Digitize:
(1) To express or
represent in a digital form data that are not discrete
data, for example, to obtain a digital representation of
the magnitude of a physical quantity from an analogue
representation of that magnitude. (2) To convert an
analogue signal into digital format. An analogue signal
during conversion must be sampled at discrete points and
quantized to discrete numbers. (Wood John et George
McDaniel, eds., Dictionnaire d’informatique
anglais - français . Montreal: IBM Canada Ltd., 1994.
P. 181)
Digitization:
The conversion of text,
sound, images, video and other content into a common
digitized format. (Information Highway Advisory Council. Connection
Community Content: The Challenge of the Information
Highway: Final Report of the Information Highway Advisory
Council . Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services,
1995. P. 3)
Converting material into
digital form. (Keenan, Stella. Concise Dictionary of
Library and Information Science . West Sussex:
Bowker-Saur, 1996. P. 79)
Digital Product:
For the purposes of this
survey, digital product refers to a common grouping of
digitized information, developed and/or acquired by a
government institution for a specific purpose. Examples
include a collection of literature or a collection of
digitized holdings. Inter-office and administrative
correspondence are excluded from this definition.
A. Your
Organization’s Approach to Digitization
1. Does your
organization have in place an explicit policy with
respect to the digitization of your scientific and/or
cultural holdings?
___ yes
___ no
2. If yes, please
describe the digitization policy’s objectives or
attach supporting documentation if it is available.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
3. If no policy is
currently in place, is your organization working to
develop one?
___ yes
___ no
4. Please describe
the top three challenges facing your
organization with respect to the planning and/or
development of digital products.
i.__________________________________________________________
ii._________________________________________________________
iii._________________________________________________________
5. Have any policy
reviews, program evaluations etc. been conducted by
your organization to assess the effectiveness of your
departments’ approach to digitization? (If
so, please attach supporting documentation or
identify where it is available.)
___ yes
___ no
6. Please describe
the top three objectives in your organization
with respect to the planning and/or development of
digitization products.
i.___________________________________________________________
ii.__________________________________________________________
iii.__________________________________________________________
7. What is the total
amount, in dollars, spent annually on digitization
activities in your organization?
____________________________________________________________
8. What is the total,
in human resource time, spent annually on
digitization activities in your organization?
____________________________________
B. Nature of Your
Organization’s Digital Content
For each digital
product developed by your organization, please
respond to the following (where more than one
product exists, please duplicate this section and
attach).
1. What is the
digital product?
_________________________________________________________________
2. Who is the
intended audience for this product?
___ federal
government
___ provincial
government
___ international
governments
___ educational
institutions
___ private sector
___ general public
___ other (please
specify)____________________________________________
3. For what purpose
was this digital product created? (where more than
one purpose exists, please indicate, and identify the
priority ranking of these purposes (1=highest,
5=lowest)).
___ for revenue
generation purposes
___ for exhibition
___ for general
public interest (educational, recreational etc.)
___ for reasons of
preservation
___ other (please
specify)____________________________________________
4. Please describe
the nature of the content:
___ historical
information
___ scientific
information
___ technological
information
___ artistic
information
___ public
administration/political information
___ other (please
specify)
____________________________________________
5. What types of
information are being digitized?
___ text
___ sound
___ photographs
___ video
___ film
___ artifacts
___ broadcasts
___ other (please
specify)
____________________________________________
6. Will this
information only be provided in digital format?
___ yes
___ no
7. Is the digital
product intended to represent a sample of a larger
body of material, or is it a representation of an
entire body of material?
___ sample
___ entire body of
material
8. What language was
used to develop this product?
i. For text based
products:
___ .html
___ .sgml
___ .pdf
___ .txt
___ postscript
___ other (please
specify)_____________________________________
ii. For image based
products:
___ .gif
___ .jpg
___ .tif
___ other (please
specify)_____________________________________
iii. For sound based
products:
___ .wav
___ .mid
___ .ra
___ .au
___ other (please
specify)_____________________________________
iv. For multimedia
based products:
___ .avi
___ .mpeg
___ .inor
___ .mov
___ .wrl
___ other (please
specify)_____________________________________
9. In the case of
image based products, what resolution was used?
___ 300 dpi
___ 600 dpi
___ 1200 dpi
___ other (please
specify)_____________________________________________
10. How is the
digital information accessible?
___ internet
___ CD rom
___ diskette
___ dial up service
___ other (please
specify)____________________________________________
11. What types of
navigational or search tools are being used?
__________________________________________________
12. Does this digital
project need to be continually updated?
___ yes
___ no
13. How long do you
plan to keep this digital product available?
_________________________________________________________________
14. What is the total
amount, in dollars, spent on this digital product?
_________________________________________________________________
15. What is the total
human resources time, spent on this digital product?
_________________________________________________________________
C. Partnerships and
Funding Arrangements
1. Are the digitized
products comprised of your organization’s own
holdings or have agreements been put in place to partner
with other institutions in order to digitize some of
their holdings?
___ own
organization’s holdings
___ agreements exist with
other institution(s) (please specify institution(s))
______________________________________________________________
___ combination of both
2. If partnership
agreements are in place, please answer the following
questions on the organization with which you are
partnering:
i. With what type of
organization are you partnering?
___ private sector
___ not-for-profit
___ educational
institution
___ other (please
specify)
____________________________________________
ii. Has your partner
provided you with funding?
___ yes
___ no
iii. If yes, is your
organization responsible for supplementing these
funds?
___ yes
___ no
iv. Has your partner
provided you with content for digitizing?
___ yes
___ no
v. If yes, have
digital rights been cleared for use of this content?
___ yes
___ no
___ n/a
3. Where partnerships are
not the source of funding, what is the primary source of
funding for the development of these digital products?
___ federal government
funding
___ provincial government
funding
___ private sector
sponsorships
___ other (please
specify)___________________________________________________
D. Digitization Plans
& Priorities
1. Please rank, in order
of importance (1=highest, 5=lowest), the criteria
used by your organization in selecting material for
digitization:
___ revenue generation
potential
___ educational
significance
___ potential of material
to promote social-cultural equality (i.e. among
socially disadvantaged groups)
___ potential of material
to promote citizenship & national pride
___ usefulness of
material as a research tool
___ outreach
___ mandate to
communicate widely
___ other (please
specify)
__________________________________________________
2. How many digitization
products is your organization currently planning for
development from:
i. present to the end
of 1998?_______________
ii. 1999 to the end
of 2001?_________________
3. Please identify your
organization’s top three (3) planned
priorities for digitization and identify the reasons for
their priority status:
i.
_______________________________________________________________
Reason:
__________________________________________________________
ii.
_______________________________________________________________
Reason:
__________________________________________________________
iii.
_______________________________________________________________
Reason:
__________________________________________________________
4. Please provide any
additional comments:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. Please indicate the
name, address, telephone number and email of a contact
person from your organization, in order that follow-up
may be carried out, if necessary.
Name:____________________________________________________________
Position:__________________________________________________________
Address:__________________________________________________________
____________________________________Postal
Code____________
Telephone:_________________________
Fax: __________________________
E
mail:____________________________________________________________
