Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
Management Issues It is important that managers and governing bodies are fully aware of the implications of a digitisation project, especially the need to maintain resources beyond the project. Managers need to have sufficient knowledge to devise and implement relevant policies and procedures including a training plan. Staff and Volunteers Digitisation projects often require the [...]
Filed under: Needs-checking, Project Planning | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
The Role of Planning Digital media is well placed to be reused, and to be available for different applications e.g. as a source of images for marketing, a picture library resource or for an online collections database. There are several aspects to this: The formats of documents or data files, by following established standards, remain [...]
Filed under: Digital Preservation | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
Principles Depending on the scale of the project, certain project planning tools and approaches should be applied since digitisation is likely to be seen as a discrete project, rather than purely an operational process. Perhaps the first and potentially most useful is to outline the scope of the project. This can be done using mind [...]
Filed under: Needs-checking, Project Planning | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About Copyright Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects artistic works such as literature, music, art and recordings. It provides protection for creators as well as publishers. It is also important for publishers, such as museums, to protect themselves against breaches of copyright. Copyright varies country by country although there is increasing harmonisation [...]
Filed under: Legal Issues, Needs-checking | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
What Is Video Micro-blogging? Twitter has been described as a micro-blogging application which allows users to publish short (<140 characters) snippets of text [1]. Video micro-blogging is similar but allows users to publish short (often less than 5 minute) video clips. What Is Seesmic? Seesmic [2] is an example of a video micro-blogging service. Users [...]
Filed under: Microblogs | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
What Is Micro-blogging? Micro-blogging is defined in Wikipedia as “a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually 140 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, [...]
Filed under: Microblogs, Needs-checking | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
What Is Micro-blogging? Micro-blogging is defined in Wikipedia as “a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually 140 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, [...]
Filed under: Microblogs, Needs-checking | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
What is a Creative Commons? Creative Commons (CC) [1] refers to a movement started in 2001 by US lawyer Lawrence Lessig that aims to expand the collection of creative work available for others to build upon and share. The Creative Commons model makes a distinction between the big C (Copyright) meaning All Rights Reserved and [...]
Filed under: Legal Issues, Needs-checking | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document This document provides top tips which can help to ensure that Web sites can be preserved. The Top 10 Tips 1 Define The Purpose(s) Of Your Web Site You should have a clear idea of the purpose(s) of your Web site and you should document the purposes. Your Web site could, for [...]
Filed under: Digital Preservation, Needs-checking | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document This briefing document provides an introduction to digital preservation. What Is Digital Preservation? Digital preservation is the management of digital information over time. It takes the form of processes and activities that ensure continued access to information and all kinds of records, both scientific and cultural heritage, that exists in digital form. [...]
Filed under: Digital Preservation | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
An Introduction To Digital Preservation About This Document This briefing document provides an introduction to digital preservation. What Is Digital Preservation? Digital preservation is the management of digital information over time. It takes the form of processes and activities that ensure continued access to information and all kinds of records, both scientific and cultural heritage, [...]
Filed under: Digital Preservation | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
What Is A Mashup? Wikipedia defines a mashup as “a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool” [1]. Many popular examples of mashups use the Google Map service to provide a location display of data taken from another source. Technical Concepts As illustrated in a video clip [...]
Filed under: Needs-checking, Web 2.0 | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document This briefing document describes the issues to be considered when choosing and using metadata. Why Use Metadata? Metadata cannot solve all your resource management and discovery problems but it can play an important part in the solutions. Since time and effort is needed if metadata is to be used effectively, it is [...]
Filed under: Metadata | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
Introduction Once you have decided to make use of metadata in your project, you then need to agree on the functionality to be provided, the metadata standards to be used and the architecture for managing and deploying your metadata. However this is not the end of the matter. You will also need to ensure that [...]
