Ending and Archiving Digital Projects

The Endings project explores practical answers to the questions of how DH projects end, and where they should be archived in order maintain the dynamic features that make them readable, searchable, and interactive.

This survey seeks to shed light on the following questions: if and how projects have ended, whether projects had an ending plan, what kinds of documentation were used, if/where projects were archived, and what technologies were used.

Completion of this survey implies consent for the responses to be aggregated with others in order to gain a clearer understanding of recent practice in ending and archiving digital projects. Our research group will use this data in publications and in the best practices tool kits we are developing. You may verify the ethical approval of this study, or raise any concerns you might have, by contacting the Human Research Ethics Office at the University of Victoria (250-472-4545 or ethics@uvic.ca).

All responses will be anonymized. Please note that anonymity means that withdrawal of your responses will not be possible once they have been submitted.

At the end of the survey, you will have the opportunity to volunteer for a Skype interview of approximately 30 minutes. The answers you submit in this online survey will nonetheless remain anonymous.

Thank you for your participation. If you wish to receive a digest of the results, you will be able to request the results at the end of the survey. Your responses will remain anonymous.

There are 37 questions in this survey

General Information

[]

Does your project contain born-digital material?

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Yes Yes
  • No No

[]

Does your project contain material that exists in another medium?

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Yes Yes
  • No No

[]

What year did your project begin? (If you have led more than one project, please choose one.)

Choose one of the following answers

Please choose only one of the following:

  • 1980-1990 1980-1990
  • 1990-1995 1990-1995
  • 1996-2000 1996-2000
  • 2001-2005 2001-2005
  • 2006-2010 2006-2010
  • 2011-2016 2011-2016

[]

What year did your project end?

Choose one of the following answers

Please choose only one of the following:

  • 1980-1990 1980-1990
  • 1990-1995 1990-1995
  • 1996-2000 1996-2000
  • 2001-2005 2001-2005
  • 2006-2010 2006-2010
  • 2011-2015 2011-2015
  • 2016-2017 2016-2017
  • Still in progress Still in progress

[]

What career stage were you at when you began your digital project?

Check all that apply

Please choose all that apply:

  • Graduate student Graduate student
  • Post-doctoral or research fellow/affiliate Post-doctoral or research fellow/affiliate
  • Independent scholar Independent scholar
  • Unemployed or underemployed Unemployed or underemployed
  • Early career Early career
  • Pre-tenure Pre-tenure
  • Tenured Tenured
  • Retired and/or Emeritus Retired and/or Emeritus
  • Research chair Research chair
  • Director or manager Director or manager
  • Other:
     

[]

What type of institution were you in (according to Maclean’s categories) when you began the project?

Choose one of the following answers

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Primarily Undergraduate Primarily Undergraduate
  • Comprehensive Comprehensive
  • Medical Doctoral universities Medical Doctoral universities
  • Other Other
     

[]What type of institution are you in now?

Choose one of the following answers

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Primarily Undergraduate Primarily Undergraduate
  • Comprehensive Comprehensive
  • Medical Doctoral universities Medical Doctoral universities
  • Other Other
     

[]Is your project data still available online?

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Yes Yes
  • No No

[]

If yes, please provide a URL:

Only answer this question if the following conditions are met:
Answer was 'Yes' at question '8 [Q8]' (Is your project data still available online?)

Please write your answer here:

 

[]Is your project:

Choose one of the following answers

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Ongoing Ongoing
  • Complete Complete
  • Dormant Dormant
  • Abandoned Abandoned

Your Project

[]

Did you have a precise timeline for accomplishing the project from the outset?

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Yes Yes
  • No No

[]

Were you able to stick to it?

Only answer this question if the following conditions are met:
Answer was 'Yes' at question '11 [Q10]' (Did you have a precise timeline for accomplishing the project from the outset? )

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Yes Yes
  • No No

[]Is your project complete?

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Yes Yes
  • No No

[]Does your project have a projected endpoint?

Only answer this question if the following conditions are met:
Answer was 'No' at question '13 [Q12]' (Is your project complete?)

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Yes Yes
  • No No

[]

As you were planning your project, which of the following did you consider? (Check all that apply.)

