Developing and Managing
Digital Projects
October 17-18, 2002
WiLS and the Department of
Public Instruction
Collaboration and Digital Initiatives:
Promise, Processes and Probabilities for Success
A Review of the Literature
Lee Konrad
Digital Content Group
University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries
Lkonrad@library.wisc.edu
http://uwdcc.library.wisc.edu
Case Studies: Deviating
from the Script
Script: Lee Konrad from UW Madison Libraries will highlight
specific case studies of projects the UW-Madison has been involved in,
including their role in hosting project materials on their server.
As part of the presentation, Lee will talk about collaboration and how
to work with a group of stakeholders to create a successful project.
Why Deviate?
- striking similarities across projects regardless of scale
- early projects not fair assessments of collaborative process
- success is ultimately user-defined, lofty though that may sound
- collaboration as a topic can convey the lessons learned
Collaboration Theory and
Practice for Digital Librarians
• The Digital Librarian as Social Scientist
– Observation
– Vocabulary
– Models
– Programming in C (collaboration)
– Logic (recognizing the need to use it)
– Dream states (visions, realizations and other
scary stuff) http://dummies.com/collabtheorprac.html
Vocab: The Cool Digital Project -
Envisioned
• This is your project before it begins, the
stage during which you evaluate its promise
with little regard for probability for success
and even less regard for processes.
• Note: this is as it should be…
Vocab: The Cool Digital Project
– Collaborative Process
• This is your project as it moves from inception to completion.
During this stage you continually evaluate its promise and resist
the notion that probability for success is correlated with the
collaborative process.
•Note: this is not as it should be…
• Collaboration is a process and while it implies team decision-
making, it is to be considered a process and needs to be managed
as such.
•Note: this is as it should be…
Vocab: The Cool Digital Project
– Realized
• This is your project after it moves into
production and is actively being used by the
public. During this stage you evaluate its
promise and consider the notion that
process may well be equated with
probability for success.
• Note: this is as it should be…
Collaborative Models: A Primer
• As social scientists, librarians would be remiss if
they failed to develop collaborative models with
which to test their assumptions about the promise,
processes and probabilities for building successful
digital projects.
• Note: if poor research design makes you queasy,
you are advised to skip this section of the chapter.
Model #1: Working in a Vacuum
– the Path of Least Resistance
• Background reading
– Can the Vacuum be Engineered for Digital Library
Applications?
• Abstract: Quantum theory predicts, and experiments verify, that empty
space (the vacuum/vision) contains an enormous residual background
energy known as zero-point energy (anti-collaboration). Originally
thought to be of significance only for such esoteric concerns as small
perturbations to atomic emission processes (digitization), it is now
known to play a role in large-scale phenomena of interest to librarians
as well, such as the inhibition of discourse, the generation of short-
range attractive forces (e.g., revenue streams), and the possibility of
accounting for success.
Model #2: Working with a
Library Committee
• Background readings
– The Structure of Strongly Monotonic Probabilistic
Voting Procedures. by Nandeibam, S.
(RePEc:fth:birmec:98-07)
• Excerpt: Pattanaik and Peleg showed that the power structure
under a probabilistic voting procedure which satisfies
project goals, optimally and independent of irrelevant
alternatives, is almost completely characterized by random
dictatorship. The authors propose a new probabilistic
monotonicity axiom called strong monotonicity and show
that, if the probabilistic voting procedure is required to satisfy
this new axiom along with the project goals, then the
distribution of coalitional power under it is completely
characterized by random dictatorship.
Model #3: Collaborating with
Multiple Library Committees
• Recommended Readings:
– Political Support for Targeted versus Institutional Priorities
– Social Choice with Infinite Populations: Construction of a Rule and Impossibility
Results.
– Distributive and Additive Costsharing of an Homogeneous Good
– The Geometry of Implementation: A Necessary and Sufficient Condition for
Straightforward Games
– Social Decision Rules Are Not Immune to Conflict
– A Multiplication of Solution Concepts
– An Exploration into the Social Evolution of Adaptive and Rigid Behavior
– Preferences Over Education Expenditure
– Consequences, Opportunities, and Procedures
– Self-Control in peer Groups
– Competing for Endorsements
– Computing Power Indices for Large Voting Games: A New Algorithm
– Show Them Your Teeth First
• Required Reading:
– Beyond Altruism, Duty or Collusion. Introducting Solidarity into Digital Project
Management
– Coalitional Provision of Pure Collective Goods
All Kidding Aside…
• Collaboration is a process and needs to be
managed as such
• At the outset of the project, little
information is known or understood by
team members
• Successful collaborative projects require
continual assessment and documentation
of what is known and/or changing
Selected Digital Collaborations
Project Collaboration Internal Partners External Partners
Type (partial list) (partial list)
UWAlumni DSC LTG CTS
MadLibs DCG ARCH
SoHE MadLibs + DSC LTG CTS Human Ecology
Department/s DCG Faculty and students
wipionexp UWDC UWDCAC LTG Uws, WHS
CTS DCG
GreatLakes Other DSC LTG CTS DPI, WHS,
DCG MilwPub, Uws,
IMLS
Envisioned v. Realized:
Programming Logic for Digital
Collaborations
• Sum(known variables) + Sum(unknown
variables) = final_product
• If sum(known variables) > sum(unknown
variables) then final_product >= envisioned
• If sum(unknown variables) > sum(known
variables) then final_product
envisioned
Flowcharting the Digital
Collaborative Process
Project: Envisioned
Project: Realized
Variables in Collaboration
Project: Envisioned
Initialize Project Collaboration
Set Variables 5WH := unknown
Content
Rights
Funding
Required expertise
Delivery models
Stakeholder expectations
(everybody’s!)
Project: Realized
Clarification Through Project
Phases
Project: Envisioned
Initialize Project Collaboration
Set Variables 5WH := unknown
Clarification – All Phases
Known Pre-proposal Unknown
Proposal development and assessment
Reformatting
Infrastructure Development
Encoding
Metadata
Quality Control
Testing
Project: Realized
The final_product of our
collaboration
Project: Envisioned
Initialize Project Collaboration
Set Variables 5WH := unknown
Clarification – All Phases
Unknown
Known
final_product
Sum(known + unknown)
Project: Realized
The End User: The Ultimate
Unknown Variable
Project: Envisioned
Initialize Project Collaboration
Set Variables 5WH := unknown
Clarification – All Phases
Unknown
Known
final_product
User Unknown
Known
Project: Realized
The Project Realized
Sum(Final_product + user)
Project: Envisioned
Initialize Project Collaboration
Set Variables 5WH := unknown
Clarification – All Phases
Unknown
Known
final_product
User Unknown
Known
Project: Realized
Tips for Successful
Collaborations
• Document everything that is known early on and share broadly
• During all phases, continue to refine and revise documentation in
attempts to make more about the project known to all
• Promote notion that collaboration is a time-intensive process
• Promote notion that garbage in equals garbage out – collaboration can
save time!
• Seriously consider the possibility that perfection and excellence are
very different notions
• Consider the notion that even though a given project may never
become what you as a collaborator hoped it to be, the user ultimately
defines the success of the project in terms of how s/he applies it in the
teaching, research or discovery process
– Sum(final_product + user) project as envisioned
Project: Realized
Initialize Project Collaboration
Set Variables
5WH := Unknown
Clarification – All Phases
Known Unknown
Final_Product
USER
Project: Realized