Before you get started with your digitisation project, whether large or small, there are a few things to think through. We've set out seven handy tips to help out your planning.
If you already know what you want to digitise, skip straight ahead to 'Creating Digital Content'. For those of you digitising large collections, whether you plan to create new material or digitise existing material, having a robust selection and prioritisation process will be key to a successful outcome. We provide six tips for creating a selection policy plus a Make it Digital Scorecard (a decision-making tool) and a list of selection resources.
The choices you make at the point of creation, in particular the format that your content is created in, greatly affects how useful and long-lived your content will be. We've provided some detailed guides to help you through the various different kinds of digitisation:
If you want your digital content to be stored, found, and used over time, it needs to have good file naming and associated metadata that describes what the content is, where it came from, and who can use it. This guide is mostly for those managing large collections. We also provide a detailed list of metadata resources.
Acquiring a basic knowledge of records management is a pre-requisite for properly organising any volume of digital content beyond a few dozen items. This guide discusses databases, content management systems, and repositories. We also provide a detailed list of management resources.
Once your digital content has been created and beautifully labelled, you need to make sure it's going to survive the ongoing digital revolution. Digital preservation involves strategies to back up, archive, and migrate your digital content to new media and software systems over time to keep it viable. We also provide a list of detailed preservation resources.
It's always a good idea to let people know what they can and cannot do with your digital content once it's online, and that means managing the copyright. This guide talks you through the basics of what copyright is, how to figure out who owns it, and how to license it. We also provide a public domain guide, remix guide, copyright status flowcharts, and detailed rights and usage resources.
Need some advice on any aspect of digitisation or digital content creation? Ask your questions in this forum... or jump in with your own answers to other people's questions.
