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Framework for Collaboration

Summary

This framework for collaboration defines how the Digital Scholarship Lab at Raynor Memorial Libraries may support students, faculty and staff in the area of web publishing, and what we can mutually expect from our working relationship together. This framework intends to create a shared understanding of expectations and to avoid confusion on all sides.

Scope of Services and Expertise

Students, faculty and staff may use the lab’s organizational web publishing and hosting service to develop born-digital projects, scholarship and textbooks. Examples include public-facing student writing, open-access scholarly publications and open education resources. This service isn’t designed to be used for personal or commercial website development.

Generally speaking, the lab can provide students, faculty and staff circa 3GB of shared web hosting for three (3) years for web publishing applications like WordPress, Pressbooks, Omeka, and Scalar. The lab can provide instruction services and support for the applications we can host at our shared web hosting account. Beyond that, the lab also offers consultation services and support for digital scholarship and web technologies.

For example, lab team members can make recommendations regarding application selection and usage. We recommend using our consulting services as early as the planning stage of new web publishing projects. If additional services are required beyond consultation and instruction, then it is possible to contract with the libraries for certain web and software development services and support. The details of this kind of arrangement vary on a case-by-case basis, and we recommend making use of our consulting services to determine the needs of new projects and any possible other services.

The lab cannot be responsible for creating content for web publishing projects. Project leaders are responsible for organizing content creators and content creation. The role of the lab in this collaboration is to facilitate project development (managed web hosting and system administration), not to actively participate in projects (content creation).

The lab and project leaders will collaborate to establish a timeline of project deliverables. Deliverables may include application installation, user- and content-management access assignment, and instruction. The lab will assign project leaders user- and content-management access at application instance interface, and project leaders will develop and manage project content at application instance interface.

Instruction Services and Support

The lab can provide elementary and intermediate instruction for the web publishing applications the lab can host at our shared web hosting account. Unfortunately the lab cannot always provide advanced instruction for all the applications the lab can host.

Shared Web Hosting

The lab provides access to shared web hosting via an organizational account at Reclaim Hosting. Shared web hosting means multiple users/accounts are being hosted at one web server. Shared web hosting isn’t dedicated web hosting. Dedicated web hosting means one user/account is being hosted at the web server. Dedicated web hosting can be more flexible and powerful, but also often costs more than shared web hosting.

The lab’s organizational shared web hosting account at Reclaim Hosting can support popular web publishing applications like WordPress, Pressbooks, Omeka, and Scalar, among others that use a LAMP environment (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). If you would like to learn more about dedicated web hosting options, then please contact us for a consultation.

Project Maintenance and Sunsetting

The lab cannot plan to permanently host web publishing projects at our shared web hosting account. We encourage project leaders to plan for how they will maintain their web publishing projects over the long term, including access and preservation.

The libraries’ institutional repository e-Publications@Marquette may offer support for long-term access and preservation of projects in some form. We can connect project leaders with representatives of these services to determine the extent to which new projects may be supported by them. In some cases, projects may not be appropriate for deposit in the institutional repository, or the institutional repository may not be able to provide the type of long-term access and preservation project leaders may envision or desire. In these cases, we can provide recommendations for other steps project members may take.

We reserve the right to determine when and how projects located at the lab’s shared web hosting account are eventually sunsetted. If any contacts for a project can’t be reached at that time, then we’ll attempt to deposit the project at the libraries’ institutional repository in an appropriate format that maintains and preserves the project content. Unfortunately, the libraries' institutional repository can't maintain the user experience.

Recognition

Working with the Digital Scholarship Lab for web publishing should be a collaboration. When appropriate, individual librarians and staff should be co-authors, and when co-authorship is not appropriate, they should be acknowledged. Web or software development by the lab should also be referenced in all publications based on their use.

Intellectual Property

When using the lab’s shared web hosting account, you retain all intellectual property rights not previously transferred to or owned by another individual or organization. You grant the lab and/or future librarians and staff the right to perform application updates and to deposit the project at the libraries’ institutional repository for long-term content preservation.

Acceptable Use

Web publishing projects must be in accordance with the university’s Acceptable Use Policy (link restricted to campus access) and with the university’s Mission, Vision, and Guiding Values. Projects should not include confidential or sensitive information.

Web Accessibility

The university’s Accessible Technology Policy states it is the responsibility of authors/creators of all electronic materials to ensure their material is in compliance with the policy and meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, conformance level AA. For more information about web accessibility, please review the W3Schools Accessibility Guide. If you would like to learn more about web accessibility, then please contact the lab for a consultation. If you would like to learn more about specific applications and their accessibility for content creators, then please contact the lab for a consultation.

Financial Contribution

While the lab provides most web publishing services and support free of charge, we may require a financial contribution in cases of major collaboration with projects with external funding. We welcome joint grant proposals and recommend consulting with us before and during the grant writing phase if a major collaboration with the lab is being considered. Since requirements, expectations and scope of work vary on a case-by-case basis, please contact the lab to discuss these matters in detail.