Moderators from all six parallel sessions, on areas as diverse as digital video and commercial e-content developments, gathered to report back on the presentations and discussions in their groups.
David Dawson: mass digitisation
- Ricky Erway said that would grab bull by the horns with negotiating commercial deals. Think about it beforehand, decide bottom line and what point would walk away. Problem with non-disclosure agreements. Try to ensure that terms have an end point.
- Stuart Dempster talked about managing mass digitisation. An evaluation report of JISC programmes will be published and available online
- discussed that more work on web performance indicators needed and integrating approaches across various programme and countries
- Joyce Ray talked about different approaches and the Colarado project where documents brought to central stations
Darren Long – online digital video
- set agenda about firstly, looking at opportunities for the use of moving images; secondly to review what resources out there already; thirdly where we should go next; fourthly, the YouTube issue, are we just playing catch up now that video everywhere
- Rick Prelinger – experience of involvement in the internet archive and sustainability issue and keeping going up to this point with free to access and no adverts but the future questionable and who would support it in future – also impact of YouTube on internet archive and reported that much more ‘dodgy’ material than before in terms of rights and in terms of taste and decency
- Murray Weston – BUFEC had to charge for services as needed revenue to keep going and do what they are doing – free access not really an option – need a subscription model – uses of video in teaching environment as a way to change heart and minds, as evidence, as historical record and as a communication channel – BUFEC provides context which YouTube does not do
- Peter Kaufman – TV now the primary source of information in the world and power of the medium cannot be argued agaunst and this good but also dangerous and channels created with certain agenda – environment of hyper distribution – video everywhere but in an archival sense it’s nowhere – dispersed around institutions – education sector should become involved in producing content as well as digitising it to provide different perspective on the world
Stuart Lee – digitial images
- Nigel Goldsmith from TASI – pros and cons of various file formats, tiff jpg, raw files
- Richard Everett from Wellcome Trust talked abut workflow
- Discussion was about what to choose for file formats – hard choice – raw format better standard but it is proprietory whereas tiff is not – other factors come into play such as the logistics of storage – British Library use jpeg2000 as an affordable storage mechanism
Alastair Dunning – digital curation
- increasing tension between traditional models and web 2.0 very apparent
- Gareth Knight – case studies of complex digital resources and difficulties of working out interdependencies
- Simon Tanner – justifying preservation – legal compliance, cost benefit, need to produce further evidence – study by Kevin Guthrie comparing JSTORE with traditional forms of storage
- Neil Beagrie – British Library project acts as a microcosm, works with scientists and cultural figures and looks at how they create digital content in public and private sphere and looking at how might preserve that
Liam Earney – exploring commercial e-content developments
- Dan Burnstone Proquest – cardinal rules for public/private collaborations – before going into it public sector should be completely clear about what it wants to achieve in short medium and long term – this will define the relationship from the outset – also need very sound legal framework so everything clear on both sides regarding rights and responsibilities – range of collaborations possible from straight out licencing of resources to being funded to digitise on behalf of a region
- also an overview of what publishers can bring to the table in terms of research about what’s important to the sector and fact that can offer robust services and expertise in terms of promoting of resources – can add significant value in terms of interfaces as well
- much collaboration can go on in terms of the lifecycle of resources – publishers would like guidance from the public sector in terms of preservation