Does thinking about web projects for digital libraries make you feel as though you're trapped between a rock and a hard place? You will need to engage digital library partners and stakeholders; collect and analyze diverse data streams to understand use of your current digital library; define the roles of project team members; develop a comprehensive communication plan that serves a diverse audience; produce and disseminate project plans; and that’s all before web development of the project even begins! Talk about a Sisyphean task! Instead of pushing that rock up the mountain only to have it tumble back down again, join us for a presentation that highlights effective strategies for planning digital library web projects. This presentation will describe the planning process for the University of Houston Digital Library Redesign Project. We’ll tell you how we rocked it and we’ll point out where things got rocky. No matter what web project you are hoping to initiate for your digital library, you can be the project planning rock star.
23. Collaborative Decision Making
• Cut apart parts of project request and
prioritized features as mandatory and desired
• Frequent emails
• Meetings at major advancements or when
more discussion was needed
25. Project Plan Challenges
and Lessons Learned
• Each Project Lead was responsible for
different sections
• Used Google Docs
– Kept track of versions/changes
– Utilized commenting features
• Developer involvement
• Balance between creativity and exact
specifications
27. Different Understandings
• Audiences for Project Plan
• Scrum and agile product development
• CONTENTdm
• Ongoing usability testing
• Feedback
• Deadlines
29. Take Aways
• Define roles and responsibilities when
establishing a project team
• Communicate
• Manage expectations
• Be realistic about time estimates
30. Photo Credits
1. John Rudolph http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnrudolph/5865618809/
2. University of Houston Digital Library http://digital.lib.uh.edu/
3. randallo http://www.flickr.com/photos/randallo/4833097511/
4. Martin Burns http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinb/29121316/
5. Chuck Coker http://www.flickr.com/photos/caveman_92223/2692883227/
6. Ziggy Stardust [citation]
7. Klaus Hiltscher http://www.flickr.com/photos/khiltscher/3209570557/
8. Jim Summaria http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mick_Jagger_and_Ron_Wood_-
_Rolling_Stones_-_1975.jpg
9. Brent Pearson http://www.flickr.com/photos/brentbat/1557036097/
10. Steve Lacy http://www.flickr.com/photos/steve_lacy/140153319/
11. Dom W http://www.flickr.com/photos/dom_w/1508297891/
31. Rachel Vacek
Head of Web Services
revacek@uh.edu
R. Niccole Westbrook
Coordinator of Digital Operations
rnwestbrook@uh.edu
UH Digital Library Redesign
http://weblogs.lib.uh.edu/uhdlredesign/
UH Digital Library
http://digital.lib.uh.edu/
(New design will go live in June 2013)
TCDL 2013
Thanks!
Hinweis der Redaktion
Define UHDL Redesign ProjectGive Context. goals, stuff from project proposal
Communication
Define roles and responsibilities and project team - if we had structured the group differently, maybe we could have been more efficient, include developers earlier in process, or include special collections - representatives and sometimes we guess wrong.
Project timeline - evolved into a task listtook longer than we expected, over ambitious, be conscientious of time
data gatheringanalytics (click, usage)usabilityfocus groups - partners, stakeholders, users, etc.
This is from one of the data reports and showed how most users land on item pages, and other results most of those came from Google.
Heat map from Crazy Egg. Shows where people click on pages.
From a presentation to key stakeholders about findings and recommendations from user studies.
Collaborative decision making –meetings on topics in small chunkstook longer than we expected, over ambitious, be conscientious of time
wrote a document – 36 pages!!!writing process- nicci and I each wrote different sectionNicci – add pic of THE BINDERaudience of the documentsoliciting (or not) feedback – politics took longer than we expected, over ambitious, be conscientious of time
transition to another department - different audience (developers), different expectationsProject planning continues on
Realize that planning takes longer than development - recommend balance in planning and time managementEstablish project team, defining rolesCommunication - giving and receiving (feedback) – talk about blogManaging expectations