Media, Culture and Heritage (MCH) National Digitization Plan...The MCH National Digitization Plan seeks to provide a framework for addressing these critical gaps through a model focused

Media, Culture and Heritage (MCH) National Digitization Plan

Media, Culture and Heritage (MCH)

National Digitization Plan

Ministry of Information and Communications Technology

July 10, 2014


وتكنولوجيا المعلوماتالتصاالت وزارة ا

2



3

Table of Contents

Executive Summary...................................................................................................................................... 5 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 6

1.1 Context and Scope of this Document ........................................................................................... 6 2 MCH Institutions Baseline Assessment and Key Gaps ........................................................................ 8

2.1 Baseline Scope .............................................................................................................................. 8 2.2 MCH Institutions’ Collection Overview......................................................................................... 8 2.3 MCH Institutions’ Progress .........................................................................................................10 2.4 MCH Institutions Assessment and Prioritization ........................................................................11 2.5 MCH Institutions’ Digitization Gaps ............................................................................................14 2.6 Baseline Summary by MCH Cluster ............................................................................................15

3 MCH National Digitization Model ..................................................................................................... 17 3.1 Recommended MCH National Digitization Model .....................................................................17 3.2 MCH National Digitization Model Benefits .................................................................................18

4 Digital Conversion Centers ................................................................................................................ 19 4.1 Digital Conversion Centers Description ......................................................................................19 4.2 Digital Conversion Centers Role .................................................................................................20

5 Unified Access Platform ..................................................................................................................... 21 5.1 Unified Access Platform Role......................................................................................................21 5.2 Unified Access Platform Stakeholders ........................................................................................22 5.3 Unified Access Platform Roadmap .............................................................................................22

6 MCH Institutions and the National Digitization Model Functions ................................................... 24 6.1 Digitization Facilitation ...............................................................................................................24 6.2 Digital Conversion Centers .........................................................................................................24 6.3 Unified Access Platform ..............................................................................................................24

7 MCH Institutions Role in National Digitization ................................................................................. 26 8 Appendix ............................................................................................................................................ 27

8.1 MCH National Digitization Planning and KPIs .............................................................................27 8.2 MCH National Digitization Budget ..............................................................................................31 8.3 MCH National Digitization Policies and Standards .....................................................................39 8.4 MCH National Digitization Technical Architecture .....................................................................52 8.5 MCH National Digitization Human Resource Requirements ......................................................56



4

Table of Exhibits

Exhibit 1: MCH Institutions' Primary Collection Overview ......................................................................... 10 Exhibit 2: Institutions’ Digitization Progress by Activity - 2012-2013......................................................... 10 Exhibit 3: Institutions’ Digitization Levels and Progress ............................................................................. 11 Exhibit 4: Qatari Institutions Material Relevance and Urgency to Digitize ................................................ 12 Exhibit 5: Qatari Institutions Current Digitization Levels ........................................................................... 13 Exhibit 6: Prioritization of Qatari Institutions ............................................................................................. 14 Exhibit 7: MCH National Digitization Model ............................................................................................... 17 Exhibit 8: MCH Conversion Centers Description ........................................................................................ 19 Exhibit 9: Unified Access Platform – Key Elements .................................................................................... 21 Exhibit 10: Unified Access Platform – Stakeholders’ Map and Roles ......................................................... 22 Exhibit 11: Unified Access Platform Roadmap ........................................................................................... 23 Exhibit 12: National Digitization Roadmap ................................................................................................. 27 Exhibit 13: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) ........................................................................................... 29 Exhibit 14: Throughputs per Workflows and Formats ............................................................................... 33 Exhibit 15: Number of Workflows per Digital Conversion Center and Content Type ................................ 33 Exhibit 16: Unified Access Platform Budget Requirements (in USD Mn) ................................................... 36 Exhibit 17: National Digitization Cost Budget by Stakeholder (Year 1- Year 10) (in USD Mn) ................... 37 Exhibit 18: Total Digitization Budget by Cost Driver (in USD Mn) .............................................................. 37 Exhibit 19: Overall 10-Year Digitization Budget (in USD Mn) ..................................................................... 39 Exhibit 20: A/V Selection and Prioritization Approach ............................................................................... 41 Exhibit 21: 3D and 2D Selection and Prioritization Approach .................................................................... 41 Exhibit 22: A/V Digital Capture Process ...................................................................................................... 45 Exhibit 23: A/V Digital Ingest Workflow ..................................................................................................... 46 Exhibit 24: 3D Object Digital Capture Process ............................................................................................ 46 Exhibit 25: 3D Object Digital Ingest Process ............................................................................................... 47 Exhibit 26: 2D Object Digital Conversion Process....................................................................................... 47 Exhibit 27: 2D Object Digital Ingest Process ............................................................................................... 48 Exhibit 28: Access Rights Definition Matrix ................................................................................................ 49 Exhibit 29: Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Process ................................................................ 51 Exhibit 30: MCH Digitization High Level Technical Infrastructure .............................................................. 53 Exhibit 31: Technical Architecture - A/V conversion .................................................................................. 54 Exhibit 32: Technical Architecture – 3D Content ........................................................................................ 55 Exhibit 33: Technical Architecture - 2D Content ........................................................................................ 55



5

Executive Summary

As the State of Qatar transitions to a knowledge-based economy, it seeks to ensure that the nation's path to modernity is rooted in its values and traditions. A key first challenge identified in both the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the Qatar National Development Strategy (2011-2016) 1is the preservation of Qatar's culture. The National Digitization Plan, outlined in Qatar's National ICT Plan 20152, leverages the very tools of modernity in the preservation of Qatar’s culture, traditions and heritage. The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (henceforth, ‘the Ministry’) is central to this endeavor because it is mandated with setting the rules that govern this digital frontier through its policies, laws and guidelines. Under the National Broadband Plan that the Ministry launched in 2013, the Media, Culture and Heritage National Digitization Plan will play an important role part in maximizing the benefits of broadband through the creation of quality information and entertainment content that reflects Qatar’s culture and heritage. Digitization is a first step in making Qatar’s heritage digital and accessible online.

After conducting two assessments of the state of digitization in the media, culture and heritage sectors in Qatar, the Ministry has developed a Media, Culture and Heritage (MCH) National Digitization Plan that is tailored to the specific needs and challenges of these institutions. The MCH National Digitization Plan begins with an overview of the assessments’ findings. The assessment identified five gaps that are obstacles to national digitization in the media, culture and heritage sectors:

National digitization planning and funding.

Policies and standards enforcement.

Nationwide indexing scheme.

A/V conversion technology.

Access to online archives. While the Ministry’s Policies and Standards for Digitization for Qatar’s Culture, Heritage, Media and Social Institutions document presents a common national policy and standard as well as a framework for a nationwide indexing scheme, the MCH National Digitization Plan presents a framework for addressing the other gaps. The Plan outlines a de-centralized and cooperative model that lays the groundwork for successful digitization initiatives in Qatar. Central to that national effort is a National Digitization Model that plays to the strategic competencies of national MCH institutions in Qatar. The model identifies three key national functional areas:

Digitization Facilitation: Provide overarching national plans, policies and standards.

Digital Conversion Centers: Designate key MCH Centers as a national resource for the conversion of material of value to Qatari culture and heritage.

Unified Access Platform: Build a platform that pulls into one gateway the collective digital content of Qatar.

The Ministry, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, is taking the lead in the Digitization Facilitation. The Qatar National Library will be the first center to come online as the 2-D Conversion Center for the State of Qatar and can champion the proposed national Unified Access Platform (A portal to publish Qatar’s Culture and Heritage).

1 (Qatar National Development Strategy 2011 - 2016, 2011) 2 (Qatar National Vision 2030, 2008)



6

1 Introduction

1.1 Context and Scope of this Document

The MCH National Digitization Plan stems from Qatar’s need to contribute to the creation of quality content that reflects national value, history and traditions. In fact, Qatar seeks to build a knowledge-economy that reflects its traditions and culture.

The first major challenge is “Molding modernization around the preservation of Qatari culture and traditions”1 mentioned in the Qatar National Strategy.

The preservation and promotion of culture and heritage are also highlighted across three of the four key pillars of the Qatar National Vision 2030:

o Human Development. o Social Development. o Economic Development.2

Qatar is making progress in putting in place the necessary foundations for its national development. Qatar, for example, is modernizing its ICT infrastructure and its population is highly connected.

Qatar is the leader in network connectivity in the Arab region. The country was ranked 23 out of 144 countries in terms of Network Readiness Index in The Global Information Technology Report 2013.3

However, the connected population is currently not accessing top quality Arabic content:

Only 3%4 of the world’s content is in Arabic, and the majority of Arabic speakers have low levels of satisfaction with the quality of available digital Arabic content.

The MCH National Digitization Plan seeks to contribute to the creation of quality digital Arabic content that taps into Qatar’s rich Arabic and Islamic heritage and its unique history in the Arab Gulf region. Such content will ground the country’s economic transformation in its values while spurring the development of an Arabic digital ecosystem that promotes the culture and economy of the country.