Filed under: Metadata | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document This briefing document provides an introduction to Dublin Core metadata What Is Dublin Core Metadata? Identifying metadata elements in a standard way enables metadata to be processed in a consistent manner by computer software. The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set is a standard for cross-domain information resource description. It is widely used [...]
Filed under: Metadata | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document This briefing document provides an introduction to metadata. What Is Metadata? Metadata is sometimes defined literally as ‘data about data’. More usefully, the term is understood to mean structured data about resources. The fact that the data is structured – broken down into very specific pieces – enables a range of automated [...]
Filed under: Metadata | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document This briefing document provides an introduction to using Collection Description metadata as a collection management tool. Managing Collections Many collections are in fact groupings of smaller collections. These smaller collections may have been bought, donated, acquired by exchange, or created through digitisation programmes. While organisations may think they know just what they [...]
Filed under: Collection Description | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
What Is A Social Network? Wikipedia defines a social network service as a service which “focuses on the building and verifying of online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others, and which necessitates the use of software.” [1]. A [...]
Filed under: Social Networks | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document This briefing document provides an introduction to Collection Description as a resource discovery tool. Why Do We Need It? Archives, libraries and museums each have their own approach to resource discovery. Traditionally libraries used catalogues to describe individual items, archives used finding aids which set items as an integral part of a [...]
Filed under: Collection Description | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document This briefing document provides a brief introduction to the concept of Collections. What Is A Collection? A collection is a group of resources that are related to each other in some identifiable way. The relationship might be through a topic, a place, a person, an organisation or a type of object. A [...]
Filed under: Collection Description | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document This briefing document provides an introduction to Collection Description. What Is Collection Description? Collection Description is a term which is used to describe structured information about a group of resources (a collection) that have some identifiable relationship to each other. Where traditionally collection descriptions have been included in directories and guides of [...]
Filed under: Collection Description | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
Background Page layout, content and navigation are not always designed at the same time. It is often necessary to work through at least part of these processes separately. As a result, it may not be possible to test layouts with realistic content until a relatively late stage in the design process, meaning that usability problems [...]
Filed under: Needs-checking, Usability | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
AJAX and Usability Although, as described in [1] AJAX can enhance the usability of Web-based services developers need to be aware of various usability problems which may be encountered. Challenges For AJAX Developers Concept of State Once a Web page has been downloaded it has traditionally remained static. AJAX uses dynamic Web page updates which [...]
Filed under: Usability | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
Background When designing a Web site or program, the obvious question to ask at once is, “who are my audience?” It seems natural to design with users in mind, and just as natural to wish to build a product that is satisfactory to all one’s users – however, experience shows that it is difficult to [...]
Filed under: Needs-checking, Usability | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
Background Heuristic evaluation is a method of user testing, which enables a product to be assessed in order to identify usability problems – that is, places where the product is not easy to use. It is a discount (“quick and dirty”) method, which means that it is cheap and requires relatively little expertise. What’s Involved [...]
Filed under: Usability | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
Background A key issue in usability is that of understanding users, and a key part of user-centred design is that of describing the tasks that the users expect to be able to accomplish using the software you design [1]. Because of the origins of usability as a discipline, a lot of the terminology used when [...]
Filed under: Needs-checking, Usability | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
Introduction To Cognitive Walkthroughs The cognitive walkthrough is a method of discount (“quick and dirty”) usability testing requiring several expert evaluators. A set of appropriate or characteristic tasks to be completed is compiled. The evaluators then “walk” through each task, noting down problems or difficulties as they go. Since cognitive walkthroughs are often applied very [...]
Filed under: Usability | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
Background Usability refers to a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. The term is also used to refer to a number of techniques and methods for improving usability during the various stages of design and development. What Does Usability Include? Usability can be separated into several components [1] such as: [...]
Filed under: Needs-checking, Usability | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
Why The Interest In Facebook? Facebook has generated much interest over recent months. Much of the interest has arisen since Facebook announced the Facebook Platform [1] which enabled third party developers to build applications which could be used within the Facebook environment. Since Facebook was developed initially to support students it is not surprising that [...]
