Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (case study)
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OVERVIEW
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy was chosen by Ithaka as a case study in Sustainability to demonstrate a real world example of a theoretical business model. These business models were outlined in the initial report by Kevin Guthrie, Rebecca Griffiths and Nancy Maron, Sustainability and Online Revenue Models: An Ithaka Report (May 2008).
Background
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) is an open access, web-only reference source of over 1,000 articles written by members of the academic philosophy community. These entries, ranging from “Abelard” to “zombies,” are written by volunteer contributors and undergo a rigorous editing process before being uploaded to the site. The project is hosted at a research center at Stanford and receives an annual grant from the university, but draws three-quarters of its direct funding from a project endowment amassed with one-time financial contributions by academic libraries.
The project is also notable for the community of allies assembled by its committed leadership; while they are not explicitly a part of the project’s revenue model, they form a crucial part of its larger sustainability structure. Academic librarians who saw the SEP’s funding model as an alternative to institutional subscriptions promoted the resource in their own libraries, and scholars, intrigued by the notion of a high-quality online resource, volunteer substantial original entries and their abilities as subject editors.
The SEP’s unique funding model presents an interesting scenario for digital project leaders and the host institutions of those projects: how should the former think about communicating value to its host institution, and how might the latter think about the value a digital project can bring to the institution? As project endowments and other funding sources suffer declines in the current economic downturn, support from a host institution will likely become increasingly important for digital projects. Could an effort like the SEP be carried out successfully at an institution less well resourced than Stanford?
[[role::strategy manager]] [[role::policy maker]] [[role::project manager]] [[role::content manager]] [[role::acquisitions manager]] [[goal::managing]] [[goal::planning]] [[level::basic]] [[level::medium]]
