Project Plan

This is an edited and updated version of the plan submitted to JISC in the original bid. Note that Month 1 = May 2008.

Work Package 1: Workshops For User Requirement Gathering (Months 1-3)

Three workshops will be organised, in London, Manchester and Glasgow Aberdeen.
Audience: web management and records management communities
Purpose: describe current approaches to Web site preservation and the difficulties (technical, organisational, political, etc.) associated with Web site preservation services.
Description: The workshops will be themed, allowing the project team to describe current best practices and to gain feedback aimed at improving the quality of the materials and ways in which such materials may be used and embedded within an institutional context.
Other: The slides used in presentations will be made available for reuse by others and, where possible, a recording of the presentations will be taken and made available after the event. This is intended to maximise the impact of the topics presented at the workshops, as well as providing a reusable resource. Draft versions of briefing papers will be produced to support the presentations and discussions at the workshops. Participants will be encouraged to provide feedback on these materials, prior to the resources being published as project deliverables.

Work Package 2: Production of Handbook and Accompanying Resources (Months 4-5)

The handbook will provide guidance on the following topics:

  • Identifying ways in which the institution may be creating Web content which needs consideration.
  • How to manage institutional records – so that they are kept for as long as needed, are retrievable when needed, and are retained and disposed according to agreed retention schedules, protecting legal requirement (Web sites are records which need their own system of audit trails).
  • How to manage digital assets – as controlled via Web sites. Ensure that assets are properly submitted via correct channels; that e-learning objects are kept safe and retrievable; that project pages and their outputs are not lost, etc.
  • How to approach preservation and archival care – advice on the appraisal, selection and management of resources which have long-term value.
  • The strengths and weaknesses of existing approaches to Web preservation.
  • Ways in which the preservation task can be made easier, and conversely actions that can make it substantially more difficult (and practical alternatives to the latter courses of action).

A provisional table of contents for the handbook will include:

  • Where is the university’s Web content, and who is creating or
    managing it?;
  • Scoping out a Web-archiving activity;
  • Records management: a guide for Web managers;
  • Web management: a guide for records managers;
  • Assessing an institution’s technological infrastructure;
  • Identifying resources and their locations;
  • Surveying institutional assets;
  • Technical methods to perform Web site capture, and capture of
    related content;
  • What to exclude from a Web archiving project (e.g. IRs, common
    services);
  • Management and storage of captured resources;
  • Are we using the most appropriate systems to meet the
    University’s business needs?

Work Package 3: Dissemination (Months 4-5)

An important aspect of the work will be to maximise awareness of the resources and to promote the take-up of the best practices. The approaches taken to dissemination (over and above the workshops described in WP 1) will include

  1. (a) A public blog for use during the project. This will help to
    provide a focus for the work and to engage with people who may not be
    able to attend workshops;
  2. (b) Promotion of the work on existing high profile blogs
    including the UK Web Focus and ULCC Digital Archives blogs;
  3. (c) Dissemination of the final report at the annual Institutional
    Web Management Workshop in July 2008 and
  4. (d) Submission of proposal for workshop session to the UCISA
    TLIG-SDG conference in July 2008.

3.3 Work Package 4: QA Processes (Months 1-5)

QA process will include:

  1.  Specification and checking processes in the planning of
    events and documents;
  2. Evaluation of events;
  3. Evaluation of documents;
  4. Use of communication channels to support team working (e.g. use
    of messaging technologies);
  5. Use of communication and dissemination channels for engagement
    with user communities (e.g. use of email lists, blogs, etc.).

The QA processes will involve the project staff together with staff from related areas of work including the DCC.