Memorandum of Understanding Workshop: Creating a Process for Successful Digital Collaboration
Location
KIPJ C
Session Type
Workshop
Start Date
27-4-2016 1:00 PM
End Date
27-4-2016 4:00 PM
Keywords
Digital Humanities; Copyright; Permissions; Project Management; Systematic Reviews; Data Services; Digital Projects; Scholarly Communications; Publishing Projects; Project Planning
Abstract
Digital projects are inherently collaborative and are becoming more common in today’s academic environment; therefore, project planning with clearly delineated responsibilities is required. In order to incorporate stakeholders from different departments within and outside of the library and to account for current and potential infrastructure and funding, it is critical to create a document that encompasses all of the required preplanning. The presenters have found that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) establishes clearly demarcated responsibilities and outcomes of each involved party in the workflow, accounts for and settles potential disagreements, and serves as a project management plan. MOUs provide an avenue both to determine whether a project is feasible beforehand and to negotiate ownership, coauthorship, and other rights. Upon completion of a project, MOUs act as an evaluative tool to determine success, to document lessons learned, and to engage in other activities including seeking funding or assessing use of equipment, technology, and staff time.
During the workshop, the presenters will review an MOU template (CC-BY-NC-SA license) which has been used successfully for projects at UT Arlington and provide guidance in completing an example MOU. Participants will work through the process and common pitfalls for one of the following types of projects: Data Services, Digital Humanities, and Scholarly Communications. Each participant will leave with a Memorandum of Understanding Workbook, which includes an executive summary, a MOU template, an example workflow, a document to track estimate of university support, and explanatory documents for all of the above.
Memorandum of Understanding Workshop: Creating a Process for Successful Digital Collaboration
KIPJ C
Digital projects are inherently collaborative and are becoming more common in today’s academic environment; therefore, project planning with clearly delineated responsibilities is required. In order to incorporate stakeholders from different departments within and outside of the library and to account for current and potential infrastructure and funding, it is critical to create a document that encompasses all of the required preplanning. The presenters have found that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) establishes clearly demarcated responsibilities and outcomes of each involved party in the workflow, accounts for and settles potential disagreements, and serves as a project management plan. MOUs provide an avenue both to determine whether a project is feasible beforehand and to negotiate ownership, coauthorship, and other rights. Upon completion of a project, MOUs act as an evaluative tool to determine success, to document lessons learned, and to engage in other activities including seeking funding or assessing use of equipment, technology, and staff time.
During the workshop, the presenters will review an MOU template (CC-BY-NC-SA license) which has been used successfully for projects at UT Arlington and provide guidance in completing an example MOU. Participants will work through the process and common pitfalls for one of the following types of projects: Data Services, Digital Humanities, and Scholarly Communications. Each participant will leave with a Memorandum of Understanding Workbook, which includes an executive summary, a MOU template, an example workflow, a document to track estimate of university support, and explanatory documents for all of the above.