To reach the human, social and economic goals that are outlined in Qatar’s national vision and development strategy, the Ministry developed Qatar’s National ICT Plan 2015: Advancing the Digital Agenda. Launched in 2010, the Digital Agenda laid out five strategic thrusts aligned with Qatar’s National Vision 2030. Under the ‘Fostering Economic Growth’ initiative, the Ministry called for a National Digitization Plan for the digitization of Qatar’s heritage, culture, academic research, government laws and decrees, and health research.

The overall National Digitization Plan covers seven broad sectors for national digitization. The Media, Culture and Heritage National Digitization Plan only covers the first three sectors.

1. Culture and Heritage.

2. Media.

3. Social and Interest Groups.

4. Academic and Research.

5. Government.

3 (The Global Information Technology Report 2013, 2013) 4 (gulfnews.com, 2013). Source: http://gulfnews.com/business/media-marketing/internet-needs-arabic-to-do-the-talking-1.1196120

http://gulfnews.com/business/media-marketing/internet-needs-arabic-to-do-the-talking-1.1196120

http://gulfnews.com/business/media-marketing/internet-needs-arabic-to-do-the-talking-1.1196120



7

6. Business.

7. Health.

In this document, the Culture, Heritage, Media and Social and Interest Groups will be referred to as Media, Culture and Heritage (abbreviated to MCH).

The need for a comprehensive MCH National Digitization Plan for MCH institutions was confirmed by two separate assessments conducted by the Ministry in March - April 2012 and March 2013. The assessments’ primary output included:

Details on digitization capabilities gaps across MCH institutions, currently representing barriers to the overall goal of digitizing and preserving Qatar’s national heritage.

Recommendation of the type of support and resources required by MCH institutions in order to address these gaps and move Qatar’s digital agenda forward.

The MCH National Digitization Plan seeks to provide a framework for addressing these critical gaps through a model focused on coordination of national efforts and resources.

Digitization of Qatar’s media, culture, and heritage content aims to achieve four key objectives:

1. Digitally Preserve and Promote Qatar’s culture, heritage and intellectual capital: Enact Qatar 2030 vision for preserving and promoting Qatar’s national heritage, and

Islamic values. Digitally preserve and document Qatar’s culture, heritage and intellectual capital. Offer an alternative method to capture and store historic content that would otherwise

have been lost due to a variety of factors such as natural deterioration, technology obsolesce, neglect and loss of access, thus preventing the information from being retrieved.

2. Enable wide access to Qatar’s culture, heritage and intellectual capital: Promote Qatar’s culture, heritage and intellectual capital. Increase the amount of publicly available information about Qatar’s culture and

heritage at the national and international levels. Ensure wide access to Qatar’s media, culture and heritage for international, regional

and local academic researchers as well as the general public.

3. Encourage the creation of Arabic digital-born content: Drive Qatar’s Digital content vision and ICT2015 Strategic agenda, by increasing the

share of digital Arab content. Foster economic development through digital-born content development. Increase Qatar’s recognition as a leader in Arabic-originated digital content.

4. Enable entrepreneurship among young Qatari citizens and Arabs in the digital arena: Leverage e-learning platforms and interactive applications on digital devices to engage

Arab youth and increase their participation in Qatari culture and heritage. Encourage entrepreneurial ventures among young Qatari citizens and Arabs revolving

around the development of applications and games using MCH digitized content.

A target of 65% digitization of MCH collections, over a ten-year period, has been set to achieve the objectives of MCH digitization program in the most effective manner.



8

2 MCH Institutions Baseline Assessment and Key Gaps

2.1 Baseline Scope

In order to understand current digitization status in Qatar, key culture, heritage and media institution were analyzed, across their existing collections and their digitization activities (planning, funding requirements, policies and standards technology infrastructure, institutional set-up, human resource capabilities, and access). The baseline included two rounds of assessments that occurred in March - April 2012, with an update on March 2013. MCH institutions along the following subsectors were assessed:

Libraries:

‒ Qatar National Library (QNL); includes the former Qatar Foundation Central Library and the National Library (Dar El Kutub).

Culture Centers & Ministries:

‒ Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage (MoCAH).

‒ Qatar Islamic Culture Center (Fanar).

Museums:

‒ Qatar Museum Authority (QMA); includes Mathaf, Museum of Islamic Art, National Museum, Orientalist Museum.

‒ Sheikh Faisal Museum.

Print Media:

‒ Al Raya and The Gulf Times.

‒ Al Sharq and Peninsula.

‒ Al Watan and Tribune.

‒ Al Arab.

News Agency:

‒ Qatar News Agency.

Broadcast Media:

‒ Qatar Media Corporation (QMC), Qatar TV and Qatar Radio.

Social Groups:

‒ Qatar Cultural Innovation Center.

2.2 MCH Institutions’ Collection Overview

Qatari institutions own a wide collection of valuable media, culture and heritage content (Detailed in Exhibit 1) in the form A/V material, 2D objects and artifacts and 3D objects. This material is distributed across four clusters of the broader MCH sector.

2.2.1 MCH Collection By Content Format

MCH national digitization plan pertains to three types of materials owned by libraries, cultural centers, museums, print, broadcast media, news agencies and social groups:



9

1. Audiovisual material (A/V): Materials, such as video, films and audio recordings, which present information in audio and/or video format and which may have accompanying information in printed form.

Capture method: High quality playback and digital capture. Output format: Digital audio and video files with associated metadata.

2. 2D objects and artifacts: Artifact (such as manuscripts, paintings and photographs) and text material (such as letters and books) which present relevant information on one or two faces only.

Capture method: High resolution photography and scanning. Output format: Digital image and text files with associated metadata.

3. 3D objects: Materials and objects (such as statues, pottery, weapons, scrolls and large books) which require to be viewed in three dimensions to gather all relevant information.

Capture method: High resolution video capture (videography) and photography; optional 3D laser scanning of selected material for academic purposes.

Output format: Digital video and image files; optional laser data content files with associated metadata.

2.2.2 MCH Collection By Cluster

There are key synergies between the MCH collections’ formats on the one hand and the terms of collection ownership, digitization gaps and the support needed on the other. Accordingly, MCH institutions were categorized into four key clusters:

1. Broadcast: includes collections of A/V and audio tapes and films dating from 1968. Main institutions owning A/V content are:

Qatar TV (QTV) and Qatar Radio (QR). The Qatar Media Corporation (QMC) also oversees the national broadcast system in Qatar.

The Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage (also referred to as MoCAH), is categorized under Broadcast A/V to reflect its large majority of analogue A/V content).

2. Museums: include collections of historical and arts objects such as coins, statues, artifacts, jewelry and paintings across civilizations and cultures. Main institutions owning such content are:

Qatar Museum Authority (QMA) which includes Museum of Islamic Arts, National Museum of Qatar, Orientalist Museum and Mathaf Museum of Modern Art.

Sheikh Faisal Museum.

3. Libraries: include collections of Qatari and Arab books and manuscripts across all periods, mainly Pan-Arab. Main institutions owning Library content are:

Qatar National Library (QNL).

Sheikh Faisal Museum (own a collection of manuscripts).

Qatar Museum Authority (own a collection of manuscripts).

4. Print Media: include collections of Qatari newspapers with local and Pan-Arab content, dating from 1977. Main institutions owning analog format of Print Media are:

Al Watan.

Gulf Times.



10

MCH institutions’ collections by format of content and cluster are detailed in Exhibit 1

Exhibit 1: MCH Institutions' Primary Collection Overview

2.3 MCH Institutions’ Progress

Today, most institutions have started planning for digitization however; progress in terms of digitization human resource and technology capabilities has been slow within the last year. Major progress occurred with Qatar National Library who has been building technology and human resource capabilities. In addition, Al Rayyan TV has developed a plan to digitize 67,000 videos on behalf of Qatar TV.

Exhibit 2 represents a summary on the latest progress of key MCH institutions.

Exhibit 2: Institutions’ Digitization Progress by Activity - 2012-2013

In terms of material digitization, MCH institutions feature various levels of completion, most falling below the target 65% digitization.



11

Museums, broadcasters and social groups, have yet to start digitizing their content. Museums under the Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) have started undergoing digitization efforts through a centralized classification scheme. This important step allows for the classification and prioritization of material. They have not begun any digitization initiatives for digital preservation purposes. The majority of print media institutions and Qatar News Agency (QNA) have completed the digitization process

Exhibit 3 shows a summary of institutions’ digitized collections and the progress since April 2012. Exhibit 3: Institutions’ Digitization Levels and Progress

2.4 MCH Institutions Assessment and Prioritization

We assessed MCH institutions across their collections and their digitization capabilities, and as a result, prioritized them for digitization.

