Indiana Online Indiana Online - An Encyclopedia of Indiana

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 Project Description
  -About IOL
  -Planning IOL
    --Process
    --Plans
      ---Editorial
      ---Technology
      ---Governance
      ---Implementation
      ---Business

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Steps: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
 
Step Six: Establishing the Governance and Management Structure
 
The management of an online encyclopedia must be both editorial and technical. Although not inseparable, these two management functions are linked closely. In a print encyclopedia, the publication is a final and distinct stage of a lengthy development cycle dominated or shaped primarily by editorial considerations. E-publication, on the other hand, may occur at any point during the editorial process and, in some important ways, may influence the process itself. An entry on James Dean, for instance, initially may use nothing more than a brief factual listing of birth and death dates and important accomplishments. At a later point, the entry can be expanded, film clips added, critical commentary appended, or user responses solicited. Still later, a virtual tour of Dean’s Fairmount home could be introduced. At each stage, new material would be produced by a variety of means: acquisition of rights, conversion of film form analog to digital sources, and/or creation of a virtual tour. The process of building an online encyclopedia is not linear, nor do its stages fit easily into one domain (content) or another (technology). The two spheres work together to develop a continuously evolving product.

The governance and management structure of Indiana Online must recognize and reflect the interplay of content and technology. The expression of content must take full advantage of the medium, but Marshall McLuan notwithstanding, the medium cannot be the message in Indiana Online. Technology must serve content, and editors must be open to the way in which technology can serve content best.

The management structure also must be capable of imposing necessary discipline on a chaotic (and otherwise unhurried) process, while simultaneously honoring the independent agency of stakeholders or partners and working effectively with them. The structure must not separate financial from editorial accountability, nor can it permit expectations to exceed the capacity to deliver a product, even as it vests oversight or governance outside the management team itself.

Responsibilities: TPC will develop a management structure for IHC approval, with roles and responsibilities clearly defined.

Schedule: January 15 – February 1, 2002.

Deliverable: Written management plan.






 



The Indiana Humanities Council



The Polis Center