Managing Projects
in the Digital Humanities
Jeremy Boggs
Creative Lead, Center for History and New Media

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Five Phases
• Strategy - The big picture
• Scope - Specific requires and goals
• Content - The Stuff.
• Design - How the Stuff looks and works
• Development - How to get the Stuff to the user.

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
No phase should finish until
the previous phase is finished

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Timeline for Project
Strategy
Scope
Content
Design
Front-End Dev
Back-End Dev

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Areas of Responsibility
Branding
Aesthetic
How users interact
with content Design Data Structure
Programming
Front-end and Back-end
Content Development
Text, Images, Video
Information Architecture
What users will interact with

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Strategy and scope
encompass content, design,
and development

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Strategy

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Strategy
• Usually comes in the form of a grant
• What you’re building, broadly.
• Why???

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Gulag: Many Days, Many Lives

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Strategy - Gulag
• Create resource for teachers and students to
learn more about the Soviet Gulag
• Archive hard-to-access sources
• Provide ways for the public to share stories.

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Scope

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Scope
• Tangible components to realize Strategy
• Outlines responsibilities for each person
• Translates user needs and objective into specific
requirements to build.
• Make a Scope Document!!!

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Scope - Gulag
• Upload ~300 primary sources, with Russian
translation
• Create exhibit with ~20 pages, organized by
theme
• Create plugin to let users follow a prisoner
through exhibit
• Create a form to allow for public contributions

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Content
• Information Architecture
• Content Inventories
• Site Maps

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Content Inventory

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Site Map

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Content Outcomes
• Sitemap with overall structure of the site,
relationships among pages
• Inventory of content; what gos on each page or
“state” in your project.

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Design

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Design = Communication
• What do you want to communicate?
• What do you want users to remember?
• How do you want users to respond?

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Wireframes

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Point of Wireframes
• Make sure all content is accounted for on each
page; A visual content inventory.
• Display relative importance of content
• Serve as basis for...

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Color Mockups

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Pre-Mockups
• Talk to stakeholders about look and feel
• Create mood boards, color palettes
• Help people make informed design decisions

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Design Critique
• Designers: Explain WHY you made specific
decisions
• Avoid talking about likes: “I like green,” or “I
don’t like Garamond.”
• Do the design choices work for the message you
want to convey, the experience you want to
provide?

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Development

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Front End Development - HTML, CSS

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Back End Development - PHP, MySQL

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
• Create a starter kit.
• Use a CMS: Drupal, Omeka, WordPress
• Use Frameworks: Zend, CodeIgniter, CakePHP
• Use Libraries: Yahoo UI, Prototype, jQuery

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Strategies for Success
• Make responsibilities, deadlines clear.
• Efficient communication
• Create a hub for sharing information

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Milestones
Strategy
Scope
Content
Design
Front-End Dev
Back-End Dev

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Milestones
Strategy
Scope
Content
Design
Front-End Dev
Back-End Dev

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Clear communication
• Responsibilities - Assign roles, tasks.
• Expectations, goals - Scope is important to all.
• Meetings
• Have a purpose, agenda, specific timeframe
• Someone leads.
• Evaluate afterwards.

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Project Management Apps - Basecamp

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Project Management Apps - Trac

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Project Management Apps - PB Wiki

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Provide a central place for
project team to share info,
keep track of progress.

C Jeremy Boggs Digital Dialogues, February 10, 2009
Be a Cheerleader!