2.4.1 Material Importance

MCH Institutions’ material importance and urgency to digitize were measured by assessing:

1. Relevance of material to Qatar’s national digitization objectives.

2. Materials’ likeliness for deterioration.

3. Collection’s content alignment with Qatar’s National Vision 2030.

4. Public demand for digitized material.

5. Accessibility of technology required for digitization.

6. Rarity of Material.

7. Material’s current availability online via other sources.

8. Presence of copyright regulations.



12

Assessment shows that, today, A/V content owners and museums score highest on material relevance and urgency to digitize, mainly driven by a highly valuable collection of Qatari History / legacy, available on formats with high deterioration potential.

Exhibit 4 provides a summary of MCH institutions’ material importance for digitization:

Exhibit 4: Qatari Institutions Material Relevance and Urgency to Digitize

2.4.2 Digitization Index

In parallel, institutions’ digitization index or readiness was measured by assessing:

Access to digitization technology and infrastructure.

Human Resource capabilities.

Volume of Material to be digitized.

Percentage of digitized material.

Production of digital-born content.

Availability of a designated budget for digitization.

Compliance with international policies and standards.

As a result of the assessment, Museums, Broadcasters and Social Groups obtained low digitization indices, thus featuring a low readiness level. While on the other hand, majority of print media institutions have higher than average digitization indices.

Exhibit 5 provides a summary of the digitization index by institution type.



13

Exhibit 5: Qatari Institutions Current Digitization Levels

2.4.3 MCH Institutions Prioritization

MCH institutions were prioritized to highlight institutions requiring critical support, and to develop a corresponding digitization plan. The prioritization criteria takes into account material relevance to Qatari culture and heritage and current levels of digitization of institutions. Top priority institutions have high material relevance and urgency to digitize and low digitization index. As such, institutions were grouped into priority levels as illustrated in Exhibit 6.

Very High Priority:

‒ Qatar TV.

‒ Qatar Radio.

‒ The Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage.

‒ National Museum of Qatar.

High Priority:

‒ Sheikh Faisal Museum.

‒ Museum of Islamic Art.

Medium Priority:

‒ Orientalist Museum.

‒ Mathaf Museum of Modern Art.

‒ Gulf Times.

‒ Qatar Islamic Culture Center.

‒ Social Groups.



14

Exhibit 6: Prioritization of Qatari Institutions

2.5 MCH Institutions’ Digitization Gaps

MCH institutions face major digitization gaps and challenges that should be addressed. Digitization gaps are detailed as follows:

Planning: Institutions require support in development of detailed implementation plans, including required technology, human resources, targets and key performance indicators.

Funding: Institutions seldom have designated funds for digitization or visibility on long-term digitization plans .

Policies and Standards: Limited numbers of institutions have access to and abide by best practice Policies and Standards for digitization particularly in A/V digitization. There are institutions in the library and museum subsectors that follow best practices for metadata creation and digital conversion process.

Technology Infrastructure: Institutions have limited conversion technology and ingest infrastructure, especially for complex formats. VTR technology for A/V conversion is rare locally and becoming obsolete globally. Limited accuracy in Arabic optical character recognition technology and sub-optimal IT infrastructure to support digitization projects (except within newspapers and Qatar National Library) are a common challenge.

Institutional Set-Up and Human Resource Capabilities: Institutions have limited overall execution capabilities across the digitization workflow, sub-optimal pre-digitization expertise, and limited expertise relating to technical conversion and handling of equipment (photography, videography and 3D laser scanning). Indexing expertise and metadata creation / naming conventions based on international standards are also rare.

Access: Most relevant institutions have limited functional access platforms and portals for content searching (except for newspapers and Qatar National Library).



15

2.6 Baseline Summary by MCH Cluster

Analysis shows that digitization progress, capabilities and gaps, are similar among MCH institutions owning similar collection formats (i.e. among clusters).

Below are key highlights of MCH institutions’ digitized material, digitization index and key gaps by cluster.

1. Broadcast:

Digitized material:

Qatar TV and Qatar Radio have plans to start digitizing their content. They partnered with Al Rayyan TV who is putting a plan to proceed with the digitization of 67,000 videos.

The Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage has a large collection of analog A/V tapes and film which has not been digitized but has made progress on the digitization of pictures and microfilms.

Digitization Index: Low (Calculated score ranging from 3.4/10 - 5.5/10)

Key Gaps: Planning, funding and technology

Long term digitization planning and funding.

A/V end-to-end conversion and indexing technology.

Access and dissemination of archived content.

2. Museums:

Digitized material:

Qatar Museum Authority has prioritized digitization in its agenda, yet no large scale conversion activity has occurred to date.

Museum of Islamic Art and Orientalist Museum have been part of the Google Art Project, that aims to showcase the museums’ collection online.

Digitization Index: Low (Calculated score ranging from 3/10 – 4.7/10)

Key Gaps: Planning funding and technology

Long term digitization planning funding.

3D end-to-end conversion technology.

Access and dissemination of archived content.

3. Libraries:

Digitized material:

Qatar National Library has started with the digitization process of its collection of books and manuscripts.

However due to a significant increase in their volume after the consolidation with the National Library (Dar Al Kutub) , their levels of digitization remains around 10% of the total collection.

Management has invested in the required tools and equipment and is looking to carry on digitization of their collections.

Digitization Index: Medium High (Calculated score of 6.3/10)



16

Key Gaps: Funding and domain expertise

Designated funds to cover for their digitization efforts.

Qualified historians to undertake curatorial activities.

4. Print Media:

Digitized material:

Most of the institutions completed the digitization of their archives and are increasingly making them available online. Al Watan and Gulf time are the only ones still owning some analogue collections.

Qatar News Agency completed the digitization of its archives which was made up of local and international news and a number of pictures on microfilms.

Digitization Index: High (Calculated score ranging from 4.6/10 –7.8/10)

Key Gaps: Funding and technology

Funding to upgrade storage capacity and content management systems.

Accurate Arabic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology.

In summary, key digitization gaps faced across MCH institutions are:

1. National digitization planning and funding.

2. Policies and standards enforcement.

3. Nationwide indexing scheme.

4. A/V conversion technology.

5. Access to online archives.



17

3 MCH National Digitization Model

3.1 Recommended MCH National Digitization Model

A national digitization model was developed in order to address current gaps across MCH institutions, and ensure an optimal implementation of the Media, Culture and Heritage Digitization Plan (Exhibit 7). In order to minimize implementation constraints, a loose model is recommended, with minimal regulatory obligations on the institutions. The proposed digitization model will support MCH institutions in bridging their capability gaps by proposing three key national functions.

Digitization Facilitation: Provide an overall national plan, policies and standards5.

Conversion Centers: Designate key MCH Centers as a national resource for the conversion of material of value for Qatari culture and heritage.

Unified Access Platform: Build a platform that pulls into one gateway the collective digital content of Qatar.

Exhibit 7: MCH National Digitization Model

A. Digitization Facilitation

Loose function, its role includes advocating digitization, providing guidance to institutions on implementation of digitization Policies and Standards, and supporting the set-up of conversion centers in the short term.

Digitization facilitation function will be undertaken by the Ministry. (Role further detailed in section 6)

B. Digital Conversion Centers

5 Policies and Standards are developed by Ministry of Information and Communications Technology - Policies and Standards for Digitization of Qatar’s Culture, Heritage, Media and Social Institutions. Reference number 13-ICID-MADE-POL-90-02



18

Three digital conversion centers will be responsible for the following activities:

A/V digital Conversion Center where analogue mechanical disc recordings, tapes and films will be converted and indexed.

3D digital Conversion Center where 3D objects will be captured, converted and indexed.

2D digital Conversion Center where 2D material will be captured, converted and indexed.

Conversion center(s) will also provide central storage, disaster recovery and content management solutions / servers for MCH institutions (Role further detailed in section 4).

C. Unified Access Platform Unified Access Platform will be responsible for the following activities:

Provide a gateway for the Access of Qatar’s digitized media, culture and heritage content.

Provide online users seamless access to local and international culture and heritage collections.

Promote Qatari heritage and engage community in Qatari culture

(Role further detailed in section 5).

3.2 MCH National Digitization Model Benefits

The proposed national digitization model will ensure optimization of existing capabilities in Qatar, particularly in terms of required time for implementation, output quality and total costs. Key benefits across digitization pillars are detailed as follows:

1. Limited Duplication of Efforts

Leverage existing capabilities in Qatar, thus limiting redundancies and efforts duplication. Scarce expertise can be leveraged to help many institutions.

2. Time Effective Implementation

Ensure implementation of digitization workflows with minimal time delays / phasing required , through semi-centralized conversion centers organized by formats .

3. Minimal Conflicts of Interest

Limit obligations on MCH institutions’ to implement digitization plans, yet advocate and provide guidance needed for an optimal implementation digitization.

Minimize political struggles and conflicts arising if all functions are operated by one stakeholder.

4. Quality Control

Promote high quality digitization through issuing Policies and Standards and providing guidance on implementation of best practices.

Optimize quality of output by setting-up conversion centers with well-established digitization capabilities, to ensure conversion, indexing, storage and content management.

5. Costs Optimization

Ensure cost optimization from synergies obtained by centralizing ingest operations by formats, and centralizing storage function.



