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6 Audit Analytical Findings

For each question there is provided the absolute numbers of organisations answering per answer category per question as well as a percentage. That percentage is also graphically presented as doughnut chart. Even though the sample size is too small to extrapolate the numbers into formal statistics, the doughnuts should give some appreciation of the general situation in the larger sector. Additional information is added from an analysis of the textual answers given by the consultees, largely as selected quotations from the total data collected. This additional information is of a textual nature and cannot be summarised quantitatively. We have tried to present the information given us by the consultees in an analytical way through classifying their answers into categories.

6.1 Audit Audience

The audit audience broke down into:

• 1 organisation ostensibly from the tourist sector
• 1 organisation ostensibly from the sporting sector
• 41 from ostensibly the cultural / heritage / artistic / collections sector
• Non-departmental public bodies
• National agencies
• Voluntary organisations / charities
• Commercial organisations

However, many in the cultural / heritage sector clearly have an impact on tourism.

6.2 Overall Organisational Findings

Details of responses to each area of questioning are provided in the sections below. With few exceptions as highlighted in the Conclusions, there was a broad level of consensus across the organisations interviewed with regard to their use of ICT and provision of digital media services.

However, responses did vary in some areas and it was possible to identify those attributes of the organisations interviewed which tended to affect responses. The most obvious attribute was the size of the organisation as follows:

• Smaller organisations had concerns which related to their ability to support internal systems; they were less likely to have access to specialist ICT skills and were less likely to have implemented specialist systems to support digital media services, even though they might have benefited from access to these facilities
• Larger organisations were more likely to have implemented specialist and information-sharing systems. However, they also faced greater demand from users within and outside their organisations.

Other factors included:

• The extent to which organisations were required to interact with the creative industries and educational organisations; these organisations tended to have clients with higher expectations of digital media services
• The number of sites across which an organisation was distributed and the size of its 'core' or central staff. These organisations had greater need for communication between sites and procedures for managing digital assets. They sometimes (but not always) tended to have a smaller specialist ICT capacity at the centre.

6.3 Is there explicit mention made of digital media services in your organisation's strategy / vision / mission statement?

Question intent: This question was intended to acquire the importance the organisation attributed to DMS from a strategic aspect, whether they considered it 'mission critical' to their business.

A large majority of consulted organisations clearly indicated that DMS are indeed important to the implementation of their missions / strategies.

Points made by those organisations that responded 'yes' and that operate in a purely digital domain responded that:

• DMS are core to their being:
• " It's core to our being."

Points made by those organisations that responded 'yes' and that operate in traditional domains responded that:

• DMS are integrated into every part of their organisation:
• " It is integrated into everything we do - from marketing to internal communication."
• " Strategic aims include: providing high quality information, communication and IT infrastructure which meets the academic needs of [our organisation]."
• " In the Corporate Plan and Strategy Statement; but not in the Vision Statement."
• " In our Corporate Plan 2005-2008 we state that one of our strategic priorities is to provide a centre of excellence for ICT applications for heritage information."
• " Mentioned in annual development plan 2003/04/05 under aims and objectives."
• DMS are important in fulfilling the ultimate goal of enabling creativity:
• " [It is] currently being re-drafted; but the creative use of digital media is central to our strategies for education and production support for artists."

These kinds of comments speak to DMS having become embedded into many organisations, and that they have largely become a necessity to delivering services.

Of those who responded 'no', some were intending to change that soon:

• " No, but there will be in our Business Plan due in August."

The remaining organisation who responded no could be construed as some of the less likely organisations to have DMS as a hugely important part of either their mission or how they would go about implementing it.

6.3.1 Mission criticality of DMS
Larger organisations viewed ICT as explicitly mission-critical. They were looking to use ICT not only to transfer paper-based services to digital format, but to develop more innovative services in order to serve users and partners more effectively. Digital media services were clearly gaining importance within organisations and a degree of excitement was increasing about the potential of ICT. " We are about to embark on a step change for the organisation" was the response from one organisation. Other responses included:

• " It is at the heart of what [we do]. The mission is now to integrate ICT as a tool into education."
• " Once you've gone so far along the path there's no turning back."
• " Very much at the heart of the organisation. We have invested heavily."
• " We could get by without ICT, but only just - ICT is increasingly important to communicate with and manage information about partners and to enable knowledge sharing within the organisation."

In some instances there was the feeling that services are mission critical but that had not yet been recognised by the organisation as a whole. There was overriding consensus that services were essential for communication and mission-critical in that they allowed the organisation to support levels of activity which would not otherwise be possible without many more members of staff.

6.3.2 Use of specific tools
Although one organisation felt email was useful but not critical they were the exception. All other organisations felt that email was at the heart of their digital media services internally, as well as for external communications with users, partners and customers as evidenced by:

• " Email is our primary weapon - we couldn't function without it."

One distributed organisation was about to embark on evaluation of website and workflow - they felt that this would increase the extent to which they were dependent upon ICT.

Another organisation had already gone some way down that path, and had succeeded in back-office automation very well (Intranet, Hot-desk support, knowledge management).

6.3.3 Business models
Formal digital media strategies

Examples of organisations with formal digital media strategies were few. They included the following:

• Building of Digital Britain
• Working closely with creative industries within HE to ensure that up-to-date tools, software and skills are an integrated part of HE learning. 3-year replacement cycle for hardware, 1-2 years for software.
• Partnerships with other organisations - e.g. National Library of Scotland with Learning and Teaching Scotland and with local authorities ( e.g. Moray Council). The National Library has seen multiple opportunities arise as a result.

It is interesting to note that two of those involve partnerships and working with other organisations.