Check all that apply

Please choose all that apply:

  • Research questions Research questions
  • Timelines Timelines
  • Endpoint Endpoint
  • Capturing metadata Capturing metadata
  • Documentation Documentation
  • Where and how it was going to be archived Where and how it was going to be archived
  • Long-term formats Long-term formats
  • Benchmarks for assessing progress towards completion Benchmarks for assessing progress towards completion
  • Long-term users and use of your project Long-term users and use of your project
  • Intellectual property issues Intellectual property issues
  • Open access Open access
  • Sustainability Sustainability

[]

How much did the following factors help or hinder completion (or timely completion) of your project?

1 = had a significant negative impact upon completion.

2 = had a negative impact upon completion.

3 = had little or no impact upon completion.

4 = had a positive impact upon completion.

5 = had a major positive impact upon completion.

Please choose the appropriate response for each item:

  1     2     3     4     5
Funding 1 2 3 4 5
Time 1 2 3 4 5
Project management and/or planning 1 2 3 4 5
Skills (e.g., programming, encoding, design, paleography, language) 1 2 3 4 5
Staffing 1 2 3 4 5
Change in team composition 1 2 3 4 5
Career progress (e.g., tenure, promotion, permanent appointment, career move, retirement) 1 2 3 4 5
Infrastructure 1 2 3 4 5
Legal challenges (e.g., copyright, access, permissions) 1 2 3 4 5
Deprecation of technologies (e.g., obsolescence of software) 1 2 3 4 5
Emerging opportunities that redirected your project 1 2 3 4 5
Other (please specify on next page) 1 2 3 4 5

[]If other factors helped or hindered timely completion, please explain.

Only answer this question if the following conditions are met:
Answer was '5' or '4' or '2' or '1' at question '16 [Q14]' (How much did the following factors help or hinder completion (or timely completion) of your project? 1 = had a significant negative impact upon completion. 2 = had a negative impact upon completion. 3 = had little or no impact upon completion. 4 = had a positive impact upon completion. 5 = had a major positive impact upon completion. (Other (please specify on next page)))

Please write your answer here:

 

[]Is your project complete and archived?

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Yes Yes
  • No No

[]

Where is it archived?

Only answer this question if the following conditions are met:
Answer was 'Yes' at question '18 [Q15]' (Is your project complete and archived?)

Check all that apply

Please choose all that apply:

  • At a stable and currently accessible URL At a stable and currently accessible URL
  • In an institutional repository In an institutional repository
  • On GitHub On GitHub
  • In a discipline-specific repository (e.g., NINES, OLAC, etc.) In a discipline-specific repository (e.g., NINES, OLAC, etc.)
  • Other:
     

[]

Did your project have a long-term preservation plan from the beginning of the funding cycle?

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Yes Yes
  • No No

[]

Did a campus partner offer support for long term project preservation?

Check all that apply

Please choose all that apply:

  • University Libraries University Libraries
  • University Systems University Systems
  • Humanities Computing Humanities Computing
  • I didn't ask any campus partners for help I didn't ask any campus partners for help
  • I asked, but there were no campus departments that could help I asked, but there were no campus departments that could help
  • Other:
     

[]

Which major technologies did your project use? (Check all that apply.)

Check all that apply

Please choose all that apply:

  • SQL database SQL database
  • PHP PHP
  • XML / XSLT / XQuery XML / XSLT / XQuery
  • Javascript Javascript
  • Drupal Drupal
  • Wordpress Wordpress
  • Fedora (e.g., Islandora) Fedora (e.g., Islandora)
  • Other:
     

[]

Which file formats were part of your final project output? (Check all that apply.)

Check all that apply

Please choose all that apply:

  • HTML HTML
  • PDF PDF
  • JPGs JPGs
  • TIFFs TIFFs
  • MP4s MP4s
  • MP3s MP3s
  • TXT TXT
  • JSON JSON
  • word processor files word processor files
  • spreadsheets or CSV spreadsheets or CSV
  • XML XML
  • Other:
     

[]

What were the significant obstacles to long term preservation? Please rank them in order.

All your answers must be different and you must rank in order.

Please number each box in order of preference from 1 to 5

  •  
     Lack of ongoing funding
  •  
     Lack of institutional support
  •  
     Lack of expertise in digital preservation
  •  
     Technology choices that made preservation difficult
  •  
     Other (please specify on next page)

[]If other, please specify.