Filed under: Needs-checking, Social Networks | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document This document gives advice on addressing possible barriers you might face when setting up a blog in a cultural heritage context. Piloting Your Blogging Service Libraries will often trial a service to test the product and to gauge the response of their library users. Developing your blog as a ‘pilot’ project provides [...]
Filed under: Blogs, Needs-checking | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document This document provides advice on a variety of technical issues which need to be addressed when you are planning your blog service. Externally Hosted Or Locally Hosted Software? Where should you host your blog software? Traditionally when organisations have wished to provides IT services they have either installed software in-house, or negotiated [...]
Filed under: Blogs, Needs-checking | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document This document provides advice on approaches you can take to evaluating the effectiveness of your blog. The Role Of Your Blog In order to evaluate the effectiveness of your blog, you should have a clear idea of its purpose (although you may find that the purpose evolves over time). Possible uses of [...]
Filed under: Blogs | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
Background The briefing document provides suggestions on approaches you can take to building a blogging community, including a community of authors and a community of peers. The Potential Benefits Of A Blogging Community Blogging is often perceived of as an individual activity. However successful blogs are likely to involve community building, whether this is a [...]
Filed under: Blogs | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document This document provides advice on steps you may wish to take once you are in the process of launching a blog. Claiming Your Blog In Technorati Technorati is the best known search engine for blogs. If you wish to make the contents in your blog easily found by others you are advised [...]
Filed under: Blogs | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document The briefing document provides advice on implementing quality assurance processes for the content of your blog, including the establishment of appropriate editorial processes, identification of an appropriate writing style, mechanisms for minimising spam and approaches to ensuring you blog contains quality content. Quality Process Issues There are two important quality issues for [...]
Filed under: Blogs | No Comments »
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Brian Kelly
Background This briefing document provides advice on planning processes for setting up your blog. Getting Started Before you commit to a blog, you need to be sure that a blog is the right tool for the job. Use the checklist below to see if a blog will work for you. Blogs are an informal and [...]
Filed under: Blogs | No Comments »
Posted on August 23rd, 2010 by Brian Kelly
Background The briefing document provides advice on how to establish a policy for your blog. Why Outline Your Blog Policies? Most blog sites and software offer a section for the author to explain a little about themselves and their activities. Developing this section to include the policies by which your blog operates gives a clear [...]
Filed under: Blogs | No Comments »
Posted on August 23rd, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document This document gives ideas for using blogs to enhance services provided by museums. Blog Can Enhance A Museum’s Image Museums cannot afford to ignore the community they service. They no longer simply provide a repository of artifacts. Museums need to be seen to serve the community by engaging with the public. Blogs [...]
Filed under: Blogs | No Comments »
Posted on August 23rd, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document The briefing document provides suggestions for ways in which blogs can be used to enhance the services provided within libraries. Blogs Can Help To Communicate With Your Library Users Librarians have long used a variety of means for getting information about the library out to our communities – newsletters, alerts, emails, posters [...]
Filed under: Blogs | No Comments »
Posted on August 23rd, 2010 by Brian Kelly
About This Document This briefing document provides an introduction to blogs and key blogging tools and concepts. What Is A Blog? A blog (a portmanteau of web log) can be simply described as a Web site where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. A typical blog combines text, [...]
Filed under: Blogs | No Comments »
Posted on August 23rd, 2010 by Brian Kelly
What Is Web 2.0? Web 2.0 is a term which is widely used to describe developments to the Web which provide an emphasis on use of the Web to provide collaborative and communications services, as opposed to a previous environment in which the Web was used primarily as a one-way publishing tool. Web 2.0 also [...]
Filed under: Web 2.0 | No Comments »
Posted on August 22nd, 2010 by Brian Kelly
This blog is being used to generate RSS feeds for UKOLN’s cultural heritage briefing documents.
Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »
