Complexities hamper digital content plans

Report says disparate publicly-used data needs new management strategy

Schemes to digitise learning resources remain unstructured and fragmented, despite public sector bodies having spent some £130m since the mid-1990s on digital content.

A report from higher education support and advisory body the Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc), says publicly-funded digitisation programmes have been responsible for the phenomenal growth in learning materials over the past 10 years.

But there are significant gaps in provision; there is no UK register to map individual digitisation projects and there is no authoritative resource to prevent content duplication.

The report, commissioned by Jisc and the Consortium of Research Libraries in the British Isles, calls for a response from public sector bodies.

Stuart Dempster, Jisc digitisation scheme manager, says networked public sector data has grown in silos in the past decade.

‘What we need to do now is ensure the widest possible audience for viable user-driven e-content, and the greatest possible return on public investment,’ he said.

The report recommends forming a UK taskforce to establish clear guidelines on standards and a national e-content strategy.

It also suggests that the development of a single point of access to services, information sources and funding streams would bring national co-ordination.

Finally, the report recommends greater attention be paid to the needs of scholar, subject, professional and research bodies.

Dempster says it will be important to identify online content that needs to be digitised.

‘This will be about co-ordinating the requirements of educational, heritage, health and cultural sectors so there is no duplication,’ he said.

Jisc creates content through research and development activities, most significantly its £10m digitisation scheme. An extra £6m funding from the Spending Review will drive national digitisation and e-content strategies. (Computing, 13 October).