have multi-focusing objectives

Objectives of the Handbook

Aim: It should be an output containing a concrete, pragmatic set of guidelines. It should also be a living document to be updated periodically

Target audience: Teams within and across cultural institutions contemplating or already executing digitisation projects

Focus: The cultural area (archives, libraries, museums) in Europe

Approach: “Keep it simple”

Structure of the Handbook

• Background• Practical Guidelines• Standards• Digitisation Guidelines: a selected list

Structure of the Handbook

• Background• Practical Guidelines• Standards• Digitisation Guidelines: a selected list

Background

The aim is to give the reader a clear picture of the context in which the handbook should be considered.

Structure of the Handbook

• Background• Practical Guidelines• Standards• Digitisation Guidelines: a selected list

Practical Guidelines

• The most important practical lessons learnt and information collected by Minerva WP6

• Focusing on a number of ”rules of thumb”

• Divided into areas reflecting the stages in the life-cycle of a digitisation project

Practical Guidelines• Guidelines areas

– Digitisation Project Planning– Selection– Preparation for Digitisation– Handling of Originals– The Digitisation process– Preservation of the Digital Master Material– Meta-data– Preparation for Publication– Online Publication– IPR and Copyright– Project Management

Practical Guidelines• Each guideline description is made up of the

following elements:– A Guideline Title– An Issue Definition (sets the scene and introduces the

problem addressed)– The Guideline Text (a set of pragmatic suggestions

on relevant aspects)– Notes/Commentary (additional information when

needed)– References broken into two parts:

• Online references• References nominated by Minerva partners

Structure of the Handbook

• Background• Practical Guidelines• Standards• Digitisation Guidelines: a selected list

Standards

• Overview of relevant technical standards covering only the most important ones

• Including standards in the following areas:– Imaging– Audio– Digital Video– 3D– Meta-data– Taxonomy and Naming

Structure of the Handbook

• Background• Practical Guidelines• Standards• Digitisation Guidelines: a selected list

Digitisation Guidelines: a selected list

• The aim is to give an overview of the most important guidelines published by different institutions, projects etc.

• The list is limited to guidelines for digitisation of paperbased material (manuscripts/records, printed books, photographs etc)

Digitisation Guidelines: a selected list

• Each guideline is examined and described in a standardised way: – Author – Contributor– Title– Description– Date– Format– URL

Next step

• Dissemination– A discussion forum about the handbook was

opened this spring on the Minerva website (www.minervaeurope.org).

– The dissemination continued during summer and early autumn based on a revised version of the text.

– The discussion forum will close next week

Next step

A final version (1.0) will be presented at a NRG meeting in Parma in November.