The Strategic Content Alliance is an initiative funded as part of JISC’s core programmes. Work on the initiative commenced in March 2006 under the banner of the Common Information Environment. As work progressed, the Strategic Content Alliance was born and the first phase of work was concluded in March 2009 (Phase 1). The second, current phase of work commenced in April 2009 and is planned to conclude in July 2011 (Phase 2).
JISC is taking forward this work in collaboration with a set of key organisations across the public sector, these are: the British Library; the BBC; British Education Communications and Technologies Agency (BECTA); the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and the NHS National Library for Health (NLH).
The Challenge
Content available on the internet, comes in a variety of formats such as text, images, moving images and sound recordings, and comprises research data as well as educational resources. Digital technologies have fundamentally changed how such content is created, delivered, presented, exploited, shared and enhanced. Digital services are now used widely in the delivery of public services and have profoundly influenced public sector provision as a whole.
However content created by the public sector has so far been largely fragmented. Co-ordination has not taken place on any significant scale to share expertise, leverage the most from the public purse and avoid duplication of effort. The uncoordinated nature of the activities to date is resulting in a patchy network of content with different management and business models, and no comprehensive gap analysis or tools to support previous, current or planned activity. In this way, much content remains hidden amongst the low-quality information that clutters the web and behind technical, political, economic and administrative barriers.
The rapid growth and development of electronic content offers enormous and ever-growing possibilities for all citizens in the UK. But for this country to realise the full potential of the web, and for each citizen to realize their own potential - in the workplace, in their places of learning, and in the home - the full range of online content needs to be made available to all, quickly, easily and in a form appropriate to individuals’ needs.
Read on for the Strategic Content Alliance Vision and Workplan