Less formal but nonetheless active strategies included the following:

• Piggy-backing on other organisations' infrastructures and skills.
• Responding dynamically to changes in the marketplace, e.g. new uses of digital media.
• Building a skilled, enthusiastic team at the core of ICT activities.
• 'Do things differently on the web' - seeking fresh attitudes.
• Joining up with other networks to deliver services.
• Joining up with partners to achieve purchasing economies of scale.
• Keen to keep an open mind but cautious in using tried and tested technologies.
• Refusal to be technology-led.
• Clear 'projectising' of individual elements of strategy.
• Continued evolving development, not passive lurches.
• Need to reflect changing user needs.
• Small organisation 12-15 staff - outsourcing ICT to specialist consultant.
• Pursuing mentoring as a better way of sharing skills than formal training courses.
• Focus on core projects - ICT to form a complementary activity.
• Creation of communities of practice, ownership of personal information in shared workspace.
• Evolution - finding out what can be done with the tools which are already available.
• Use of collection-level view as a means of informing a national strategy.
• Support for tactical ways of using e-cooperation - to really work collaboratively and not simply to reinvent the wheel.
• Use funding agreements to direct organisations in the public sector.
• " At the heart of any business model should be the goal of seamless access to resources" .
• "Collaboration is key. [We] are currently brokering NOF access to online resources across 32 services. Contributors have to find funding and there is increasing evidence of their willingness to subscribe to fund the required infrastructure for shared access. This model is one which could be extended to libraries and archives."
• Ayrshire Libraries Forum is an example - here, libraries have worked together to provide common access and develop shared ownership of, and responsibility for, digital resources. As a result they have sufficient scale to develop and retain skills. Other activities can then be shared, e.g. procurement.
• Well-planned and steady incremental approach. Identify needs, select technologies appropriately. Try and encourage innovation in museums and demonstrate that they are places where technology is embraced.
• Increasing two-way communication.
• Intelligent use of different channels to convey appropriate information.

Regarding a national digital media strategy, one organisation commented that it strategy should be clear about what it does and why, and should look to benefits in 10-20 years time - the sector is still in transition and it is difficult to predict what is round the corner.

Formal corporate strategies included:

• The positioning of ICT as an integral part of a new overall business model aimed at working with digital media services to interact with new stakeholders in new ways.

Finally, general corporate directions which impacted on, or were informed by digital media services, included the following:

• Move to a sharing mindset across the sector.
• Providing access to funding to users to create projects with ICT as an integral part.
• Clear distinction between introduction of new services to cope with existing demand, and backlogs.
• Funding other organisations to undertake projects which use ICT innovatively to meet needs on the ground.
• Increasing inter-office communications for distributed organisations.

6.4 What do organisations think are the main barriers to achieving their aspirations?

Question intent: The intent of this question was to ascertain what the barriers are to the successful development of DMS now and in the future.

6.4.1 Sector-wide issues
Some of the issues raised by organisations as barriers to achieving their goals, either related to the sector as a whole, or invited sector-wide solutions. Two organisations suggested the Scottish Executive itself could help by listening and increasing its understanding of the issues surrounding digital media services ( e.g.IPR and other rights-related issues); it was suggested that this audit was an element of such a process.

Other issues included, predictably, funding and resourcing more generally, but also the following:

• Need for much more user research.
• Ensuring that information-gathering processes are in job descriptions as regular activities and not simply 'nice to have'.
• The absence of a magic 'data wand' and the need to invest in quality content.
• Lack of skills in small organisations, even to set out what is required.
• Managing enthusiasm within organisations.
• The need to work in different ways. This organisation felt that NOF-Digitise was too organisation-based rather than user-focused and expressed concern that organisations are not very good at working together.
• The need for better advice and support for smaller organisations. IT support for small organisations exists in Glasgow - this could / should be rolled out more widely with a national network, particularly to support smaller organisations.
• Working with local authorities to promote culture and creative industries.
• [The lack of] electronic signatures are currently holding up procurement and other management activities online.
• " When does public expectation outstrip the ability to deliver? There will be a finite point to what can be achieved within the public sector - where will this be and how to manage it?"
• Too many access projects are justified on the basis that 'collections online will increase access to collections'; however, that does not sufficiently clarify how users will benefit.
• Ensuring information is up-to-date and accurate.
• Explaining need for convergence, helping people get their heads around the different channels.
• Getting people to buy into the long -term vision for digital media services.
• Recruiting the right staff.
• Need to ensure that every individual is equipped with the skills to find what they want online. Skills and metadata need to be interrelated.
• " Digitisation is not enough. There has to be an expressed need for the resource, we need to ensure that resources are usable and that people [will] use them."

There was a repeated concern that in-house knowledge is so limited it may not be possible for the organisation to know what skills and services to seek from outside contractors and companies, and how to specify these. Organisations need therefore to develop capacity to inform procurement and project specification skills.

6.4.2 Issues relating to education services
There was a need for providers and users to come to terms with the total cost of ownership of software. There is far more material than teachers can cope with and time is the key factor preventing education practitioners from being involved in a meaningful way. There is a concern that teachers are on the bottom end of the learning curve and that they don't have time to get to know products or even become aware of it in a crowded market place and a pressured profession.

Additional issues in this area included the following:

• Educational licenses are expensive - could there be a national strategy to deal with this? Licensing should be streamlined and made more cost-effective for schools and HE.
• There was a need to establish licensing deals to broader collections of content, e.g. Pathe News archive, Scran.

6.4.3 Issues relating to individual organisations
As noted previously, some organisations acknowledge that there would always be a lack of in-house resources expertise. One organisation had existed on flat-line budgets for six years; another; due to a cap in staff numbers, recognised that digital media services would probably always be outsourced. Other barriers included:

• Difficulties in obtaining appropriate tools: " You can't run a high-quality website with a copy of DreamWeaver."
• Practical organisational issues such as bringing departments together.
• Making sure organisational processes can accommodate the work needed - need for a culture change.
• The identification of sustainability of online resources a major issue. In one organisation 15% of resources had been diverted to digital media services, and although these services would provide improved efficiency and effectiveness, if properly developed they would also form additional functions, therefore additional resources would be required to run them.
• Cost of content management systems a major issue for smaller organisations, but recognised as essential for a professional approach.
• Concern at increasing fashion for portals. Belief that they may be confusing for users. " Users know which organisations to come to." The uncertainty which persisted over the continued existence of Scotland's Culture was highlighted, but the resource was described by one organisation as a " disaster area" - thereby highlighting concerns about the role and participation of organisations in the digital landscape, the delivery of meaningful content, organisations' position in the marketplace and importantly users' perceptions of the range of services available.

On a positive note, however, organisations were largely optimistic about the future, with one interviewee stating that they did not currently perceive barriers but expected to set best practice. " We will bear in mind capability of users, will undertake surveys, adhere to standards and deploy common sense." One organisation summed up their thoughts on the future by suggesting that in the future: " Excitements will exceed challenges."

