Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Maintaining your digitization project after its completed

Actually, completion is an illusion. There is always something that must be done after a project is officially completed:
  • Fixing typos and grammar errors. No matter how hard you try, they will exist.
  • Reviewing content that has drawn questions and determining if something should be modified.
  • Adding new information, metadata, or images.
  • Fixing broken URLs.
  • Preserving the digital assets.
In a workshop yesterday, someone used the term "slipstream" as a way of updating the content online. I had not heard that jargon before and don't see a definition that works well with web sites. But what the person described is something we know. Web sites can be easily maintained and new information can be added quickly. In fact, some of the content management software we're using can facilitate that work. So it is easy to slip in updates, make changes, and keep our projects looking fresh. In fact, given our current technology, there is no reason for a project's site to look old (as long as there is a person to do the work).

By the way, one idea to consider is to use Java scripting on the homepage so that images are randomly displayed there. That instantly makes a site seem "fresher."


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