19

4 Digital Conversion Centers

Three digital conversion centers will carry the digitization activities of the different types of content:

4.1 Digital Conversion Centers Description

A/V Digital Conversion Center:

‒ Handles the digitization of A/V tape and film.

‒ Requires HD Audio/Visual Media Capture workflows.

‒ Caters to Qatar TV, Qatar Radio and the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage.

3D Digital Conversion Center:

‒ Handles the digitization of 3D objects, large 3D object and large paintings.

‒ Requires 3D Object Scanning, High-Resolution Photography, Videography and 2D Scanning workflows.

‒ Caters to Qatar Museum Authority, Sheikh Faisal Museum and Fanar .

2D Digital Conversion Center:

‒ Handles the digitization of books, manuscripts, microfilms, CDs and print.

‒ Requires High-Resolution Photography, 2D Object Scanning, Microfilms Scanning and CD Digital Ingest workflows.

‒ Caters to Qatar National Library, Sheikh Faisal Museum, Qatar Museum Authority, Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage and print media.

Exhibit 8 provides a description of conversion center role and focus.

Exhibit 8: MCH Conversion Centers Description



20

4.2 Digital Conversion Centers Role

MCH Digital Conversion Centers will provide digital conversion and indexing services to national MCH institutions owning corresponding content formats. Digital Conversion Centers will be responsible for:

Prioritizing collections for digitization.

Planning and scheduling digitization workflows.

Adopting and implementing the digitization policies and standards.

Providing end-to-end A/V, 3D and 2D conversion and indexing technology.

Training, sourcing and managing technical tools specific to center’ s format.

Potentially providing central storage, disaster recovery and content management solutions and servers.



21

5 Unified Access Platform

5.1 Unified Access Platform Role

The proposed Unified Access Platform will provide access to the institutions’ collections in Qatar, promote Qatari heritage and engage community in Qatari culture.

It will provide online users seamless access to local and international culture and heritage collections and will include:

Unified Access Point to view Qatari institutions’ collection (in addition to institutions’ individual access platforms and upon institutions’ choice).

‒ Rationale: Promoting Qatar’s culture and heritage through a “Qatari” destination, significantly increases impact and traffic.

Unified Access Point to view international culture and heritage platforms and collections (based on potential partnerships with global Unified Access Platforms).

‒ Rationale: Access to international cultural content increases education levels and cultural awareness of Qatari heritage.

Dedicated space for Qatari social groups to build their own websites and portals.

‒ Rationale: Support small interest groups and individuals to promote their work and personal collections, and support these institutions bridge the access gap.

Multi-screen application environment (enables developers to create applications for multi-screen purposes).

‒ Rationale: Leverage e-learning platforms and interactive applications on digital devices to engage youth and increase their participation in Qatari culture and heritage and encourage entrepreneurial ventures revolving around the development of applications and games using MCH digitized content.

Exhibit 9 illustrates the elements constituting the Unified Access Platform. Exhibit 9: Unified Access Platform – Key Elements



22

5.2 Unified Access Platform Stakeholders

The Unified Access Platform will be managed by a set of stakeholders with clear responsibilities as described in Exhibit 10:

Portal Solution Owner that will provide portal and application layers. It can be championed by Qatar National Library or it can be built from scratch.

Editorial and Content Management Company that will manage the portal.

Hosting Entity that will provide infrastructure and connectivity (network, bandwidth, datacenter, servers and databases). Hosting entities can be located within Qatar or outside Qatar (e.g., cloud storage etc.).

Exhibit 10: Unified Access Platform – Stakeholders’ Map and Roles

5.3 Unified Access Platform Roadmap

The roadmap required to launch the Unified Access Platform consists of seven steps as follows:

1. Define Governance & Strategy

‒ Lay out strategic goals of the Unified Access Platform.

‒ Define overall project governance.

‒ Assign roles & responsibilities and processes.

‒ Select brand name.

2. Determine Project Plan

‒ Determine required resources.

‒ Schedule activities and identify milestones.

‒ Allocate roles.

‒ Manage budget.

‒ Identify risks and mitigation plans.

3. Develop Business Requirements

‒ Finalize desired functionalities and content themes.

‒ Develop and design requirements.



23

‒ Obtain sign-off.

4. Select Vendors

‒ Identify potential technology and implementation vendors.

‒ Establish selection criteria.

‒ Develop and issue RFPs.

‒ Evaluate RFP responses.

‒ Negotiate and select vendors.

5. Build & Integrate

‒ Develop architecture blueprint.

‒ Build infrastructure.

‒ Develop database.

‒ Deploy portal and applications.

‒ Deploy software and hardware.

‒ Integrate with institutions.

6. Test

‒ Build prototypes.

‒ Perform user acceptance testing.

‒ Perform friendly user testing.

‒ Integrate with additional institutions.

‒ Receive feedback from end-users.

‒ Fix bugs.

7. Pilot Launch & Operate

‒ Launch the portal for commercial use.

‒ Develop newer versions and iterate. Exhibit 11: Unified Access Platform Roadmap



24

6 MCH Institutions and the National Digitization Model Functions

6.1 Digitization Facilitation

The Ministry will play a key role in advocating national MCH digitization and providing the required guidance to MCH institutions to apply best in class policies and standards. They will work closely with the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage in the promotion of digitization and digital preservation across the different media, culture and heritage sectors in Qatar.

The Ministry’s key involvement in national digitization includes:

Set up a national Media and Heritage Working Group

A Media and Heritage Working Group that includes key stakeholders from the media, culture and heritage sectors will be formed. It will address policy action items related to digital content creation. The work group will operate under the auspices of a national committee for the implementation of the National Broadband Plan.

Provide a national forum for joint action in the implementation of the MCH National Digitization Plan. Develop joint strategies for addressing key challenges and leveraging valuable opportunities.

Digitization national planning and advocacy:

Publish 10 years MCH National Digitization Plan. Digitization plan includes digitization implementation activities, timeline required, key performance indicators as well as technology and human resource requirements to guarantee a 65% level of digitization over a timeline of 10 years (section 8 Appendix).

Publish a biennial report on the state of digitization in the media, culture and heritage sector of Qatar.

Advocate for digitization at national level, through issuing the national MCH digitization plan and socializing current digitization status of institutions.

Support and cooperate with MCH institutions particularly in their execution of the national Conversion Centers and the Unified Access Platform roles.

Policies and Standards Guidance:

Issue digitization policies and standards, and provide guidance for MCH institutions to follow them.

6.2 Digital Conversion Centers

The Ministry is working with QNL in fulfilling the national role of a 2-D Conversion Center for the State of Qatar. This role fits well within its mission of bridging with knowledge Qatar’s heritage and future. As a national library, QNL aims to collect and provide access to global knowledge relevant to Qatar and the region with a particular focus on national heritage and the materials related to the Arab-Islamic civilization. As role of the 2-D Conversion Center matures, the Ministry will work on developing partners in the MCH sector to take on the 3-D and A/V conversion roles.

6.3 Unified Access Platform

QNL is a developing a national platform for the display of the digital content about Qatar and its Arab-Islamic heritage. This platform can take on the role of the Unified Access Platform for the State of



25

Qatar. Once operational, this platform can serve as portal that other institutions can link their digital content and thus establish a single key gateway for the nation’s digital heritage.



26

7 MCH Institutions Role in National Digitization

MCH institutions will ensure preservation of offline collections, as well as dissemination of their digitized content on individual platforms. Institutions will receive guidance on policies and standards best practices from the Ministry, and will leverage conversion centers for digitization and storage as needed. The conversion centers will also provide more practical training where necessary. As such, the latter functions will play the role of “service provider” to other MCH Institutions.

MCH institutions’ role and interactions with other stakeholders along the digitization value chain include:

Pre-digitization: MCH institutions perform pre-digitization activities independently, with guidance from the Ministry on policies and standards.

‒ Classify collections into relevant categories.

‒ Prioritize collections for digitization.

‒ Restore “under-preserved” material and perform stabilization as needed.

Digitization: MCH institutions hand over collections / material for digitization to digital conversion center handling corresponding content (if internal capabilities in conversion are lacking).

Post-digitization – Storage: MCH institutions store digitized content with conversion center(s), if internal capabilities in storage are lacking.

Post-digitization – Publishing: MCH institutions publish digitized content through UAP as well as individual dissemination platform.

Overall, MCH institutions will leverage Digital Conversion Centers and the Unified Access Platform, while retaining ownership rights to their own content, and dictating how the data should be handled and stored.



27

8 Appendix

8.1 MCH National Digitization Planning and KPIs

8.1.1 MCH Digitization Planning

The MCH National Digitization Plan covers a period of ten years and with priority institutions addressed in the first two years.

The detailed 10-year national digitization roadmap is illustrated in Exhibit 12. Exhibit 12: National Digitization Roadmap

Implementation plan consists of three phases: Digitization Project Preparation, Ongoing Digitization Operations and Ongoing Management Activities.

1. Digitization Project Preparation comprises of the below activities:

Master Plan Development – Developed by the Ministry:

‒ Develop digitization plan.