6.5 What are the digital media services your organisation currently supports?

Question intent: The intent of this question was to gain an outline of the important DMS currently being offered and developed by the consulted organisations in the TCS sector.

The range of digital media services encountered in the audit was very broad. We break down the services into infrastructural projects and solutions projects, before presenting an enumeration of all of the DMS that were mentioned by the consulted organisations in their answers (both to the online form and the interviews).

6.5.1 Infrastructure
The following is a list of typical digital media infrastructure encountered:

• Local area networks
• Providing access to e-mail, internet
• Providing access to Microsoft Office
• Providing access to Lotus Notes
• Websites (Intranet, Extranet, Internet)
• Mobile platforms / PDAs / palm-top computers
• Digitised content / digital outputting / scanning
• Mobile telephony / GPRS
• Voice-mail
• Video-conferencing
• Interactive terminals
• Video editing and production / DVD production
• Interactive TV
• Digital radio / Digital Audio Broadcasting ( DAB)
• DRM
• Streaming of audio clips
• Digital cinema advertising
• MP3 point-casting / Pod-casting
• Out of hours systems
• Smartcards
• CAD / CAM systems

6.5.2 Solutions and websites
Many of the consultees who responded claimed to have informational websites, as well as the usual assemblage of office and productivity-related enterprise and desktop applications, e.g. e-mail, LAN, etc.

The following is a list of typical digital media solutions types encountered:

• Discussion forums
• Digital catalogues / collections
• Book request services
• Game-based educational resources
• Informative websites
• Periodical bulletins / newsletters
• E-commerce websites
• E-Procurement
• E-flyers
• Online recruitment
• Press information
• Education packs on CD- ROM
• Geographic information services / mapping
• E-learning / learning resources
• User-led submission of digital / digitised art

Alphabetical list of projects, services, websites and solutions mentioned in the consultees answers:

A+DS: exploring online services linked to RCAHMSOS; delivery of RCAHMS information through online OS mapping and vice versa through the Heritage theme in Master map.

Access to Archives Project: which will build on SCAN

ADS (Archaeology Data Service): delivers RCAHMS data to universities by linking RCAHMS database online.

AirphotoFinder: an online application hosted by the RCAHMS to help locate and order aerial photography in Scotland and Wales.

Am Baile: An online heritage gateway that is creating a digital archive of the history and culture of the Scottish Highlands and Islands.

Archsearch: (maintained by others) An online resource of images and information that helps people find the right architect for their residential project.

CAIRNS: a one-search gateway to the distributed catalogues of Scotland's libraries: university, public, and college.

Canmap: a GIS (geographic information system) interface to Canmore.

Canmore: public online access to the main RCAHMS databases.

Common Information Environment for Scotland: A Scottish version of the public sector interoperability framework being worked on in England to join-up all the information and DMS in the public sector there for the benefit of the user: the citizen.

Digital mainstream Scottish TV channel: at early stages of discussion in Exec and proposed Cultural Commission

Digital National Library: A National Library of Scotland project to provide a digital surrogate to the Library.

DRIFT: An informative website on the exploration of sound art and experimental music. DRIFT features radio broadcasts, moving images, publications, and live events. DRIFT is a platform for artists from Scotland and beyond, a gateway to these emerging cultural forms.

Dornoch Digital Archive: A digital archive of heritage images from Dornoch.

e-Procurement Scotland: The service adopts a common platform and approach to public sector procurement.

Grampian Public Partnership: shared network, data storage, and ultimately shared data and applications.

Hamilton Palace ( RCAHMS): A virtual reconstruction of the great Scottish house Hamilton Palace.

HEIRNET (Historic Environment Information Resources Network): (maintained by others) HEIRNET enables access to Historic Environment Information Resources for conservation, research, learning and general interest.

HEIRPORT (Historic Environment Information Resources Portal): (maintained by others) HEIRPORT aims to demonstrate how information from different public agencies can be drawn together using information technology. It uses geography as an underlying theme, presenting views of information which are focussed on the activities that people undertake to understand, enjoy and protect the historic environment.

Hi Ways: An online portal for life in the west of Scotland

HLAMAP (The Historic Land-use Assessment Data for Scotland): The Historic Land-use Assessment is an analysis of past and present land-use. HLAMAP is a web-based presentation of this data that allows the user to view the data by Historic Land-use Type, Period or Category as well as by Relict Period.

Host: HOST is a space on the New Media Scotland web site dedicated to online projects by artists.

MAC2A: The MAC2A project intends to work with / support the Community Archive Project.

Mastermap: OS MasterMap is an intelligent digital map designed by Ordnance Survey for use with geographical information systems ( GIS) and databases.

Media links: (SportScotland)

NOF-digitise: A digitisation programme to produce a very large number of digital resources and images of archived heritage and cultural materials.

Online Ancient Britain Map: Exploring links with the National Museum of Wales and National Museum of Scotland Exploring links with the Scottish Family History Service

Online Museum (2006 from National Museums of Scotland): An online channel to the National Museum of Scotland, due to be launched in 2006.

Papar ( RCAHMS):

PastMap: joined up delivery of heritage data to the public by RCAHMS and Historic Scotland (this is being extended to SMRS (Local Government))

People's Network: Providing free access to the internet from public / local authority libraries.

Recording Your Heritage:

Resource Sharing Scotland: a project funded by Scottish Library and Information Council to allow the Ayrshire Libraries Forum members to work together to make real access to resources seamless

Sasine Records Service (in conjunction with Registers of Scotland): In co-operation with Registers of Scotland the National Archives of Scotland are planning to digitise Sasine records which will transform the service to the legal profession and public.

SCF Project: that created the online database of Scottish textiles

SCONE: Scottish Collections Online Network: gives information about collections held in Scottish libraries, museums, and archives.

Scotland's Culture: a portal service which provides gateway access to a range of resources and information on the diversity of Scotland's culture.

Scotland's People: An official e-commerce website for government-sourced genealogical data in Scotland.

Scottish Family History Service: In co-operation with GRO(S) we are contributing to ScotlandsPeople website and creating the Scottish Family History Service.

Scottish Handwriting: A website to help people read old handwritten archives of Scotland.

SCAN: Scottish Archive Network: The Scottish Archive Network was formed in August 1999 to improve access to Scotland's archives by utilising recent advances in computer and digital imaging technology, the Internet and the expertise of Scotland's professional archivists.

