Improving usage and impact of digitised resources

Paola MarchionniJISC Digitisation Programme Manager

eContent 2011 – programme mtg Oxford, 29-30 March 2011

Usage, metrics and impact:some background

• JISC Impact and embedding programme7 projects,

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/digitisation/impactembedding.aspx

• Toolkit for the Impact of Digitised Scholarly Resources (TIDSR) http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/tidsr/ - to be updated

May 2011• Digital Impacts: how to measure and understand the

use and impact of digital content 20 May, Oxford http://bit.ly/g3nMdE

Usage, metrics and impact:what have projects found out?

full report out in May 2011not (just) about metrics, usability or Search Engine Optimisation issues relating to different stages in the development of a digital resource, life cycle approach some highlights here – not a comprehensive or exhaustive listsome high level issues and nitty gritty details some common patterns some solutions some common sense

Some general principles (TIDSR)essential to view multiple sources of evidence when

evaluating impact, not just numbersplan on measuring impact from the beginning of a

project, to integrate impact measures in the designmonitor impact regularly, but don’t become bogged

down by it make impact monitoring an institutional priority and

don’t assume somebody else will install Google Analytics for you

1. Recognising the importance of user engagement

close contact with users when developing a project is key - life-cycle approach

task somebody in the team with this responsibility specific workpackage that branches off into all other

activities different ways of doing this – dedicated person vs

shared task

Engagement Officer developed as part of Marketing and Comms strategy wide range of activities: recruitment of user panel, development of online user network, case studies, newsletter; blog, events and workshops, usability testing; launch etc…

2. Design and serendipity

Designs which allow for more serendipitous discovery of materials by users and for flexible uses have more possibilities for impact

offering different ways of discovering unexpected content in the archive and from other platforms still in development!

3. Resource discovery

yes, Google, but inclusion within a variety of trusted gateways is important for long term impact (eg library portals), also increases trust in resource quality and reliability

be wary of changing URLs and keep the association between project page and final web site

40% of academic referrals came form library pagesbut collection still not well integrated into catalogue searches

collection can be found through different routes: JSTOR, COPAC, Google Scholar, RLUK database, Europeana (in progress)

CEDAR: an excellent JISC project and theatre resource but project name (CEDAR), project blog (East London Theatre…) and final project web site (OTHA) all different no hyperlink from project page/blog to new resource

4. Cool URIs

Importance of stable, clear and meaningful URIs if digital resources are to be used in teaching, learning and research

URIs to reflect transparent citation style

clear, straightforward and easy to remember URI

Different downloadable citation styles

5. Which Web 2.0?

lots of different examples but opportunities for users engagement should:

be quick and easy reflect users’ working practices be familiar to target users

will remove wiki section because not used by researchers, too time consuming will add other tools for annotations, corrections, bookmarking, tagging, and personal workspace

D-TRACES project: used blog to supplement reflective practice in Personal Development Planning (PDP) - undergrads dance curriculum at Coventry Unitackled digital literacy issues

6. Embedding in teaching and learning

Can be done at different levels and by offering a variety of resources and tools

embedding of theatre archive resources in courses/modules across four partner universities: UEL, Royal Holloway, Nottingham and Sheffield case studies of work with students and teachers on web site

screencasts for teachers to introduce resources preferred to learning packages teachers liked potentials of folksonomies for work with students once they understood

what they could do with it

7. Non-users

Engaging non-users can be as important as consulting current users

high volume of users but mainly general public, local and family historians data sets relevant to researchers but not many researchers use the site project is consulting with current non-users and creating new tools for researchers

8. Licencing content

clear licencing information on web siteopen content to collections will increase impacthowever, could charging for part of the content

add to the “perceived” value of content?

Clear licencing information on each page of the web site

anecdotal evidence:Institute of Historical Research: difficulty in getting resources listed by libraries until they introduced an element of subscription content perception of “value” of a resource if there is a charge/user has to pay for it? some non-commercial resources are not designed and marketed as well as one by commercial publishers

9. Use impact metrics to enhance impact

Plant the seeds for measuring the impact of your resource when doing comms and dissemination activities, eg: If you plan to measure how much your

resource in being talked about in blogs, make sure you do promote your website through blogs in the first place

Same about citations, hyperlinks etc…

10. Sustainability planning

Build in sustainability strategies from the beginning of your project

Identify a “champion” at the end of the project who will make sure the resource is looked after and sustained