Building Community: The Sonoran Desert Knowledge Exchange

1. Building Community:The Sonoran Desert Knowledge Exchange Living the Future 7 May 2nd, 2008 Kimberly Chapman, Jim Martin, Jeanne Pfander – UA Libraries Holly Hartmann – UA Office of Arid Lands Studies

2. Today’s Objectives Sonoran Desert Knowledge Exchange Vision Partners and Participants Project Development and Content Exploring Collaboration What makes a collaborative project? How do you build collaboration? Challenges and rewards?

3. UA Libraries Projects • TRAIL • Lesson Link • Rangelands West • Sonoran Desert Knowledge Exchange • The Sonoran Desert • The Saguaro! • Two Rainy Seasons • Amazing biodiversity!

4. Sonoran Desert Knowledge Exchange The Sonoran Desert Knowledge Exchange (SDKE) is a collaborative initiative led by the UA Libraries that seeks to bring together individuals and organizations who have information, services and other resources that can contribute to increased awareness, research and preservation of the Sonoran Desert.

5. Sonoran Desert Knowledge Exchange Vision Identifying information and providing access distributed, dynamic, online portal one-stop shopping access to digital content serving diverse audiences including teachers and students of all grade levels, scientists, decision-makers, and amateur enthusiasts Building community Bringing together different organizations for collaboration Organizations sharing information with each other Calendar and publicity opportunities Community events

6. SDKE Web Portal http://www.sdke.org/ Types of content Externally hosted content Content hosted on the SDKE site

7. Sonoran Desert Knowledge Exchange Partners: UA Libraries Pima County Public Library UA Office of Arid Lands Studies Tree of Life Web Project Participants: www.sdke.org

8. Getting off the ground LSTA Grant Funding Site interviews Web portal Community Showcases UA Libraries Strategic Initiatives funding Site interviews Learning Modules Staff time

9. SDKE Participants How do we know that there is a community? • First meeting of interested parties in May 2006 • CoLAB Planning Session® in November 2006 • Survey of Participant Assets in November 2006 How do we know what information these organizations would like to make available?

10. Sonoran Desert Knowledge Exchange Types of organizations: University research units and collections Governmental organizations Non-profit conservation and education organizations Types of content they have Non-digitized reports, pamphlets Digitized documents Digital images Datasets K-12 educational materials

11. Next Steps Assess results from site interviews Identify appropriate collections Plan for future directions Complete learning modules Migrate site to Library servers Assign metadata to an already digitized collection Identify small non-digitized collections for digitization project

12. Collaboration How do you define collaboration?

13. Software Development Collaboration Design and implementation: a different sort of collaboration - Technical team as a partner - Evolving nature of software tools - Evolving website requirements

14. Technical Team Variety of skills required • Front End: what users see • Graphic design, interface design • Back End: building website capabilities • Systems administration, databases, web development, software programming, security • Management: IT project coordination, liaison with partners

15. Facilitating Communication Partner liaison: single pathway to technical team Direct technical interaction: as needed, limited scope Clarity of communication, choices, consequences - Requirements: list of features, story boards and mockups, examples - Maintenance: system transfer, upgrades

16. Consultancy or Collaboration? Consultancy: implementation of client requirements using unique skills and resources Integration of new capabilities: community engagement and discussion, citizen science, place-based interface, community tagging

17. Lessons LearnedUnderstand what you’ve got Partner goals and participant goals may differ Collections Community events and promotion Commitment to the project varies How do we keep a balance? UA campus focus Community outreach focus K-12 education focus

18. Lessons LearnedNecessity of Shared Understanding Importance of consistent & frequent communication Internal External Partners Participants Written documentation is key Set clear timelines and milestones Clearly articulate & document expectations with partners Example of promotion

19. Lessons LearnedPlan, Plan, and Plan Again Plan for success How are you going to implement the vision? Plan first Accountability Identify and prevent potential problems before they happen Prioritize Are you building towards the long-term vision?

20. Lessons LearnedAppropriate Collaborations Building collaboration Advisory board What areas of responsibility does the Library have? What areas of responsibility belong to the participants? Creating the environment for a self-sustaining community

21. Planning the Future Sonoran Desert Knowledge Exchange Advisory Group UA Libraries Digitizing Collections Community Campus Metadata & Maintenance Logo Community Events Learning Module Development K-12 Calendar Management Training Promotion

22. Thank you! Questions? Discussion?