Scottish Place-name Database: A database of Scottish place-names, giving integrated data opportunities.

Scottish Poetry Library Catalogue: ( INSPIRE) INternational & Scottish Poetry Information REsource ( INSPIRE) is the on-line public access catalogue and subject indexing system developed for the Scottish Poetry Library.

Scottish Schools Digital Network: The Scottish Schools Digital Network will offer a rich variety of services to teachers, pupils, parents, education authorities and other stakeholders in Scottish education.

Scran: Scran is an online learning resource service and educational environment with 300,000 images, movies and sounds from museums, galleries, archives and the media. The IPR to use the mages is contracted away from the original holder.

SLAINTE: SLAINTE is the website of Scottish Library and Information Council and SLA, the Scottish Library Association providing CPD and support material for libraries.

SMS truancy control: A SMS service for monitoring truancy in Highland schools

SWISH: SWISH (Shared Web Information Services for Heritage) This is a partnership programme between RCAHMS and RCAHMW.

The Vital Statistics Project: is being collaboratively developed by two audience development agencies: Glasgow Grows Audiences and The Audience Business (Edinburgh), which will use software to compare audience data from all arts organisations and venues in each city.

Their Past Your Future and War Detectives: A Big Lottery Fund project to record digital resources to commemorate the end of the 2nd World War.

Virtual Learning Community:

Scottish wills and testaments: In conjunction with the Genealogical Society of Utah and National Archives of Scotland, the project will convert the microfilm and paper records of the Register of Sasines (historical property registers) to digitised formats. With Genealogical Society of Utah the National Archives of Scotland have digitised wills and testaments and church records.

Work with us: A portal for voluntary work in Scotland.

www.scotexchange.net : The Tourism Framework for Action asked for the development of a Scottish tourist industry website.

Scottish Readers: A national reading development website for Scotland.

Young Scot: A website for the youth of Scotland.

The audit can only report on a sample of the true population of DMS under development in Scotland's TCS sector. However, even from this sample, we can see that there is a broad range of exciting DMS being developed.

6.5.3 Digital media uses within organisations
'Standard' desktop services
All organisations had an expectation that they would have access to internal services built on standard desktop services; however, the smaller organisations were less likely to have developed internal services beyond these.

Email use was evident across all organisations, regardless of size and type. This was particularly useful for dispersed organisations, whether large or small, and it would be difficult to overstate the importance of email as a primary digital media service, as it was emphasised by most organisations as the thing they could least do without.

MS Office tended to have been adopted as the standard desktop application. Apple Macintosh hardware was occasionally used to support creative and design work; however, where this was the case, Macs were integrated into the corporate strategy / infrastructure.

Most organisations had standard financial and HR systems in place as well as specialised desktop software for activities such as project management.

6.5.4 Information sharing applications
Many organisations had begun to introduce applications supporting the sharing of information and knowledge between staff. The most important of these was the existence of an Intranet, particularly in its role of aiding communication across multiple sites, where it was very important to enable the organisation to function. Intranets provided cohesion to organisations, in one instance where the organisation will not exist in a single building but where staff will be hosted in multiple changing sites.

Access to corporate information resources for distributed and single-site organisations was highlighted and MS SharePoint was cited frequently as a means of collaborating and sharing information across the organisation. Intranets had also proved to be "a crucial tool" during periods of organisational change as a means of facilitating communication, ensuring the flow of accurate and up-to-date information and avoiding rumour.

Many organisations, (including small ones in partnership) were now looking at implementing ERDMS. However, there were relatively few examples where these systems were up and running. The need for these was largely a response to proliferation of digital documents and a recognition that shared drives could not provide an efficient solution beyond a certain point.

Contact, Fundraising and Customer Relationship Management Systems ( e.g. Raisers Edge) were cited frequently as key tools enabling organisations to manage information about clients, customers, funders, and partners.

A small number of organisations were concerned that proliferating local databases ( e.g.MS Access) persisted where there was no corporate approach to knowledge management and / or information sharing, thereby demonstrating the need for a corporate approach. However, it was often the case that funding and / or expertise were not available to develop these facilities.

6.5.5 Shared access to administrative applications
A small number of organisations had access to administrative systems via their organisation's intranets, providing services such as:

• Overtime logging / claims
• Travel claims
• Booking cars
• Purchase ordering

However these were present only in the largest and / or most ICT-literate organisations.

6.6 Do you charge for any digital media services your organisation provides?

Question intent: The intent of this question was to ascertain whether the organisation charged for their DMS and consequently to understand the business model the organisation was following.

These results indicate that roughly half the organisations consulted charge and half do not. This is perhaps a surprising result given that the huge majority of the organisations consulted were public sector.

The only characteristic we can perceive of why an organisation will charge for DMS in general is that the chargeable DMS tend to be related to digital images, either original images, or much more likely, digitisations, that are sold to commercial organisations. This speaks to a business model for the commercial exploitation of often unique content owned by cultural organisations. One organisation, a national archive organisation, actually markets its remotely accessed digital services as being a premium service. That is, it still provides free access to paper records if one visits their buildings, but, if one wants to access the digitised version of that remotely, then that delivery remotely is considered a premium service and is charged for.

So, to summarise, of those organisations that charge for DMS the particular DMS included:

• Commercial digital images
• " Also charge for the digital library depending on the image being requested."
• " Picture Library will charge for the supply of digital images of art works."
• " [We also have] a commercial arm. They may charge for the commercial reuse of any of our digital images."
• Access to digital hardware such as scanners and digital printing / DVD authoring / copying
• " Access to artists' production support (scanning and digital printing) is charged."
• Digitised documents
• " Downloads of documents from 'Scotland's People' website."
• " We do not charge for records accessed under the same conditions as the paper records. In other words if you visit our buildings you will continue to have free access. If however you access the data remotely this is viewed as a value added service and is charged for. The records are currently made available through an e-commerce website called Scotland's People in conjunction with records from GRO(S)."
• Charges for e-booking
• " Booking charge for box office."
• Marketing opportunities
• " There is a GBP25 charge for entries on [our website]."
• Streaming content
• " The streaming service will be subject to charges at some point when current funding ceases. [We have] been working on a 'bandwidth co-op' for Scotland which will offer training, bandwidth etc. and it is designed to operate on a sliding scale."
• Copies (in any format, digital or paper) of materials available on websites
• E.g. asking for paper Freedom of Information materials available electronically will usually incur charges.
• " We do not currently charge for use of website resources, but do for paper or CDROM copies of materials from the website in particular."
• Government regulatory policies
• " In general we provide services and information in electronic form free of charge. However; charges may be introduced from July 2005 when we will become subject to the new Public Sector Information directive."