‒ Develop digitization KPIs to institutions / Digital Conversion Centers.

‒ Identify experiences and capabilities required to perform each activity.

Digital Conversion Center Set-Up – Primary stakeholders are Digital Conversion Centers:

‒ Set-up, recruit and integrate digitization conversion team.

‒ Undergo trainings, aligned with policies and standards.

‒ Institutionalize and adapt digitization processes.

‒ Institutionalize KPIs within the institutions.

‒ Launch RFP and select technology vendors.

‒ Set up conversion technology infrastructure.

Storage Capabilities and Systems Development – Primary stakeholders are Central Storage (potentially hosted with conversion center(s)) and MCH Institutions with existing storage:

‒ Set-up and recruit IT team responsible of storage, MAM, & CMS.



28

‒ Undergo trainings, aligned with policies and standards.

‒ Institutionalize and adapt digitization processes.

‒ Institutionalize KPIs within the institutions.

‒ Launch RFP and select technology vendors.

‒ Set up storage technology infrastructure.

Dissemination Capabilities and Technology Improvement – Primary stakeholders are Unified Access Platform and MCH Institutions:

‒ Upgrade capabilities of current IT team to include web-design and publishing.

‒ Undergo trainings, aligned with MCH digitization policies and standards.

‒ Upgrade web-dissemination infrastructure if needed.

2. Ongoing Digitization Operations comprises of the below activities:

Pre-digitization – Primary stakeholders are MCH Institutions:

‒ Classify collections into relevant categories.

‒ Prioritize collections for digitization.

‒ Restore “under-preserved” material & perform stabilization as needed.

Digitization – Primary stakeholders are Digital Conversion Centers:

‒ Schedule workflow (# of chains, throughputs, manpower plan).

‒ Create “digitization package” of collection and related metadata.

‒ Perform conversion, editing and content ingest activities.

Storage – Primary stakeholders are Central Storage (potentially hosted with conversion center(s)) and MCH Institutions with existing storage:

‒ Create master CMS record.

‒ Assemble final object digital package.

‒ Make backup copy of object digital package.

Publishing – Primary stakeholders are Unified Access Platform and MCH Institutions:

‒ Create object related web-pages.

‒ Publish object digital information to web-site.

‒ Ensure published object information is updated and accurate.

3. Ongoing Management Activities comprises of the below activities::

Performance Monitoring – Primary stakeholder are all MCH institutions :

‒ Ensure performance alignment to KPIs.

‒ Monitor enforcement of policies and standards.

‒ Resolve operational issues if required.

Human Resource & Technology Maintenance & Upgrade – Primary stakeholders are Digital Conversion Centers, Unified Access Platform and MCH Institutions:



29

‒ Perform ongoing trainings to the team.

‒ Manage and maintain equipment, networks and website.

‒ Ensure enhancement of workflow productivity in line with international standards.

‒ Ensure efficient content storage, back-up & disaster recovery.

8.1.2 MCH Digitization Key Performance Indicators

To ensure efficiency and quality of the digitization project, four sets of KPIs should be measured by institutions, to assess operating performance, internal efficiency, outreach and budgeting performance, as described in Exhibit 13.

Exhibit 13: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

1. Digital Conversion Centers:

Operating performance KPIs revolve around the conversion and quality of digitized content:

Volume of Digitized Assets: Number of objects (e.g., books, hours of A/V, paintings, etc) digitized.

Digitization of Prioritized Collection: Percent of prioritized collection that is digitized.

Digitization of Total Collection: Percent of total collection that is digitized.

Digitization of At-risk Content: Percent of items at-risk of deterioration digitized.

Quality of Digitized Content: Alignment of quality standards of digitized copies, to general usage and academic research requirements.

Internal efficiency KPIs assess supply chain overall process and work-steps’ effectiveness:

Alignment with Policies and Standards: Degree of alignment with policies and standards across the value chain.

Workflow Management: Efficient scheduling of workflows for a min of 80% utilization of technology and human resource.



30

Training Frequency: Number of (professional and task-specific) trainings, offered and attended by staff.

Indexing Efficiency: Measure of effective indexing and cataloguing (limited miss-tagging of objects).

Metadata Interoperability: Measure of interoperability of metadata (number of errors returned).

Throughput of Conversion Workflows: Alignment of workflows throughput with market efficiency levels (multiple KPIs for each object type and each type of technical conversion workflow are required to effectively measure workflow throughput).

Editing Quality: Measure of quality of digitized items.

Budgeting performance KPIs assess effective usage of pre-set budget for digitization:

Alignment to Budget: Alignment of costs with initial budget for digitization.

Cost per Asset Created: Cost per digitized asset below or in line with budget.

Synergies: Level of synergies to achieve economies of scale.

2. MCH Institutions:

Internal efficiency KPIs assess process and work-steps’ effectiveness:



Budgeting performance KPIs assess effective usage of pre-set budget:


Generated Revenue: Revenue generated from digitized and disseminated assets (when applicable).

Outreach KPIs measure outreach:

Collection Dissemination: Percent of digitized collection available on the internet (without copyright breeches).

Unique Online Visitors: Number of unique online visitors.

3. Unified Access Platform:

Outreach KPIs measure the outreach and the effectiveness of portal navigability:

Collection Dissemination: Percent of digitized collection available on the internet (without copyright breeches).

Unique Online Visitors: Number of unique online visitors from local, regional and international markets (requires 3 distinct KPIs for local, regional and international markets respectively).

External Reference Queries: Number of external reference queries related to digitized content.

Online Page Views: Number of online page views from local, regional and international markets.



31

Exclusive Online Access: Amount of collections viewed exclusively online.

Collection Used for Academic Purposes: Number of digitized copies used for academic purposes.

Requests for Offline Collections: Number of requests for physical copies or visits to location, triggered by online content.

Efficiency of Search Functions: Searchability of content on access portal.

Navigation of Portal: Ease of navigation within online access platform.

Satisfaction of Online Viewers: Measure of satisfaction of online visitors.

Youth Oriented Applications: Number of digital applications created to target youth segment with cultural content.

Reach Amongst Youth: Reach amongst Qatari and Arab youth segments.

4. Storage Facilities: (potentially hosted with conversion center(s))

Internal efficiency KPIs assess overall process effectiveness and storage efficiency:



Storage Security: Number of compromised digital copies.

Storage Efficiency: Measure of file size vs. quality balance.

Disaster Recovery Efficiency: Amount of content restored, through disaster recovery systems.

Digitized Content Retrieval: Measure of ease and speed of content retrieval, from internal storage systems.

Budgeting performance KPIs assess effective usage of pre-set:


8.2 MCH National Digitization Budget

8.2.1 Costs Drivers and Components

The following section provides assumptions and drivers used to derive the national digitization budget for Qatari Culture, Heritage and Media institutions.

Cost components of digitization include:

Technical conversion costs: indexing software packages, technical conversion equipment, maintenance and upgrade.

Storage and content management costs:

‒ Storage costs: enterprise level data storage systems (storage space), set up, systems support and maintenance.

‒ Content management costs: media asset management system technology, content management system, license renewals and maintenance.



32

Local dissemination costs: content distribution systems and portals of institutions.

Unified Access Platform costs: content distribution systems, web dissemination , integration with institutions’ platforms, centralized access point, microsites, applications, social integration, web administrators and human resource & administrative costs.

Human resources and administrative costs: pre-digitization costs, human resource salaries & benefits, rent and utilities for staff offices and conversion labs.

8.2.2 Technical Conversion Costs

Conversion and ingest costs are driven by collection volumes and formats, throughputs per workflow, format and target timeline to digitize collection.

Technical conversion cost components include: Required equipment (CAPEX), maintenance and upgrades (OPEX) as in addition to human resources costs.

Further details are provided on:

Volume and format of collection to be digitized.

Throughputs per workflow and formats.

Necessary number and type of workflows.

Workflows costs components.

Volume and format of collections to be digitized: To estimate the size of collection that will undergo digitization, the below approach was followed:

Include expected acquisitions and additional productions, to occur in the coming 5-10 years.

Remove duplicates and material with IP rights restrictions.

Prioritize collections based on their importance and given the target period for digitization.

As such, the material to be digitized at national level is estimated to amount to:

Libraries (2D): ~100,000 books & manuscripts.

Museums (3D): ~35,000 pieces of artwork and 3D objects.

Print media (Print): ~450,000 pages of analogue newspaper.

Broadcast media (A/V): ~146,000 hours of tapes and film.

Throughputs per workflow and formats:

Throughput greatly varies by format and workflow, with an optimal efficiency reached by year four. Exhibit 14 illustrates target efficiency throughputs (Average throughput of a workflow, working at optimal efficiency) per collection format and workflow type:



33

Exhibit 14: Throughputs per Workflows and Formats

Necessary number and types of workflows: To achieve Qatar national digitization’s target timeline, 50 workflows across formats and Digital Conversion Centers are needed. Exhibit 15 details the necessary number of workflows by Digital Conversion Center type:

Exhibit 15: Number of Workflows per Digital Conversion Center and Content Type

Workflows’ costs components: All and all, each workflow requires various equipment and capital expenditures. Details of technical conversion equipment and costs by type of workflow are as below:

2D Object Scanning: (around USD 191,000/per workflow)

‒ Automated Book Scanner.

