Digital Projects Toolkit

Toolkit Purpose

This guide was developed to provide students, faculty and staff resources and support as they develop born-digital projects.

Whether you are working collaboratively with the library on developing a digital project, applying for a grant, need help organizing your data/ digital assets or you would like your digital project to live on after its completion, this guide provides resources to bring your project from ideation to completion.

Why is the Project Life Cycle Important?

Digital projects can be complex and involve many variables. By following the project lifecycle, you as a researcher and scholar, can ensure that you have answered or at least considered the most important steps needed for a successful project.

The project life cycle provides project creators with a pathway throughout projects. It defines where to start, and where to go next at each stage in the project. In the event that systems, data or objectives change, you will have a reliable plan refer to and possibly regroup on. 

Who Can Help?

There are several campus partners at Davidson College that you can reach out to if you have any questions or would like to talk through specific questions related to your digital project.

Digital Learning: digitallearning@davidson.edu

For questions related to tech-enabled projects, platforms and tools. We can also guide you through project implementation and access.

Archives, Special Collections, and Community: archives@davidson.edu

For questions related to the use of Davidson College archival material, rare books and special collections. 

Research Learning and Outreach: library@davidson.edu

For research questions, citation help and resource management.

Technology and Innovation (T&I):  ti@davidson.edu

For data security, cloud storage and research computing questions. 

Office of Sponsored Programs (Faculty)

For requests related to externally-funded research. 

Where to Start

This guide is organized into four sections that roughly map to the digital project life cycle (the workflow/ phases of completing a digital project). Each section offers resources and things to consider as you create your digital project.

Please note that project creation is not linear and, depending on what stage you are on, you may want to visit all of the sections to ensure that important information is not missed.

Below is a list of key Project Stages and questions that will help guide you:

Project Stages

I. Project Planning

• What question, topic, issue, phenomenon does the project address
• Who are the collaborators
• What tools/ platforms will be used
• What is the budget, time considerations
• What data will need to be collected

II. Project Implementation

• How will data be stored
• Where will you store your master files and data
• How will you describe the files, pages, and other content included on your website
• What copyrights/ permissions do you need to obtain

III. Sustainability, Sunsetting & Preservation  

• What will happen to your project after it is finished
• Who will maintain and update the project
•  How will you share your project 
• Who "owns" the project (if a collaborative effort)

IV. Assessment & Evaluation 

• How will the project be assessed
• What does success look like

The Davidson Digital Toolkit was inspired by a wide range of existing digital scholarship resources. We would especially like to acknowledge the following guides:

• Visualizing Objects, Places, and Spaces: A Digital Project Handbook

• Digital Project Preservation Plan: A Guide for Preserving Digital Humanities/ Scholarship Projects

• Northeastern University Library. Digital Media Toolkit Teaching and Learning Support

• DFL Project Managers Toolkit

• UCLA Library. Digital projects for Special Collections