6.7 Are there organisational issues which your organisation has had to address as a result of introducing digital media services? ( e.g. staffing and skills, prioritisation of organisational goals)

Question intent: The intent of this question was to ascertain whether any significant changes had been brought about in the organisation through the introduction of DMS.

The results here imply that organisations do indeed see DMS as having had a clear impact on their organisations.

The kinds of changes instigated include:

• New ways of working and communicating via DMS
• " [We do] not currently employ staff, but hope to do so within a year. At that stage digital media services will be an organisational issue."
• " The general issues of conversion from conventional paper-and-phone operations to e-mail and electronic storage. We have addressed issues such as file naming conventions, file retention and knowledge-management."
• " Funding; staffing levels; skill gaps; lack of process standards; establishing priorities; lack of awareness about what projects actually involve; IT infrastructure; techno-phobia."
• Restructuring of organisations to take account of DMS
• " We have merged departments so as to get the maximum synergies between digital and linear media. We are also looking at more collaborative working practices between TV, radio and new media staff."
• " The new strategy with its emphasis on digital access prompted a major re-structuring of the Library including the creation of a Digital Library division to focus on the development and delivery of digital services; this is supported by an ICT division providing the infrastructure."
• New marketing opportunities
• " In the early days, mainly around connecting the digital services to our marketing effort."
• Additional resources pressures on staff including skills, time and money
• Continuous training of existing staff to adapt them to fast changing trends
• " Taking an audit of core staff skills, talents and interests and marrying them with relevant project developments / project needs etc."
• " It is always challenging to keep up-to-date. For example, we have recently had to re-skill our Development Team to undertake Web development…"

• Recruitment of additional staff with new skills

• " …finding someone with the skills to work in any of the creative industries or with digital media [and] willing to work in the charities sector at our remuneration levels is difficult. Also there are well established degree programmes and institutions in North America and Europe that produce graduates specifically in art and technology (as opposed to some iteration of computing, interactive design; etc.)."

• Recruitment of staff who not only know how to execute a DMS project but know what is possible with DMS.
• Impact on traditional services, e.g. paper-based delivery of documents, and the staff that support them
• " …the physical handling and storing of documents [has reduced]."
• The transferral of initially centrally funded projects to local management and budgets
• e.g. The People's Network: " People's Network was initially funded by the Lottery [funding] and now requires to be mainstreamed."
• The introduction of IT-focussed project management methodologies such as PRINCE2.
• Initiating more collaboration with others who already have developed the technology and requisite support skills so as not to re-invent the wheel per organisation.
• Making DMS integral to new projects and not as an add-on.

The analytical conclusion from all of this is that the largest changes brought about by DMS are / were how those organisations adapted their organisational structures and their recruitment and training policies. Training of staff has to keep pace with an ever increasing rate of development of DMS technologies. This is a characteristic of the adoption of novel and sophisticated DMS technologies that may never go away. Indeed, some organisations were complaining of a lack of suitably qualified graduates in the disciple of digital art and how to support it; that is, graduates with a specific knowledge of supporting the cultural and creative processes through DMS.

Others have restructured their organisations, usually to incorporate specialised DMS / ICT divisions; whilst some others who instigated new DMS-type departments early have now actually merged those departments back with more traditional departments to get 'synergies'. Some even drew the new DMS as being nothing new in the progress of technology over the years, drawing an analogy to the introduction of colour TV.

6.7.1 General issues
Many organisations supported the view that: " We have always been a knowledge organisation - before we would have been paper-based, now we're digital." Senior managers were aware of resistance within organisation to fundamental change and were sympathetic to the reasons for this, but felt nonetheless that: " …we just have to get on with it."

Specific concerns by staff had been that digital services would detract from traditional offerings, and that the user base would not be able to comprehend digital content; however, these had largely been dealt with through discussion, explanation and by demonstrating the benefits of digital media services to staff as well as to users.

6.7.2 Organisational structure
Organisations concurred that ICT projects tended to be pan-organisational. Although there was occasionally internal resistance to cross-departmental working within organisations there was an acknowledgement that it was essential to involve skills from several areas. One approach which had been used by a large broadcaster was to embed new media staff within projects; however, it was felt essential that digital services should have an independent, if flexible presence in their own right. A national library was another example of this approach and had instigated of Digital Services Division to provide a 'one-stop-shop' facility for ICT projects and to bring together staff with responsibility for a range of information-related activities, not just digital media.

6.7.3 Staffing
A key concern, particularly for smaller organisations is the need for staff with appropriate expertise to support digital media projects. However, many small organisations appeared to have come to terms with the fact that this was inevitably going to be an issue for them and they tended to work around the skills gap by employing consultants where necessary and outsourcing any but the most straightforward ICT roles. Larger organisations were concerned to achieve a balance between staffing needs and staff numbers in relation to ICT equipment. A large organisation which had deployed knowledge-sharing systems had established a network of people able to keep intranet and KM resources up to date and relevant.

6.7.4 Information and systems management
Large organisations tend to generate digital content as a by-product of a range of activities, ( e.g. field workers within a national heritage organisation were capturing digital images on site visits) and are aware of the need to preserve, manage and share this content. There is recognition of the need for intranets as a means of internal communication but it can be difficult for digital services managers to implement procedures and specialist systems across an organisation where they do not have direct responsibility for staff. Organisations have tended to confront the need to do this only when they encounter the difficulties which arise through not taking an organisational view of such issues, e.g. data loss, lack of quality, difficulty in accessing resources. One large organisation cited an example of funds to upgrade the intranet being sought through yearly bidding round and refused until the existing Intranet 'fell over' and had to be replaced. There is a need therefore for organisations to develop an increased awareness of their dependence on ICT and the need for renewal and ongoing investment. However, there is already an increased awareness of the need to look at services from an information-provision perspective, and not be software-driven. Of those organisations that did not have knowledge management systems in place, a number identified an organisational need for improved knowledge management, stressing the difference between IT and ICT.

