Digital Asset Management

Digital Asset Management

Project Planning

It is not necessary that you, as the owner of the collections you wish to digitize or as the director of a digitization project, be expert in any or all of the necessary project steps—digitization projects usually take a number of specialized staff members.  We strongly recommend that you contact Information Technology before you begin planning your project.  IT staff have extensive project experience and can help you avoid many predictable, common problems.  They also have resources (staff, scanners, software, cameras, etc.) to assist you, or they may suggest outsourcing and other options depending on your needs.
 
The manager (Bowdoin faculty or staff) of the digital image collection should outline the scope of the project and provide a simple timeline for the work.  If large enough in scope, project management software may be helpful.  IT will help the collection manager flesh out the details of the project and ensure that system resources are available.  IT will also assist in the creation of initial file storage resources and a reliable backup system.

Project Planning Standards
Use of Basecamp, a powerful web-based project management tool is strongly recommended.  To set up your project, contact ktravers@bowdoin.edu. 
 
The plan should specify the following:
Who will acquire, process and catalog the images
The approximate number of images.
Who will use the images
How the images will be accessed and by whom
How the collection will be searched and sorted
What copyright restrictions apply
How many hours the project will require
What hardware and software, (if any), needs to be purchased.