NDSA:Outreach Meeting Minutes 02-13-12

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Monday February 13, 2012, 3:00 p.m. EDT

Agenda

• Announcements
• Reminder: Follow http://twitter.com/ndsa2 and use the hashtag #NDSA2 in their tweets.
• Brief updates on the current status of the work of the “Stories” and the “Digital Preservation in a Box” Action teams.
• Update on Organization Outreach activities.
• Digital Preservation Forum
• Questions for Coordinating Committee
• Kickstarter Curated Pages
• Other business

Participants

Guest Scribe: Vickie Allen

Vickie Allen, Katherine Skinner, Lisa Gregory, Deborah Rossum, Bill Lefurgy, Sarah Rhodes, Helen Tibbo, Sue Manus, Carol Minton Morris

Meeting Notes

Action Team Updates:

Storytellers

Deborah Rossum reported that the Storytellers group has been working on a 1 page draft of ‘How to Become a Strategic Partner, and this will be posted to the Wiki.

Digital Preservation in a Box

Butch reported on Digital Preservation a Box. The EZ photo scan folks have done a great job and the website is up and only needs minor tweaking, as does the Omeka instance. Jane’s class is still hard at work and material will be posted as available.

Sue, Dever, Jane & Butch submitted a poster proposal for the JCDL conference to be held in June. In the past we had discussed conference opportunities for outreach and awareness building.

Organizational Outreach Updates

Sarah Rhodes did a great first draft of a one-page document that can be used to guide Organizational Outreach efforts. She has agreed to be the “owner” of this document moving forward, and would like to get additions and corrections sent to her via email, either on the listserv or directly at

The current draft can be found at: http://www.loc.gov/extranet/wiki/osi/ndiip/ndsa/index.php?title=Organizational_Outreach#Organizations

Still open to debate is what we can offer organizations we approach. It was also noted that the question of “Strategic Partnerships” is one that may have to be coordinated and cleared with the NDSA Organizing Committee. The NDSA OC is scheduled to meet in DC at the end of March, and this will be one of many items on their agenda.

If members of the Outreach WG have any questions/comments/advise for the OC, they are encouraged to share them on the listserv or send them to Butch at wlaz@loc.gov. These will be compiled and Helen Tibbo has offered to be the liaison between Outreach and the OC.

Butch said we may have to ask if we can have strategic partnerships at all since there is nothing in the charter for this kind of arrangement. Until answered, we should continue to move ahead with the 1 pager and other ideas. As a reminder, we are mainly talking about domestic groups, and we need to solidify what we have to offer and how much time we can devote as volunteers. Who is ready, willing and able to offer expertise and time? What do we think organizations might want from us? Should we test the waters with one organization and see what happens? Since we have identified an office within ALA, and that office is in DC, maybe that is the candidate for a test case.

After further refinement, the group decided to focus attention on ALA as an organization to start the process. Vickie, Butch, Blane Dessy and others will work to refine the process of working with ALA, but any others are welcome to participate.

Digital Preservation Forum

The folks from EZphotoscan have set up a draft version of the forum at http://ndsa.ezphotoscanning.net/forum/

These was created in conjunction with the Digital Preservation in a Box activity, but after further thought it really seems like a resource that can stand on its own, if there is enough interest on the part of the community to monitor it and provide resources to answer questions and keep the conversation going.

There was general agreement that it would be a good idea, and Internet Public Library was mentioned as a model. Helen pointed out that active management was needed, and Carol suggested folks sign up under a particular area of expertise. Group agreed that this might be a way to ‘bound’ the commitment, as it is hard to jump into something like this when you don’t know what it entails.

Butch said to move this idea forward successfully, he would be more comfortable with an “all in” participation level, especially at the beginning. Scheduling volunteers is cumbersome, and to get this off the ground we need enthusiastic people to help as much as they can so that we can have a strong launch and make it happen.

Katherine threw her name in the ring, along with Butch. Signing up will be ongoing, and not a ‘lifetime commitment.’ As a group, we need to agree that this is something we want to take on.

A wiki page has been set up to document the progress: http://www.loc.gov/extranet/wiki/osi/ndiip/ndsa/index.php?title=Clearinghouse_of_Digital_Preservation_Information#Digital_Stewardship_Forum

Feel free to sign up as a volunteer! The more we get to sign up the easier it will be for everybody.

Kickstarter Curated Pages

Kickstarter is the “world’s largets funding platform for creative projects.” Besides being a resource the NDSA may explore at a later date for funding, Kickstarter provides a way to help the NDSA build its brand. This is through Kickstarter Curated Pages (http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/curated-pages).

Organizations take on responsibility for highlighting Kickstarter projects worthy of attention that fit the mission of the organization. This would have two benefits: 1) It would help build the NDSA brand by putting us in the company of forward-thinking organizations such as O’Reilly Media, Creative Commons, Rhizome.org (an NDSA member!), MassArt and many others. 2) It would put us in touch with projects doing stewardship work and help us understand the new economics of these types of activities and how to leverage Kickstarter for funding if necessary.

The first step is to get in touch with Kickstarter to see what the requirements and duties are. Butch said that LC knows people there, as Yancey Strickler, one of the Kickstarter founders, spoke at the last NDIIPP/NDSA annual partners meeting. We likely will need to approach the CC to see if this is ok. Then we could write a letter and find out what is involved in getting started. Volunteers would be needed to maintain the pages and update the projects selected. For now we will plan to move forward and set up a Wiki page with tasks and volunteers. Carol offered her help with the letter, and Deborah and Vickie offered help with the curated pages. Sign-ups are ongoing.

Developments will be captured on the wiki at http://www.loc.gov/extranet/wiki/osi/ndiip/ndsa/index.php?title=Clearinghouse_of_Digital_Preservation_Information#Kickstarter_Curated_Pages