Organisations also highlighted the emerging culture of information pull rather than push. And the need to enable staff to develop standard approaches to accessing and managing information. The transition to central file-sharing had proved difficult for some staff where shared access to digital resources had been implemented. The comment was made that training in the use of these software tools too often provides instruction on HOW to use software but not WHY to use it. This led to patchy and / or inconsistent adoption of systems.

6.7.5 Communication and change management
Chief among the measures recommended for successful change management when implementing digital media services was obtaining senior management buy-in where it did not already exist, since this was the means to ensure that all staff across the organisation, as well as external-facing services, worked together. The use of internal communication to stress significance of digital media services was also highlighted, as was educating organisation to adopt realistic expectations, e.g. to understand that 'can I have a website in 3 days' was not likely to result in a positive outcome.

In HE organisations, the need to explain and promote an integrated approach to ICT / Design / Art / Business management to other more traditional HE disciplines was pointed out. In some cultural organisations staff had expressed concern not to detract from the main focus of the organisation ( e.g. original artworks) and the need to persuade staff that ICT could be integrated into, and enhance, traditional activities. Once staff could see their work online and could be reassured of its quality and the benefits of making such content available, they tended to be more supportive. The provision of training to enable the integration of ICT into projects and to ensure good management of ICT projects was identified as a success factor, as was the need for staff to understand that they had a responsibility to communicate. Briefings and one-to-one encouragement action helped achieve this goal in some organisations, rather than formal policy or procedural instructions.

Overall, however, interviewees emphasised the need for pragmatism - to understand what could be done within available resources and within political and organisational constraints.

6.7.6 Motivating forces for organisational changes
Efficient Government targets were mentioned by many interviewees as a consideration behind organisational changes to develop digital media services; however, organisations felt that they were moving on from this initial stimulus to create new services. The point was made that digital media services were " not about efficiency and should not be led by a drive for efficiency; should be led by a drive for enablement." Communication - process - not information - product. One organisation highlighted a problem with Efficient Government in that any savings go back into a Government pot and meaning that well-performing organisations have no incentive to improve efficiency and cannot use savings to improve services.

6.7.7 Internal motivators
Motivating factors from within the organisation included the following:

• " 75% top-down."
• " Clear instruction from leaders of governing bodies."
• " Desperate organisational need" acknowledged by all staff.
• Communications staff prompting the need to develop new services.
• Trustees being convinced by arguments from staff.
• Commercial staff being 'massively enthusiastic' since they are driven by potential for increased revenue through events, bookings etc.
• Combination of " adamant" governing bodies, staff pressure and audience demand.
• Clear strategy and urge to open up physical building.
• " Access to collections" a major driver.
• Artistic director providing a strong lead.
• " We were early adopters - have had to be in touch."
• Move of organisational base providing a top-down opportunity to determine ICT needs.
• Collective approach in absence of CEO to recognise rapidly changing environment.
• Improving services for users.
• Common understanding of the need to use ICT effectively.
• " Whole organisation has been behind CRM in that it provides vital information for people's jobs."

Overall there was an overwhelmingly positive response for the need to develop digital media services, with one interviewee describing the " excitement and enthusiasm, especially on the part of younger staff", while others were simply concerned that the " …main problem is trying to slow staff down!"

6.7.8 External motivators
Motivation to develop new services had largely come from within organisations; however, some external factors had come into play, for instance:

• The need to respond to user behaviour.
• A groundswell of enthusiasm for broadband.
• The increasing prevalence of the on-demand environment.
• Legal requirements, e.g.FOI.

6.8 Do you feel that your organisation has, since the advent of digital media services, shifted in its role in relation to its audiences or to other organisations?

Question intent: The intent of this question was a follow up on the previous questions about changes in the organisation. This one specifically asked if the role the organisation played (in relation to its peers and partners) had changed due to the introduction of DMS.

The results here clearly imply that organisations feel that their relationships to user, stakeholders, partners and others have changed since the advent of DMS in their organisation and sector generally.

Of the changes mentioned, these are some of the more regularly mentioned:

• A recognition of the transferable skills in DMS possessed by some organisation by broader sector and its organisations
• " There has been a notable shift and recognition that library and information professionals have a key role to play and that technical solutions and technical metadata are not enough to ensure people get access to the right information at the right time."
• Increased pressure on funding resources
• " Our customer base has expanded from 10-15,000 visitors to the buildings to closer to 1 million visitors to the websites. This hasn't been reflected in resources granted to [us] however, as we have retained our previous responsibility to staff the search rooms largely as they were prior to the digital media."
• Better customer services through more frequent / direct / focussed contact with users via e-mail / website
• " More frequent direct contact with some audiences via e-mail and web-site."
• " The diversification of communication tools (internet web-site, e-mails) has allowed a better customer service."
• " Now have the ability to communicate directly with segments of our audience and use a variety of purposes such as needs identification, creation of ideas and dissemination of good practice."
• " Allows us to be closer to our audience and to personalise or target more accurately."
• " We are more conscious that there is an audience for our digital information and we have a responsibility to meet this demand."
• Information more accessible on-line to majority of users.
• A more dynamic marketing strategy through more e-commerce and user / buyer statistics.
• " Improvements in our own electronic knowledge management mean that we hold accurate information about our membership; and can generate statistical information more easily, e.g. about grants programs."
• " On-line selling has generated significant new revenue and new audiences."
• Larger, more varied, more dispersed user base
• Internationalisation of user base.
• " Our customer base has expanded from 10-15,000 visitors to the buildings to closer to 1 million visitors to the websites."
• " Through its new strategy the Library has changed its approach to work to attract a much wider range of audiences. Digital media provide a vital means of doing this, and in themselves do attract different audiences."
• " Customer base has expanded numerically and geographically."
• " We were able to expand our service to Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh - retaining our Hub staff and information team in Glasgow."
• " …Our online user numbers have soared and we now attract a worldwide audience."
• From person-to-person to person-to-website interface
• " This is marginal in that the transition has been almost imperceptible over time. The shift has been from person-to-person interaction to person-to-web interface interaction."
• " Our visitor numbers have dropped."
• Less specialist users are now being attracted to services
• " We are attracting a wider audience of less specialist users."
• Increased partnerships
• " In relation to other organisations the possibilities of interoperation is very exciting and we are working with ADS (Archaeology Data Service) RCAHMW, Historic Scotland and SMRS in Scotland and there is potential for more."
• " Alongside an adoption of a partnership way of working we use digital media to serve the needs of these partners rather than just as public face."
• Public users of information where before such information would not have been easily accessible.
• Increased user convenience (out of hours DMS) and focus
• " Availability of some services now 24/7; more emphasis on needs of customer rather than only those of organisation."