‒ A3 Flatbed Scanner.

‒ A4 Batch Handling Scanner.

‒ General PC platform.

Throughputs per Workflow and Major Formats(Average annual throughput at target efficiency)

Workflow Annual Throughput

2D Object

Scanning

High Res.

Photography

Videography

CD Ingest

A/V MediaCapture

3D Laser

Scanning

MicrofilmScanning

4,300 Hours

7,500 CDs

2,400 Small 3D Objects

480 Large 3D Objects




3,000 Photographs

2,500 Paintings & other 2D

2,500 Books

2,500 Manuscripts


12,000 Photographs

600,000 Microfilms

3,000 Books

1,200 Manuscripts

Requires 24 hour utilization



34

‒ Specialist Software.

Microfilm Scanning: (around USD 15,000/per workflow)

‒ High Resolution Scanner.

‒ PC Platform.

High Resolution Photography: (around USD 111,000/per workflow)

‒ Digital camera body.

‒ Lens selection.

‒ Scene lighting.

‒ Screens & backgrounds.

‒ Tripods & camera mounts.

‒ PC platform and software.

3D Laser Scanning: (around USD 59,000/per workflow)

‒ Fixed laser scanner base unit.

‒ Hand held laser scanner.

‒ PC platform and software.

‒ Mounting hardware.

High Resolution Videography: (around USD 84,000/per workflow)

‒ HD capable Professional Camera + Lens.

‒ Digital VCR (playback only).

‒ Tripods & camera mounts.

‒ Scene lighting.

‒ Basic PC-based editing system.

CD Digital Ingest: (around USD 75,000/per workflow)

‒ Digital Betacam VCRs.

‒ Digital Audio Playback and CD.

A/V Media Capture: (around USD 875,000/per workflow)

‒ Telecine.

‒ Digital Video with Embedded Audio Router.

‒ Analogue to Digital Signal Converters.

‒ Audio Embedding Processors.

‒ Digital Betacam VCRs.

‒ Media Object Ingest Server.

Additional conversion costs include 10% annual maintenance costs and 50% technology upgrade cost after the 5th year.

8.2.3 Storage and Content Management Costs

Storage costs are driven by storage size which impact HSM, interconnection, content management and disaster recovery.

A/V Media

Capture



35

Central HSM costs

‒ USD 1048 per TB of storage size.

‒ Ratio of 70% compressed and 30% uncompressed A/V content (since Central HSM costs are highly dependent on A/V the compression scheme used).

‒ Licenses amount to 27% of CAPEX costs.

Interconnection costs

‒ Interconnection capacity increased by 50% to accommodate for peak times.

‒ National band up to 450 Km assumed to link the A/V Digital Conversion Center with the Central Storage.

‒ USD 1.3 Mn of OPEX every year and CAPEX of USD 16K.

Content management costs:

‒ Content Management System & MAM: USD 9 Mn CAPEX and USD 7 Mn OPEX.

‒ Digital Rights Management: USD 2 Mn CAPEX, OPEX assumed to amount to 20% of CAPEX costs.

Servers costs:

‒ CAPEX of USD 3 Mn and OPEX of USD 1 Mn.

Disaster recovery

‒ 92% to 93% of HSM costs.

Local storage

‒ Local storage is needed in A/V and 3D Digital Conversion Centers where digitized content is temporarily stored before it is sent to Central Storage.

A/V: USD 1 Mn of CAPEX and OPEX amounts to 20% of CAPEX costs.

3D: USD 1 Mn of CAPEX and OPEX amounts to 20% of CAPEX costs.

CAPEX costs were allocated over the first three years and OPEX costs over the next seven years.

8.2.4 Local Dissemination Costs

Dissemination costs are driven by the number of online visitors. These OPEX costs are estimated at USD 1.26 per unique visitor. Local websites’ reach varies from 5% to 30%. Growth is set at 20% for the first two years decreasing to 5% in 10 years.

8.2.5 Unified Access Platform Costs

The costs related to the Unified Access Platform are four-fold.

Access Point to Qatari Entities: includes web design, CMS, software, taxonomy development, infrastructure, applications, security and storage.

Microsites: includes web design, storage, dissemination, infrastructure, hosting and hosted applications.

Applications and Social Network: includes license, maintenance, application development, storage and salaries.

Management: includes salaries & benefits, office rents, equipment and supplies.



36

The Unified Access Platform will require an initial investment of USD 10 Mn, and an annual operating cost of around USD 3.0 - 5.0 Mn per year. Detailed costs are illustrated in Exhibit 16.

Exhibit 16: Unified Access Platform Budget Requirements (in USD Mn)

8.2.6 Human Resources and Administrative Costs

Human resource costs are driven by administrative functions, required workflows and required expertise.

Administrative functions

‒ Number of required staff across admin and IT / storage functions.

Number and type of required workflows

‒ Number of required staff across Digital Conversion Centers taking into account the exiting capabilities within stakeholders.

Expertise required

‒ Annual salary per staff is estimated to be ~USD 40K to ~ USD 150K depending on qualifications.

Rent and utilities account for conversion and office space. They are driven by the number and types of workflows, as well as the size of required office space:

Required space is estimated between 50 - 90 square meter per workflow, depending on type of workflow.

Annual utilities are estimated at 20% of rent for Non A/V workflows, and 45% for A/V workflows.

Annual rent is estimated between USD 130 – USD 150 / square meter.

8.2.7 Qatar National Digitization Budget Summary

All in all, Qatar will require USD 308 Mn to finance its national digitization plan over 10 years. This assumes a major share of institutions’ collection is digitized (around 65%) at optimal quality to cost efficiency ratio. Central Storage, A/V Digital Conversion Center and Unified Access Platform contribute to ~ 72% of total budget. Exhibit 17 provides details on total costs per stakeholder.

Unified Access Platform

Dedicated Microsites

Multi-screen and

social networks

Human resources

and SG&A

0.1 1.0

Year 2

2.8

1.00.7

Year 1

10.3

6.2

2.9

0.30.9

Year 5

4.9

2.7

1.00.1

1.1

Year 4

4.1

2.0

1.1

Year 3

0.9

1.5

0.1

3.5

0.9

1.0 0.1

13.4

(52%)

TOTAL

25.6

6.4

(25%)

0.7 (3%)

5.1

(20%)

Legend:



37

Exhibit 17: National Digitization Cost Budget by Stakeholder (Year 1- Year 10) (in USD Mn)

The total budget is driven by human resource, storage and dissemination costs. Cost components include

Human Resource: Human capital required across admin, conversion centers and MCH institutions (for preservation of offline content).

Centralized Storage: Storage systems and licenses including HSM, Media Asset Management, Content management systems as well as interconnection between storage and conversion centers.

Unified Access Platform and Local Dissemination: Overall budget for Unified Access Platform portal as well as local dissemination at the institution level.

Disaster Recovery: Disaster recovery systems, based on size of content stored.

Material Restoration: Restoration of material that might have deteriorated (mainly A/V).

Equipment and Upgrade: Conversion equipment and upgrades for A/V, 2D and 3D content.

Exhibit 18 provides an overview on total digitization budget per cost driver. Exhibit 18: Total Digitization Budget by Cost Driver (in USD Mn)



38

8.2.8 Qatar National Digitization Budget Optimization

Centralization of storage and conversion by content type and allocation of existing budgets allowed a an optimization of costs compared to the April 2012 budget. Costs savings have been realized along three main levers:

Human resource optimization and re-baseline:

‒ Centralization of digitization activities allowed decreasing the number of Admin FTEs to manage digitization operations.

‒ Costs reductions from already budgeted digitization activities (by Qatar National Library).

Storage and license centralization:

‒ Storage centralization (3D and A/V) decreased the number of storage systems and the number of licenses required to for storage, MAM and CMS systems.

‒ Qatar National Library and print media institutions already invested in storage facilities and were excluded from the budget.

Conversion technology optimization:

‒ Centralization of digitization at Digital Conversion Center level allowed to decrease the number of workflows and corresponding digitization equipment and upgrades needed as well as to decrease the cost of rental and utilities.

The revisited budget amounts to USD 262 Mn to which added the ten year costs of disaster recovery, and network were added to reach to a total of USD 308 Mn as shown in Exhibit 19.



39

Exhibit 19: Overall 10-Year Digitization Budget (in USD Mn)

8.3 MCH National Digitization Policies and Standards

Policies and standards were defined along the entire digitization process, taking into account the various formats of collections. A detailed policies and standards document has been developed to Qatari institutions, with key components summarized below.

Pre-digitization:

a. Classification and Prioritization:

‒ A/V content: Prioritize by genre, age, medium format and level of deterioration.

