Work Plan 2011–12

The main objectives of the 2011/2012 phase of activity are:

Digital Content Sustainability Syllabus

A development and training programme to foster the development of a new generation of “digital entrepreneurs” within institutions and organisations who can support the long term sustainability and exploitation of cultural, educational and not-for-profit digital content. The aim of this programmet is to scope, design, pilot and test a holistic and integrated syllabus, from which we will create a course which will aim to provide leaders of digital projects  with the skills, resources, mindsets and networks to help them create robust and sustainable strategies for digital innovation.

Business models and sustainability

As leaders of digital content projects transition from start-up to ongoing operations, finding ongoing sources of support can often prove challenging. Many leaders find themselves relying on their host institution to provide many types of support, from in-kind contributions to direct financial support. It is clear that this support is vital to many projects. Less clear is how the institutions’ administrators decide to offer it.  The 2011/12 programme of work aims to research the techniques and strategies being deployed by grant-funded digital content project leaders in the higher education and cultural heritage sectors in eliciting support from institutional decision makers, and the practical and strategic concerns that determine what support institutions choose to offer.

Advocacy

Advocacy to UK governments and institutions to demonstrate the value to learning, research and the economy of the wide adoption of the Content Framework.

In order to achieve these objectives, the following underlying strategic areas of activity underpin all of our work:

  • Audience Development and Engagement: The need to understand the online audiences behavior in the development of digital content to ensure that public funded content remains relevant and useful at a time of rapid technological innovation.
  • Internet Business Models and Sustainability: The need not only to sustain but to continue to develop digital content through revenue streams is critical at time of budgetary cuts and economic uncertainty. We need to build on the models and case studies undertaken previously, in order for our community to continue developing digital content for learning, teaching and research.
  • Intellectual Property Rights and Licensing: The need to address the complex legal issues surrounding digital content – for example copyright; licensing; orphan works; contractual constraints – which is one of the significant barriers to true legally compliant interoperability.
  • Advocacy and Implementation: The need not only to showcase, but apply the tools developed by the SCA previously in a real world environment is critical – not only to hone the effectiveness of these tools, but also to enhance professional practice in digital content lifecycle development.