Only answer this question if the following conditions are met:

-------- Scenario 1 --------

Answer was 'Other (please specify on next page)' at question '24 [Q20]' (What were the significant obstacles to long term preservation? Please rank them in order. (RANK 1))

-------- or Scenario 2 --------

Answer was 'Other (please specify on next page)' at question '24 [Q20]' (What were the significant obstacles to long term preservation? Please rank them in order. (RANK 2))

-------- or Scenario 3 --------

Answer was 'Other (please specify on next page)' at question '24 [Q20]' (What were the significant obstacles to long term preservation? Please rank them in order. (RANK 3))

-------- or Scenario 4 --------

Answer was 'Other (please specify on next page)' at question '24 [Q20]' (What were the significant obstacles to long term preservation? Please rank them in order. (RANK 4))

-------- or Scenario 5 --------

Answer was 'Other (please specify on next page)' at question '24 [Q20]' (What were the significant obstacles to long term preservation? Please rank them in order. (RANK 5))

Please write your answer here:

 

[]

Which of the following standardized data models did you use in your project? (Check all that apply.)

Check all that apply

Please choose all that apply:

  • Dublin Core Dublin Core
  • MODS MODS
  • TEI TEI
  • RAD RAD
  • EAD EAD
  • DocBook DocBook
  • DDI DDI
  • I created my own data model I created my own data model
  • Other:
     

[]

Did your project clearly document your data model?

Check all that apply

Please choose all that apply:

  • Documentation of relational database and table structure Documentation of relational database and table structure
  • Documentation of field names and definitions Documentation of field names and definitions
  • Documentation of controlled vocabularies and valid field values Documentation of controlled vocabularies and valid field values
  • Other:
     

[]

Did you have clear licensing and rights statements for all of the material in your project?

Choose one of the following answers

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Yes, documented publicly Yes, documented publicly
  • Yes, documented privately Yes, documented privately
  • For most material but not all For most material but not all
  • For some material For some material
  • Other Other
     

[]

Is your project data archived somewhere offline?

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Yes Yes
  • No No

[]If yes, where?

Only answer this question if the following conditions are met:
Answer was 'Yes' at question '29 [Q24]' (Is your project data archived somewhere offline? )

Please write your answer here:

 

[]

If your project is still online, who is responsible for ongoing maintenance (software updates, security patches, hardware replacement)?

Check all that apply

Please choose all that apply:

  • University Systems University Systems
  • Library Library
  • Humanities Computing Humanities Computing
  • PI PI
  • Project is not being actively maintained Project is not being actively maintained
  • Not applicable Not applicable
  • Other:
     

[]

Are the tools and libraries used in the project:

Choose one of the following answers

Please choose only one of the following:

  • All free and open-source All free and open-source
  • All proprietary and closed-source All proprietary and closed-source
  • A mixture of open and closed A mixture of open and closed

[]

Have any parts of the project output stopped working due to software obsolescence?

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Yes Yes
  • No No

[]If yes, please provide some details:

Only answer this question if the following conditions are met:
Answer was 'Yes' at question '33 [Q27]' (Have any parts of the project output stopped working due to software obsolescence? )

Please write your answer here:

 

[]

If a new developer had to pick up this project five years from now and extend it, how do you think they would describe the technical documentation?

Choose one of the following answers

Please choose only one of the following:

  • Extensive, complete and detailed (inline comments, external overviews, UML diagrams etc.) Extensive, complete and detailed (inline comments, external overviews, UML diagrams etc.)
  • Partial (some areas are well-documented, others not) Partial (some areas are well-documented, others not)
  • Fragmentary and inadequate Fragmentary and inadequate

[]

Please choose the appropriate response for each item:

  Yes No
Do you wish to receive a digest of the survey results?
Are you willing to participate in a 30-45 minute interview about your project?

[]Please provide your email address. (This will not compromise the anonymity of the survey responses you have supplied.)

Only answer this question if the following conditions are met:

-------- Scenario 1 --------

Answer was 'Yes' at question '36 [Q29]' ( (Do you wish to receive a digest of the survey results?))

-------- or Scenario 2 --------

Answer was 'Yes' at question '36 [Q29]' ( (Are you willing to participate in a 30-45 minute interview about your project?))

Please write your answer here:

 

Thank you for assisting us in our research in support of the community of digital scholars.

The Project Endings team, University of Victoria




Submit your survey.
Thank you for completing this survey.