When proceeding with a digital project, it seems that a lot of emphasis is generally placed on learning the ins and outs of using the tool or method. Certainly, this is important. However, this is but one planning consideration among many. Additionally, there is much more to know about using a particular tool or method that a technical introduction overlooks. Below I outline some additional considerations you might incorporate into planning your next digital project.

Some of these suggestions come directly from a guide that was developed by the participants of the “Race, Social Justice and Digital Humanities” course at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute (DHSI) last summer. Other considerations were developed in conversation with GCDI’s Deputy Director, Lisa Rhody, in preparation for a workshop comparing tools and methods for web-based projects.

You can review the original sources by following the links below, or keep reading for an integrated list of 11 considerations.

• Click, M., and R. Dobkins, D. Kim, A. Griggs, K. Hackett, S. Higgins, J. Lopez, E. Machado, V. Maxwell-Turanski, A.D. Nieves, A. Okoshi, J. N. Ross, M. Salvodon, F. Smith, R. Stringfield, R. M. Tawil. “DHSI_2019_Race_and_SJ_Final_Presentation_050719.” June 2019. Google Docs Slide Presentation.
• Hackett, K. “Cultivating a Digital Academic Identity with WordPress, the CUNY Academic Commons and/or Reclaim Hosting”. October 2019. Google Docs Slide Presentation.

1. What is the purpose of your project? What does it aim to achieve? Whose needs or interests does it aim to meet? What silences are present and how should they be addressed (if needed)?
2. What communities are represented in the content of the project? How will/are representatives of these communities (be) involved in the project? What kind of input do they have over what and how, and with whom, and for what purpose content is shared? What will consultation and power-sharing processes look like? Beyond involving members, how does your project serve or give back to the community(ies) at its center?
3. To whom should your project be accessible, and how will you accomplish this? It is important to consider how your project may inherently privilege certain bodies or communities over others. You may want to build in different levels of access to content you share – maybe everything shouldn’t be public. Whatever the conditions specific to your project are, accessibility should be a question you address in the planning stages; it should not be an afterthought.
4. How does your project harm and not harm? How could the aims of your project be weaponized now or in the future, potentially in ways that inflict harm on the community(ies) at its center? How are you sharing and negotiating this concern with them? Is this a risk the community is willing to accept and on whose authority is that decision to be made? What steps must you take to prevent this?
5. What is your relationship to the work and data of the project and/or the community at the heart of it? You as an individual occupy certain locations of power that are relative to the community or communities inherently tied to your work. Be honest with yourself about this power relationship and its influence on your work, and think through how you should account for it.
6. What tools and/or methods will help you accomplish your expressed purpose? In most cases, there are multiple tools that can accomplish similar outcomes. They vary considerably and there are sub-considerations. How familiar or unfamiliar is the tool or method? Many of us are most comfortable with software programs that come with point-and-click user interfaces. They also tend to be quicker in spinning up a presentable project. Programming and markup languages can be less familiar and more time intensive, but they offer more control over style, layout, functions, and features. How much time do you have before you need a shareable web-based version of your project? How much money do you have to invest in the project? How much technical responsibility do you want to take on? Or conversely, how much support do you want access to? Be honest with yourself about how much control over design, layout, and “branding” you want (or NEED).
7. Moreover, what is the history of the tool you choose? How has it been weaponized in the past or used to promote harm or violence against a particular community? This investigation should influence your decision about which tool is right for you and your project or how you wield a particular tool.
8. In addition to your own, whose labor does or will the project depend on and how will you honor those contributions (i.e. acknowledgement, credit, compensation, etc). Note that the labor undergirding projects is not always so clear or obvious. For example, in a project I am currently working on, I acknowledge the support of the GCDI family, and the other fellows, as well as the other fellows who participated in GCDI’s Data for Public Good project in Spring 2019. None of these communities are directly helping me think through, plan or carry out my project – and I think they might be surprised to see themselves listed – and yet, without these communities, I don’t think I would have the capacity or confidence to pursue my project.
9. What are your short, medium, and long-term goals for your project? What deadlines – internal or external – must be worked into the timeline of the project? Also consider creating a schedule to review and assess the project’s progress – perhaps with community members involved in the work – and to incorporate a way of accounting for those assessments in your initial project plan.
10. Be willing to re-evaluate and revise your project. Herein I am proposing that you front load these questions when planning your digital project, but they should ALSO be revisited throughout.
11. Most projects come to an end eventually. What is your plan for responsibly and ethically retiring your project? Should it come offline? Should it transfer ownership? Should it be archived in an institutional repository like CUNY Academic Works? Be mindful that these decisions too are entangled in power relations and should be decided in concert with the community(ies) at the center of your work, or with their interests in mind. Also, be mindful of how these decisions change the ownership, control and accessibility of the project.

For a good example of a project that bakes in many of these considerations, see Mapping Soweto, by Dr. Angel David Nieves. Dr. Nieves is a professor at San Diego State University and was one of the lead instructors of the Race, Social Justice and DH course at DHSI the year I participated.

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