Some thought they were struggling to cope with the rapid developments in DMS that impact communications / relationships, such as:

• Blogging
• SMS / MMS
• Video on demand for wireless / Bluetooth

The overriding difference in the relationship between organisations and their users is that communication is much quicker; however, interviewees suggested that this hasn't fundamentally changed the nature of the relationship. Organisations have responded by attempting to increase of consistency of responses to users and the rationalisation of services to ensure equal access to different users.

In one area, however, the relationship has changed in that it has been inverted. Organisations are no longer simply information providers but are evolving into information brokers. Users now have the opportunity to contribute content and to participate in interactive services, all of which has led to an increased sense of ownership or culture and cultural organisations. Or as BBC Scotland put it: 'We're the BBC, what's your news?'

In response to this question a national heritage organisation responded: " Yes - it's the key to our whole ethos in this area." The example of Taymouth Castle was cited, where open access to all correspondence has been provided, instilling an increased sense of ownership in users and encouraging people's involvement in historic environment.

New software in a national gallery has allowed users to choose their mode of access to the collections as well as allowing users to provide feedback on the collections. Following access to the collections being made available online users have already pointed out mistakes and a contemporary artist has submitted updated information about herself, suggesting users are taking ownership of this shared content.

Several participants spoke of " allowing people into our organisation by using technology": again promoting a sense of ownership.

6.8.1 Changed public relationships
The biggest changes observed were obviously in how the organisation addresses its users / customers and the increased level of service available to them.

There was a feeling that the last 2-3 years had seen a substantial increase in projects able to engage audiences in new ways. Many of these involved the solicitation of input from users via web-based services, initiating a two-way flow of information. The BBC has initiated a number of these including Gathering Memories and the Scottish Digital Memory Book. It has complemented these digital activities by undertaking active outreach within communities and encouraging activities such as blogging. It is currently pursuing potential for global conversations - Blogs for Africa - by engaging emigrants and immigrants. A national film organisation is seeking to allow film producers (or other creative bodies) to provide their information to others via cultural organisations as brokers.

A language and culture organisation are enabling the use of websites to promote Gaelic; providing access to users who would otherwise have been isolated; elsewhere organisations are supporting teacher training to allow users to 'do different things with resources'.

Key to many of these services is the availability and accessibility of the People's Network in local libraries, providing a safe and secure environment where users can undertake self-determined tasks using a range of resources. The National Library is becoming available locally via the People's Network and www.barrhead-scotland.com is an example of how the People's Network can be used to enhance access and support digital communities

6.8.1.1 Emerging trends
In addition to these specific examples there are a number of broad trends, reflected in organisations' future plans. Chief among these is the reversing of the traditional relationship with public bodies and media organisations. Information can be contributed and pulled down on demand, rather than being requested and given out.

There is a sense that new users are still arriving in the digital arena and also that there is " less focus now on chasing headlines with ICT initiatives, more emphasis on developing good, in-depth relationship with public contributions" as claimed by one large organisation.

However the fact that users are beginning to respond to new opportunities to participate in the lives of cultural organisations, means that there is now a need to take a more strategic view on how to develop services which build on this opportunity and improved relationship.

Organisations are developing the ability to provide services according to users' preferences - email, web as opposed to telephone and letter - this is a difficult cultural adjustment for organisations and their users. Similarly, organisations have to work within themselves, encouraging their own staff to contribute information.

6.8.2 Changed business relationships
Many organisations in the sector are involved in the allocation of funding to other bodies and increasingly funding applications are being able to be made online. However, the most notable instances of developing new relations with businesses are in the area of tourism. Historic Scotland has developed an extranet for use by tourism industry visiting historic sites.

Provision of extranet for tour companies visiting historic properties and other organisations are also currently reviewing communications with the Tourism industry. Scotexchange.net is one example, run in collaboration with councils and providing information for tourist businesses.

Elsewhere, relationships are being developed with the creative industries. The HE sector are not only using work-based placements to further skills and to integrate creative industries with education, but are also involving practitioners in the process of developing and delivering of course modules, drawing on their specialised ICT key skills.

6.8.2.1 Emerging trends
The primary trend in the communication with businesses is the use of email which is now standard. Only 6 individuals out of 3,300 on an arts-practitioners mailing list don't have email and the response of one organisation to business use of digital media services is " If you're not ICT literate then you're not going to succeed anyway." However, not all areas of activity are as clear-cut as that. An issue for many organisations (although some are reluctant to admit it) is the need to locate themselves in the digital market; not competing with or duplicating the work of other organisations. Some organisations, however, are developing fruitful partnerships with bodies with particular areas of expertise.

6.9 Is your organisation planning any new digital media services in the future?

Question intent: The intent of this question was a follow on from the question on whether DMS are mentioned in the organisation's strategy. We asked here specifically whether future DMS were going to be offered and what they might be.

This is a profoundly optimistic view of DMS in Scotland's tourist, sporting and cultural sectors. All of the consultees were certain that new DMS would be offered in the future and that they are an important part of the organisation's future.

Reasons for developing future DMS included:

