Developing policies and strategies for digital content

From Digipedia

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OVERVIEW

This article provides a short introduction to the importance of taking a strategic view of any development that involves digital content and to provide policy makers with signposting to a range of resources and useful contacts that will help with the implementation of new services.

Digital content in the wider policy landscape

In many countries including the UK the mushrooming of the Internet as an key agent for change has been mirrored by national and regional policy documents intended to direct public investment and public policy to gain maximum benefit economically, socially and educationally. Currently in the UK there are a number of policy strands from digital inclusion, through social engagement to the most recent Digital Britain project that makes proposals for universal access to broadband, changes in broadcast media policy and the importance of the creative industries to our future economic wealth.

It is sadly the case that the rich resource of digital content already available in universities, museums, archives, libraries and the broadcast media do not feature significantly in any of the current policy documents; a fact that must change. There has to be more recognition of the work done to build and exploit high-quality digital content for formal and informal learning and for research. That content can plan a vital role in the lives of everyone if exploited fully. Through the case studies and projects described in Digipedia it is hoped that more advocates will find compelling examples to sell the value of that digital content to those at the heart of national policy.

Why strategy is important

The importance of strategic planning may appear to depend on the scale and nature of the individual organisation and the purposes to which it wishes to put digital content. For a library, the addition of digital content licenced from an external supplier may be seen as no more than one more medium of delivery to be added to the diversity of media already within the collection. A museum or institution such as a broadcaster with collections that it wishes to make more widely available may see the move to digital collections as a more fundamental shift in accessibility. Further down the scale, the development of a digital community archive by volunteers might well swing into action without any thought given to strategy or how their work might fit into someone else's broader policy framework.

There are a number of reasons why due consideration should be given to policy and strategy at the earliest stage of any new development, whether or not the move into digital is being taken for the first time:

Networked knowledge wants to be free - digital content has the potential for wide re-use and re-combination to create new 'virtual' collections. If the organisation sees benefit in this potential - creating a shared body of knowledge - decisions will need to be taken early on to ensure that interoperability is built into the design of the service to be developed. On the other hand, an organisation that wishes to control access to the digital content, for example because it is requirement of a licence agreement, will need to build such a 'policy' into the design of the service.
Broader policy frameworks - as noted above, there is significant national debate about the future develop and value of digital technologies and it is essential that any project, whatever the scale can be seen to contribute to those broader policy frameworks.
Value for money - it is certainly the case that it will not become easier in the near future to find investment to create and maintain digital collections. Compelling arguments are likely to revolve around demonstration of downstream value - what benefit is delivered and at what cost; or the ability to re-cycle the content for a variety of uses - do it once and use it many times. each of these arguments required a strategic framework to make them possible and more, the latter calls for the alignment of strategies across institutions.
Evaluation and assessing the impact against organisational and wider missions - the majority of institutions will need to demonstrate what value is delivered to the mission of the parent organisation and this will, again, call for a structured approach to planning.
Curation and preservation of digital content - digitising collections or acquiring licensing to use content are not 'cheap' options. The process of creation can generate many additional costs as is demonstrated, for example in the IPR case studies where in most digitisation projects, the costs of identifying and negotiating with rights owners exceed the costs of acquiring the actual licences. Effective planning will be called for to create the service, but alongside that there will be ongoing costs to manage and develop the service.

Digital content policies and strategies around the world

Whilst digital content policies and strategies for your own institution will be driven by its remit and values, it is also important to create a programme which sits within the wider national and international framework. Digipedia has drawn together a wide range of examples of current policies from the UK, Europe and the wider world which will help inform thinking at individual institution level.

Digital content policies and strategies: an overview

Further information

Digital preservation policy advice
Draft IPR policy statement for public sector institutions
The Strategic Content Alliance vision

[[role::strategy manager]] [[role::policy maker]] [[goal::developing]] [[goal::national strategy]] 
[[goal::managing]] [[goal::project]] [[level::basic]]

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