NDSA:Communication Across the NDSA

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NDSA Three Primary Objectives

• Identifying, communicating and advocating for common needs of member organizations
• Convening and sustaining a national community of practice for digital stewardship
• Providing lightweight professional development for staff at member organizations

How the NDSA Works Toward the Objectives

The NDSA works toward the above objectives through three primary kinds of products:

• Reports and Guidance Materials: Working groups produce a range of reports and guidance materials, for example The Levels of Digital Preservation, The NDSA Storage Survey and Staffing Survey each serve to identify and communicate common needs of member organizations.

• Meetings and Events: Regional meetings, meetups, and through representation at the NDIIPP hosted annual Digital Preservation conference are particularly important as professional development opportunities and as a means to connect and network a national community of practice for digital stewardship.

• Informational Webinars: Monthly or bi-monthly briefing, demo and presentation seminars on tools, techniques and approaches to digital preservation serve as ongoing professional development opportunities for staff at members while disseminating information about the tools and services many NDSA member organizations are developing.

What the NDSA DOES NOT do

• Provide direct funding for projects (though member organizations can)
• Build tools and infrastructure itself (though member organizations can)

Communications Strategy

The above objectives and methods derive from the NDSA Communications Strategy.

NDSA Final Communications Strategy Document V9 November 2012

The NDSA Communications Strategy makes a clear statement of the NDSA Mission and Vision. The Mission and Vision will guide all other activities. After addressing the Challenges and Opportunities facing the NDSA, the plan identifies a series of NDSA Objectives. The Objectives are achieved by targeting appropriate Messages to identifiable Audiences through discrete Communication Channels. The effectiveness of these Objectives will be measured by Performance Indicators.

The Strategy document identifies two main NDSA Communication Objectives:

• To establish the NDSA as the coordinated national voice on digital preservation and stewardship issues.

• To establish the NDSA as the key resource for the media, industry professionals, government agencies and the general public for information on the issues of stewarding and preserving digital materials for long-term accessibility.

These communication objectives support the three primary objectives above. The NDSA Outreach WG supports the communication objects and the objectives above through informational webinars and coordinating member presentations and outreach. The NDSA Secretariat will assume the bulk of NDSA communication activity, mainly through the ongoing development of the NDSA:Outreach Toolkit and continued coordination of member meetings and presentations.

Background

At the 3/29-3/30/12 Joint Leadership meeting of the NDSA Coordination Group, the Outreach WG was charged with preparing a Communication Plan to guide the work of the NDSA. Several drafts were prepared over the next few months.

Version 5 was presented to the NDSA Coordinating Committee at their meeting during Digital Preservation 2012 from July 24-26, 2012 in Washington, DC. There was general approval of the scope and direction of the plan, and it went through several more drafts.

The final version was approved on the NDSA Coordinating Committee conference call of October 17, 2012.