• Provide better services to set audiences / users due to evolving technology
• " To service our various audience groups more effectively."
• " To make content more accessible and our stakeholders more enfranchised."
• " As indicated above, the website is being developed into a Digital National Library. This will help equalise access to services, provide surrogates of fragile and valuable items and enable the collections to be presented in different and exciting ways, including sound and moving images."
• " In Scotland there will be more syndicated programming and distribution of digital content. Why? Because of the emerging community media markets. Firstly radio (as five year licences are just being announced) and then digital / online community / local TV systems, whether through digital multiplexes or online, will require quality content."
• " Advances in technology that introduce new ways of communicating with customers will be monitored and evaluated."
• " Upgrade of [our] internet site and making use of the technology advances of the past years to design a site better adapted to audience interests."
• " We are also upgrading our website considerably to be more user-friendly and to prioritise and drive content on our site to specific users / audiences. These changes are planned to deliver better communication with existing audiences / users as well as to be more accessible and user friendly to potential audiences and users."
• " Online Museum during 2006. This provides opportunity to widen access to our permanent displays and exhibitions as well as exploit collections that are behind the scenes due to lack of space or other exhibition priorities."
• " All aimed at more effective and joined up customer services."
• Partnership / interoperability-related
• " Hosting web services as part of joined up government, e.g. A+DS, Scottish Place Name Database - giving integrated data opportunities…Links with OS data and vice versa…"
• " We are developing pilot partnerships with other libraries to look at how our collections can be accessed - principally digitally - through their service points and websites, including the integration of our metadata with theirs."
• " As indicated above we are planning a trusted digital repository for use by other institutions (on a cost recovery basis); and shared infrastructure for electronic legal deposit as part of our role in supporting other libraries."
• " We have an embryonic common information environment in Scotland; developed by stealth and various funding opportunities."
• " The development of Smartcard technologies will give another opportunity to give seamless access to information and resources."
• E-commerce-related
• " Considering selling downloads of some Orchestra recordings via web-site…"
• " Further development of e-box office."
• " We are also planning e-procurement."
• E-learning related
• " Interactive learning materials as mentioned before."
• " Virtual Learning Environment: The VLE will provide opportunities to improve the learning experience, increase flexibility of learning and meet student expectations."
• " Scottish Schools Digital Network is an internet for all Scottish schools and will deliver a wide variety of educational services."
• " Mainly on-line data services and new applications to enable our customers to transact on-line."
• " Our content is being digitised in response to market research which indicates the priorities of current and non-users, and is available to other organisations (such as Learning and Teaching Scotland) for inclusion in learning and curriculum packages."
• " More on line resources enables students to learn when it suits them."
• " Embedding audio and video material into teaching material, for example streaming lectures across the Internet to student PCs. This means students can catch up on lectures they miss or can review previous lectures."
• Marketing campaign-related
• " E-mail monitoring system / testing effectiveness of E-mail campaigns."
• " Opportunity is to enable more people to be contacted and this contact to be more effective. Also for our information to be 'pull' rather than 'push' driven."
• " We are planning an overhaul of our knowledge management systems, which will enable us to integrate many of the systems that we currently support. This will enable us to manage knowledge about our membership more effectively."
• " New Marketing databases…Installation of Marketing Analysis software to consolidate, compare and manage customer data from venue box offices. This is necessary since becoming a touring company and will greatly improve our CRM capacity, as well as providing more sophisticated analysis than has been possible in the past."
• " SMS-text messaging - expanding our marketing communication to include 2-way SMS text alerts - providing scope for last-minute news and offer delivery."
• Productivity-related
• " We are starting this process by implementing a new system to handle our grants management process, and the possibility of grant application forms being submitted in electronic format is being looked at."
• " Digital asset management - to ensure digital assets are quality approved, re-usable, stored efficiently, rights-managed and easily retrieved. … Picture library management - same as above but for physical photographic assets."
• Platform / device-related
• " VOIP, Video over IP, iKiosks"
• " PDA focussed tourist."

Most organisations planned the use of ICT to further various aims, but were clear about the fact that the prevalence of ICT across organisation did not mean that ICT was the focus of the organisation. Smaller organisations tended to be focused at a level of immediate need and were concerned about the deployment of core, risk-reduced technologies. A number of organisations pointed out that the general public needed to develop skills to access resources - what were these skills and how could they be developed?

6.9.1 Channel development
One large organisation aimed to develop " multi-platform services for multi-skilled audiences"; however, other than this, the channels most bodies wished to exploit further were web-based, encompassing the development of more user-responsive websites and the use of blogging to share knowledge and experiences. Scran were keen to confirm their position as the primary channel for providing digital assets to the informal and formal learning market.

6.9.2 Service Development
Organisations highlighted the need to expand the range of services offered including the following:

• Holistic user environments such as the Scottish School Digital Network - a secure network for all schools with national user authentication.
• Improvement of existing websites to match increased level of user expectation.
• Linking content and contextual information in meaningful ways.
• The provision of a 'one-stop shop' for cultural material.
• To provide users with the ability to locate and borrow library material across sectors and across regions.
• Online accreditation for museums.

These services tended to relate to existing activities, and were focused on the need to streamline and increase access to services.

6.9.3 Internal systems
A number of organisations had plans to implement specific systems in the near-medium-term future. These included:

• Electronic records and document management systems.
• Online Human Resource management.
• E-procurement.
• Digital asset management.
• Content management systems in order to redo website and improve web-based communication and services.
• Integrate knowledge management systems into activities across the organisation.
• Explore the possibilities of videoconferencing.

6.9.4 Organisational change
One organisation cited the need for organisational change as an aspiration; specifically the integration of digital media services with education services.

6.9.5 Communication with users
Many organisations were keen to improve their ability to communicate and connect with audiences through a series of two-way communication services. They also wanted to allow their users to communicate with each other within their peer groups. Tourism organisations had a wealth of ideas about how to target people more effectively and to develop rich data resources which would include what visitors wanted when they came to Scotland and what they actually did.

6.9.6 Barriers to future DMS
Perhaps unsurprisingly, almost everyone consulted mentioned the barrier of funding as being the ultimate constraint on whether future DMS will be developed to their requirements, or at all.

A lack of standards was also mentioned, especially when the future services were predicated on joining up services for users; also mentioned was a lack of data sharing, again where joining up services was concerned. However, one major problem mentioned was that if partnership development of service and data sharing was to work and to be successfully rolled out, development schedules have to be coordinated.

A lack of shared services and data were also mentioned as a possible barrier to smaller organisations developing DMS. A lack of shared (public) services also wastes public money.

A lack of a common regulatory or service level framework was mentioned as a problem where local authorities, or other organisations, have differing policies on what is deemed acceptable behaviour on their systems, e.g.:

" There are inequalities in what individuals can access through the ICT access provided by the People's Network. People's Network is accessed from different local authority contexts, from different security and firewall / filtering issues, which modify what is accessible. For example some authorities don't allow access to media on the BBC website as it used Real Player."

This has obvious implications for accessibility and exclusion policies of the government.

Also mentioned was staff's acceptance of DMS that would mean new ways of working for them, such as lecturers in a major school of art when they were faced with a VLE. Similarly, a major higher education organisation said " Needs teaching staff to adapt their teaching for recording purposes. Not all staff will be keen on their lectures being recorded unless strict controls are put in place."

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