These initial planning considerations set you up for success by helping you outline the parameters, budget, partners, labor and tools needed to complete your project.
The choices you make in planning out your digital project will determine its potential impact and accessibility in the future. Think carefully about who the intended audience is, how long you want the project to exist, who will be responsible for it after you leave Davidson. These questions will guide you in making decisions that will enable your digital project to thrive during your time at Davidson and beyond.
The first step of a digital project is to identify the question, topic, issue phenomenon the project seeks to address.
The research question(s), along with hypotheses, serve as a guiding framework for research. These questions also reveal the boundaries of the study and setting its limits.
Hulley et al. (2007) suggest using a set of criteria- known as the “FINER” criteria-to find out if you have a good research question. The FINER criteria are outlined below:
F – Feasible
A good research question is feasible, which means that the question is well within the researcher’s ability to investigate. Researchers should be realistic about the scale of their research as well as their ability to collect data and complete the research with their skills and the resources available to them. It’s also wise to have a contingency plan in place in case problems arise.
I – Interesting
The ideal research question is interesting not only to the researcher but also to their peers and community. This interest boosts the researcher’s motivation to see the question answered. For instance, you can do research on student housing trends if it is right up your alley, as they do change often.
N – Novel
Your research question should be developed to bring new insights to the field of study you are investigating. The question may confirm or extend previous findings on the topic you are researching, for instance.
E – Ethical
This is one of the more important considerations of making a research question. Your research question and your subsequent study must be something that review boards and the appropriate authorities will approve.
R – Relevant
Aside from being interesting and novel, the research question should be relevant to the scientific community and people involved in your area of study. If possible, your research question should also be relevant to the public’s interest.
These questions influence factors, such as the research methodology, sample size, data collection, and data analysis. These factors, in turn, will determine the platforms, tools, structure, layout and visual look of your digital project.
Once a solid research question is identified, additional considerations can be answered including:
A collaborator's agreement ensures that everyone working on a digital project is clear about the roles, responsibilities, expectations and outcomes. It can be simple or robust depending on the complexity of a project. In general, a collaborator's agreement will include the following:
Below is a link to an example of ac collaborator's agreements:
A project charter is a document that defines the project and helps it stay on track by outlining the timeline and responsibilities.
Project charters typically include:
Source: LTS Project Charter Template
Consider carefully the technology you will use to create and store your digital project. Include your technology choices on your project charter and how you will use them. Doing so, will allow you to troubleshoot any potential issues and enable current and future collaborators to access your work, follow up and/or problem solve.
Technology can become outdated quickly, so create at least one back-up of your digital project to ensure accessibility in the future.
The following content management systems are available to Davidson faculty, students, and staff via Davidson Domains.
WordPress is an open source, web-based authoring and publishing platform. It offers thousands of plug-ins, widgets, and themes to make your site unique. To use WordPress, you'll need a web host.
Omeka is a platform that allows users to publish digital collections and to create online exhibits. It is often used for digital scholarship projects with significant multimedia content and utilizes Dublin Core metadata fields.
Scalar is an open source platform that specializes in book-length digital scholarship. It allows users to incorporate writings and media from many sources and enables non-linear writing formats.
ArcGIS Online is a cloud-based mapping and analysis solution. Use it to make maps, to analyze data, and to share and collaborate. ArcGIS Online includes everything you need to create web maps, create 3D web scenes, create web apps, and create notebooks.
A suite of open-source, adaptable, and lightweight tools for media makers including Timeline JS, StoryMap JS, and Juxtapose JS.
Neatline allows scholars, students, and curators to tell stories with maps and timelines. As a suite of add-on tools for Omeka, it opens new possibilities for hand-crafted, interactive spatial and temporal interpretation.
A free platform to explore, create, and publicly share data visualizations online.
TimeMapper is an open-source project of Open Knowledge Foundation Labs. It is possible thanks to a set of awesome open-source components including TimelineJS, ReclineJS, Leaflet, Backbone and Bootstrap. You can find the full open-source source for TimeMapper on GitHub.
WhatWasThere connect historical photographs to Google Maps' Street View function to see how today's streets looked in the past.
The World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.
Video & Audio Resources
Technology & Innovation at Davidson provides projectors, screens, presentation remotes and web camera kits. Learn more at Computers & Software and Oral History + Podcasting: Technology.
Digital Storytelling & Oral History
Davidson provides support for digital storytelling and oral history, including permissions forms, technology, and one-on-one consultations. Learn more at Oral History + Podcasting.
Podcasting
Davidson has its own podcast studio located in the basement of Chambers next to the MakerSpace. The podcast studio is a soundproof room with 2 microphones set-up to record with audacity. Any member of the campus community can book time to use the studio to record a podcast. Learn more about podcasting at our podcasting research guide.
A free, open source tool enabling community transcriptions of document and multimedia files.
Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources. Visit the library's Zotero Research Guide for more information.
ImpactStory is a suite of open-source tools are used by millions every day, in universities, businesses, and libraries worldwide, to uncover, connect, and analyze research products. Tools include CiteAs- an easy way for researchers to correctly cite the research software they use.
Constellate, a project of JSTOR Labs, accommodates text analysis and digital humanities research by providing datasets for the journals, books, research reports, and pamphlets in the digital library.
Omeka provides open-source web publishing platforms for sharing digital collections and creating media-rich online exhibits.
Scalar is a open source, web-based publishing software from the University of Southern California's Alliance for Networking Visual Culture that allows you to create networked, multi-media online publications.
WordPress is an open-source content management system that allows users to create and build websites.
Voyant is a web-based text reading and analysis environment. It is a scholarly project that is designed to facilitate reading and interpretive practices for digital humanities students and scholars as well as for the general public.WordPress is an open-source content management system that allows users to create and build websites.
When selecting file/ media storage, think about accessibility during the project creation phase and after you leave Davidson. For example, access to a student's Davidson Google Drive will be lost one year after graduation. Will all the collaborators continue to have access to data/ files? Where will data/ files be kept or transferred?
Best practices include keeping multiple copies. You may also consider having a cloud storage and external hard drive option for your digital project.
Cloud Storage
Cloud Storage (Not Davidson-affiliated)
External Hard Drives
Note: "Keep in mind that external hard drives must be rotated out and replaced at least every five years. Removable optical media (specifically gold “archival” DVDs or M-discs) may be an appropriate choice for smaller institutions, as long as they are not used as the only storage location." (https://recollectionwisconsin.org/toolkit/storage)
Davidson College Library Research Guides are licensed under
CC BY-SA 4.0.
Mailing Address: Davidson College - E.H. Little Library, 209 Ridge Road, Box 5000, Davidson, NC 28035