On 17 August 2011 04:04, Fae <faenwp@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi,

The Chapter has had recent grant requests of the following sorts:
* A request to scan and release papers from a notable person's estate
after their death, the papers have not previously been in the public
domain.
* A suggested volunteer project with Wikipedians to scan several
thousand major items of significant artwork and records that can be
released for the first time into the public domain.
* A suggested project to pay institution professionals to scan several
thousand major items of significant artwork and records that can be
released for the first time into the public domain.
* A proposal to jointly fund an institution to pay for digitization of
hundreds of thousands of previously unreleased historic papers where
there are no copyright implications.

In the light of the British Library's recent agreement with Google
Books to partner with them to scan and release a vast number of "old"
books on Google's well known system, I remain uncertain about whether
digitization for larger projects is the best use of WM-UK funds. These
are all good projects that push forward our mission of opening up
knowledge for maximum possible public access, however it can also be
argued that such projects may be far more effectively managed by a
specialist partner (such as Google or established academic
institutions and charities with specialist skills and equipment).

I welcome any feedback on how well these projects fulfil our mission
and how often our funds ought to be invested in these projects
compared to other projects which may have greater impact for new user
outreach or wider "e-volunteer" engagement.

Cheers,
Fae
--
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