Samvera Marketing WG notes 18-06-27

Owned by Chris Awre
Jun 29, 2018

Present: Chris Awre, Karen Cariani, Alicia Morris, Charlotte Nunes, Ryan Steans, Steph Taylor

Apologies: Richard Green


1. Notes from the previous meeting and matters arising

The notes from the previous meeting were reviewed and accepted.  There were four actions from these:

  • Chris to email the lists to ask for questions that have been asked and for example of marketing and communications that have been successful.
    • Email had been sent, though no response to date.  Appropriate chasers will be sent in due course.
  • Chris to draft a submission for Samvera Connect and to request a slot in the WG updates for Virtual Connect.
    • The slot at Virtual Connect is confirmed.  A submission for Samvera Connect is being drafted and will be circulated for input.
  • Richard to contact Lynn McRae re: T-shirt designs and their availability.
    • Lynn has been contacted and we are awaiting a reply.
  • Chris, Ryan and Steph to review the questions we have been asked and propose themes to help break these up and help with prioritisation.
    • Review carried out and fed into the agenda discussion for this meeting.

2. Draft content for questions we are asked - theming and prioritisation

Discussion around the questions highlighted the following points:

  • It will be important to include aspects of how we communicate as a community and beyond this.
  • There is an associated point re: community about concern around what a site or individual will be expected to contribute.  This links to the work of the Contribution WG, which has a substantial overlap in membership with this group.
  • There will be value in being able to espouse the value of open source generally, maybe through a one-pager that covers this.  At the same time, we need to be wary of spending too much effort 'marketing' the broader issues as this can sometimes leave Samvera being referenced only at the end or as an afterthought.
  • Focusing on Samvera, we have the long-standing differential as to whether we focus on it as a technology solution or as a community, with advocates for both on the group.  It was agreed that Samvera is at its heart a community, albeit one that is providing an umbrella for a number of technology solutions, with Hyrax being the main 'product'.  The value of community very much needs to come to the fore, as this is what distinguishes Samvera from other related repository initiatives and services.
  • An emphasis on what Samvera and its technologies are used for will also be helpful - digital scholarship is key in this context, although it is recognised that Samvera is used for a variety of purposes.
  • The link between Samvera and library values of openness and sharing could be helpful for relevant audiences.
  • Recognising the variety of scenarios, it will be of use to generate materials that can be adapted to meet different needs and different audiences.  For example, a set of slides that can be re-ordered to suit a focus on community or technology dependent on audience.

3. Workpackages

Strategy - this was agreed as of value, and that the WG charter webpage is a good starting point.  Action: Chris will re-visit and refine for wider use.

Key messages - important, and will be best addressed through developing answers for the questions we have listed.  Action: All to add their own answers to the questions on the wiki page ahead of the next meeting on July 18th.

Materials development - we need to be clear about what we would like: members were asked to think about hat they found most useful from other conferences they had attended.  Action: All to review the list of possible materials and add to this accordingly.

4. Next meetings 

The dates of all meetings up to Connect in October had been listed on the charter web page.  Charlotte will send out iCAL invites to get them in calendars.