‒ 3D objects: Prioritization approach by historical significance and level of deterioration.

‒ 2D objects: Prioritization approach by historical significance and level of deterioration.

b. Digital Rights Management (for all formats):

‒ Material for which copyright are owned: Watermark, issue Creative Commons Qatar license and publish.

‒ Material for which copyright ownership is known: Agree on terms of publishing with owner, watermark and publish.

‒ Material for which copyright ownership is unknown: Watermark, publish in good faith and seek to identify owner.

Digitization:

c. Metadata (for all formats):

‒ Implement Dublin Core Metadata Initiative standards.

‒ Implement standard taxonomy and file naming convention at the institution level. d. Technical conversion:



40

‒ A/V content: Optimal quality to cost efficiency ratio for conversion. SMPTE and AES technical standards.

‒ 3D objects: Videography and photography capture at high resolution. Laser scanning for academic research purposes only.

‒ 2D objects: Scanning or photography capture at high resolution. TIFF master, JPEG derivative files.

Post-Digitization:

e. E-archiving:

‒ A/V content: High capacity Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) and retention.

‒ 3D objects: SAN Storage (on discs and tapes) and retention.

‒ 2D objects: SAN Storage (on discs and tapes) and retention. f. Content Management:

‒ A/V content: Complex Media Asset Management (MAM) system for Broadcasters with integrated web dissemination .

‒ 3D objects: Simple Media Asset Management (MAM) system for simple A/V (videography output).

‒ 2D objects: Need-based (optional) content management system. g. Publishing (for all formats):

‒ Maximize access to digitized material by providing free access for users.

‒ Consider W3C web standards for publishing. h. Disaster Recovery (for all formats):

‒ Implement disaster recovery business rules and accordingly select solution.

8.3.1 Pre-digitization Policies

1. Classification and prioritization: A/V content is prioritized based on genre, age, medium, condition and cultural significance. A visual prioritization process is described in Exhibit 20.



41

Exhibit 20: A/V Selection and Prioritization Approach

On the other hand, 3D/2D objects are selected based on their historical significance and prioritized based on Collection size, historical period, content importance as well as other key prioritization criteria. A visual prioritization process is described in Exhibit 21.

Exhibit 21: 3D and 2D Selection and Prioritization Approach

Audiovisual Selection and Prioritization Approach

Cultural

Significance

ConditionAge

In danger

Poor

Fair

Good

High

Unclear

Average

Low

Institution to define business rules to

select most important genres/ content5 – 10 years3 – 5 years

2 – 3 years< 2 years

Legend: Digitization timeframe

Genre

50 – 30 yrs

30 – 15 yrs

15 - 10 yrs

10 - 5 yrs

5 - 0 yrs

1” VTR

Other

8mm

16mm

35mm

Brittle audio

disc

Vinyl audio

disc

Tape

Still picture

(slide)

Still picture

(print)

Film

Digital file

8 track cartridge

2” VTR

Compact cassette

Analogue VCR

¼” analogue tape

Arts

Comedy

Current Affairs

Documentary

Drama

Light

Entertainment

Movies

Music

News

Religious

Soap Operas

Sports

Talk Show

Medium

Enter

digitization

workflow

1 2 3 4

Drivers for prioritization for ContentFiltering of Content

3D and 2D Selection and Prioritization Approach

Collection

Size

Identify

total size

of

undigi-

tized

collectio

n

Divide

collection

into key

historical

periods

Identify

critical

develop-

ments in

each period

Identify critical

artifacts

representative

of historical

period and

development

Likeliness of

deterioration

Rarity of

material

Demand

Relevance

to National

Digitization

objectives

Action: Establish required institutional

setup to sustain digitization

Determine

Facilities

HR capital

to maintain

throughput

Establish

required

average

throughput

for future

digitization

Establish

Team size

Workflow

schedule

Establish

Timeline

Schedule to

digitize

Detailed

further

Pri

ori

tized

Mate

rial

1 2 3

Create management

process for future

growth of collection

Historical

Periods, and

Critical

Events Representa-

tive Content

Key

Prioritization

Criteria

Drivers for prioritization for Content



42

To estimate time required for a collection’s digitization, and thereby drive the prioritization decisions, a throughput calculation is needed, and is derived from the below factors (listed in order of significance):

1. Size of archives to be digitized: Number of items after prioritization, accounting for simultaneous additions to collection.

2. Target timescale for completion: Number of months to complete set quantity of objects.

3. Efficiency of object supply chain: Typically not more than 70% in initial stages of project.

4. Average time to prepare equipment and object for digitization: Object variation matters and a 25% overhead is standard.

5. Complexity of object: All objects have some unique characteristics.

6. Average time to fully digitize a medium complexity object: Typically a further 15% overhead on top of step 5.

7. Average number of digitization chains: Will depend on space, CAPEX and OPEX budgets.

8. Hours of operations: 8-12-16 or 24 hours, depending on team shift patterns.

9. Efficiency of established processes / practices: Practical staff productivities is often 60% of theoretical productivity.

10. Management of working staff ratio: Typically 1 manager to 6 supervisors, and 1 supervisor to 10 staff.

For example, a typical UK based A/V digitization facility has the below operational characteristics:

Provides a 24 x 7 operation.

12 hour duty periods (40 hours average working week per individual).

8 hours’ work per staff per 12 hour day per chain, in normal conditions.

5 multi-skilled staff members per chain, not including supervisors and management.

As such, the expected A/V content throughput per 12 hour working day will be as below:

4 hours for legacy tape in bad to medium condition.

10 hours for newer, automatable formats like Sony Betacam.

2. Digital Right Management Digital Rights Management guidelines were defined, across identification, implementation and enforcement of copyright.

1. Identification:

a. Scenario 1: Institution owns the content copyrights:

‒ Watermark the digital file (DWA: Digital watermarking).

‒ Issue license from Creative Commons Qatar, as per institution’s content sharing preferences.

‒ Embed the copyright information in the metadata.



43

b. Scenario 2: Institution does not own the content copyright but is aware of the identity of the owner:

‒ Agree on terms of publishing with the content owner.

‒ Connect content owner with Creative Commons to issue license for publishing.

‒ Embed the copyright information in the metadata.

c. Scenario 3: Institution does not own the content copyright and is not aware of the identity of the owner:

‒ Water mark the digital file and publish in good faith.

‒ Solicit responses from online viewers to identify copyright owner.

‒ Embed available copyright information in the metadata.

2. Implementation:

‒ Integrate DRM application within institution’s network to manage content rights internally.

‒ Create a team within the institution to detect copyright infringement.

3. Enforcement:

‒ Prosecute copyright infringement at institutional level through Qatar’s judicial system.

‒ Incentivize online users to legally share and use content.

Identification involves the issuance of appropriate licenses to recognize copyright and confirm publishing permissions. Content licensing process is defined along four steps: Licensing body, license permissions, license types, and license records, with further description as per below:

1. Licensing body:

‒ Globally recognized body providing license to content owner.

‒ License explains the level of online sharing that the content owner has permitted.

‒ License is published along with the content.

‒ Online users who violate the license are infringing copyright.

Creative Commons Qatar as the licensing body was recommended for institutions

2. License permission: Creative Commons provides FOUR content permissions

a. Attribution:

‒ Viewers may use or share the content.

‒ Content credits must be given to the owner.

b. Non Commercial:

‒ Viewers may use the content for any non-commercial purpose.

c. Share Alike:



44

‒ Viewers may use/ modify content - modified work should be distributed under same terms.

d. No Derivatives:

‒ Viewers may use the content but not modify it in anyway.

3. License Types: Combination of permissions form a license: Creative Commons provides six types of licenses based on the permissions: Attribution is the recommended type:

‒ Attribution.

‒ Attribution – Share Alike.

‒ Attribution – No Derivatives.

‒ Attribution – Non Commercial.

‒ Attribution – Non Commercial – Share Alike.

‒ Attribution – Non Commercial – No Derivatives.

4. License records includes institutional internal and external records:

a. Institution internal record:

‒ Copyright and license information are detailed in the metadata.

‒ Copyright is watermarked on the actual content.

‒ Internal DRM application ( at the parent institution level) manages copyright.

b. External record:

‒ License information is mentioned on all online publishing platforms.

‒ License information is required to be mentioned whenever an online viewer shares or uses the content.

Qatar has a national mandate for copyright law enforcement that institutions should leverage to persecute copyright infringements, this mandate is governed by:

Qatari Courts of First Instance are given the power under Copyright Law of 2002, to hear claims of copyright infringement and to grant injunctions, order the seizure of infringing works and related profits, and order damages.

In 2009, Qatar has established strong national measures to fight IP infringement, enforced by the Centre for Protection of Intellectual Property.

8.3.2 Digitization Policies

Digitization policies cover metadata collection and technical conversion into digital format.

1. Metadata Collection Metadata is the process of making collections accessible, in a catalogue or on the web. The recommended International Standard for Qatari institutions is Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI).

Metadata implementation includes 5 criteria:

1. Taxonomy: Create top level structure for metadata and list all database entries.

2. Dictionary: Standardize vocabulary and Define relationship of metadata fields .



45

3. Thesaurus: List of synonyms for Arabic words in phonetic English.

4. File Naming: Set of file naming and numbering rules.

5. Templates: Enter metadata in pre-defined form: increase interoperability.

Metadata Output is defined across four formats:

1. Descriptive: Unique/ specific description of item: essential to digitize.

2. Ancillary: Critical for business and commercial process.

3. Institution specific: Institutional information unique to the item.

4. Technical: Essential for movement and tracking of items.

2. Technical Conversion Technical conversion varies by type of format. The process requirements for A/V, 3D and 2 D formats were defined and illustrated.

A/V capture process includes scheduling workflows, capturing content (involves playback of analogue media file) and capture of all related metadata. A/V digital capture process is illustrated in Exhibit 22:

Exhibit 22: A/V Digital Capture Process

In parallel to A/V Capture, digital ingest workflow will include 5 steps: Database creation, metadata entry, master file entry, additional metadata entry and derivative files entry: as defined in Exhibit 23.

Audio-visual Digital Capture Process

A/V Media

Digitization

Schedule Created

Media Available for

Digitization

Media storage standards Video: SMPTE

Audio: AES

Scheduling system or software; match to throughput

Temporary storage facilities for media

1” or 2” VTR

Professional VCR

Multitrack audio; Film scanner

33rpm, 46 rpm 78 rpm disc player

Senior supervision Specialist operators

Manual metadata collectors

Technology

HR personnel

Standards/

Recommendations

Pre-digitization

Workflow and

Prioritization

Completed

Legacy Tape

Playback

Legacy Film

Playback

Legacy Disc

Playback

Manual Metadata Entry

(from printed material

and cue sheets)

Content Capture

Metadata Capture

A/V Media

Digital Ingest

Workflow

Process

Scheduling1

2

3

…

Placed in

temporary

storage room



46

Exhibit 23: A/V Digital Ingest Workflow

3D objects are captured using videography, photography and laser scanning. 3D object capture process is illustrated in Exhibit 24.

Exhibit 24: 3D Object Digital Capture Process

In parallel to 3D object capture, digital ingest workflow will include 5 steps: Database creation, metadata entry, master file entry, additional metadata entry and derivative files entry: as defined in Exhibit 25.

Audio-visual Digital Ingest Workflow

Dublin Core Dublin Core Recommended

file formats1

Dublin Core/

metadata dictionary

Recommended

formats/ sizes1

Video: SMPTE

Audio: AES

Customized Media Asset Management (MAM) system and storage

Barcode creators and readers

Computers with graphics support and adequate processing power

PC-based video editing suite/ software

Technical Level: Film technology specialists, database experts; web specialists

Decision Level: Editors (for content editing), managers and supervisors

Digital Asset Storage

To post-

digitization and

dissemination

1. Technical

metadata

2. Unedited

master files

3. Descriptive

metadata

4. Edited

dissemination files

Technology

HR

personnel

Standards/

Recommendations

Create Database

entry in Media Asset

Management (MAM)

&

item barcode

identifier labels

Enter Initial

Metadata

entries in

MAM System

Ingest A/V

Media asset

into MAM

System

Enter

additional

info from

related paper

records

Create edited

version (for

viewing) and

ingest into

MAM System

Check media

and metadata

quality, and

close record

Database

creation1 Metadata

entry2 Master files

entry3 Additional

metadata4 Derivative files

entry5

…

3D Object Digital Capture Process

Object Digitization

Schedule Created

Media Available for

Digitization

3D object storage recommendations from bodies

such as AIC1

Video: SMPTE

3D usage: ASMT


Temporary storage facilities for objects

High resolution video and still image camera

Specialist lighting

Requirement based 3D laser scanning

OCR technology to read metadata

Senior supervision Specialist operators; SMEs for 3D scanning


Technology

HR personnel

Standards

Pre-digitization

Workflow and

Prioritization

Complete

Videography

Photography

Laser scanning (Academic Research

Purposes)

Manual Metadata Entry

(from printed material

& historic documents)

Content Capture

Metadata Capture

3D Object

Digitization

Workflow

Process

Scheduling1

2

3

…

Placed in

temporary

storage room



47

Exhibit 25: 3D Object Digital Ingest Process

Finally, 2D objects are c are either scanned or photographed, depending on object type and condition. 2D object capture process is illustrated in Exhibit 26:

Exhibit 26: 2D Object Digital Conversion Process

In parallel to 2D object capture, digital ingest workflow will include 5 steps: Database creation, metadata entry, master file entry, additional metadata entry and derivative files entry: as defined in Exhibit 27:

3D Object Digital Ingest Workflow

Dublin

Core

Dublin Core Recommended

file formats1

Dublin Core/

metadata dictionary

Recommended

formats/sizes1

Video: SMPTE

Audio: AES

Customized media asset management (MAM) system and solution


Computers with graphics support and adequate processing power

PC-based video editing suite/ software

Technical Level: Database experts; web specialists

Decision Level: Editors, managers and supervisors


To post-

digitization and

dissemination

Create Database

entry in Media Asset

Management (MAM)

system

& item barcode

identifier labels

Input all

metadata

entries in

MAM system

Copy digital

object scan

data, and

image into

MAM System

Edit digital

object video

file and add

audio track

if necessary

Create

master and

derivative A/V

files & ingest

into MAM

Check quality

and metadata

and close

record

Database

Creation1 Metadata

Entry2 Master files

Entry3 Optional Audio

Narration4

Derivative

files entry5

1. Metadata2. Scan(3D) and

photograph data

3. Master and

dissemination files

Technology

HR

personnel

Standards/

Recommendations

…

2D Object Digital Capture Process

Item Digitization

Schedule Created

Item Available for

Digitization

2D object storage recommendations from

bodies such as AIC

Recommended quality standards1


Temporary storage facilities for media

Fujitsu high resolution flatbed scanner

Hasselbald high resolution camera

Special lighting

Senior supervision Scanning operators;


Technology

HR personnel

Standards

Pre-digitization

Workflow and

Prioritization

Complete

Scanning

Photography

Manual Metadata

Entry (from printed

material)

Content Capture

Metadata Capture

2D Digitization

Workflow

Process

Scheduling1

2

3

Placed in

temporary

storage area

…



48

Exhibit 27: 2D Object Digital Ingest Process

8.3.3 Post-digitization Policies

Post-digitization policies ensure that converted data is stored safely and accessible from within and outside the institution. Post digitization process includes e-archiving, content management, publishing and disaster recovery.

1. E-Archiving: E-archiving includes storage, retrieval and content management systems, with different requirements according to material formats.

For instance, A/V content requires heavy complex files as well as an HSM connected to a MAM and a system to manage files. 3D objects require small video files, as well as typical enterprise storage network, connected to a simple MAM. 2D objects require high resolution images, as well as typical enterprise storage network, connected to simple file management software (CMS)

More details are provided below for every step of e-archiving:

1. Storage system:

a. Infrastructure:

‒ A/V: HSM: Hierarchical Storage Management system. ‒ 3D objects: Storage Area Network (SAN) with combination of discs and

tapes.

‒ 2D objects: Storage Area Network (SAN) with a combination of discs and tapes.

b. Retention Time:

‒ A/V: 72 hours for online disc, 150 hours for near line disc and unrestricted for data tapes.

‒ 3D objects: As required, subject to cost and physical space implications.

‒ 2D objects: As required, subject to cost and physical space implications.

2. Retrieval:

2D Object Digital Ingest Workflow

Dublin Core

IPTC

Dublin Core

IPTC

Standard file

formats and sizes

Standards file

formats and sizes

Standards file

formats/ sizes

Best practice

Guidelines1

Customized content management system (CMS) and storage


Computers with adequate processing power

PC-based editing suite/ software

Technical Level: Database experts, web specialists

Decision Level: Managers and supervisors


To post-

digitization and

dissemination

Create Database

entry in Content

Management

System (CMS) &

item barcode

identifier

Check quality

and metadata

and close

record

Database

creation1 Metadata

entry2 Master files

entry3 Additional

metadata 4 Derivative files

entry5

1. Metadata 2. Scan(2D) data4. Dissemination

files3. Metadata

Create

derivative

files and

ingest into

CMS

Copy digital

object image

data, into

CMS

Copy digital

object scan

data, into

CMS

Initial

Metadata

entries in

CMS

Technology

HR

personnel

Standards/

Recommendations

…



49

a. Middleware:

‒ A/V: Automatic data management interface with MAM. ‒ 3D objects: Interface between storage infrastructure and Content

Management System (CMS). ‒ 2D objects: Interface between storage infrastructure and Content

Management System (CMS). b. Access Rights: Policies defined by institutions (Further detailed)

3. Content Management:

a. Management:

‒ A/V: Complex Media Asset Management (MAM) system and Management System (CMS).

‒ 3D objects: Simple MAM. ‒ 2D objects: Content Management System (CMS).

b. Dissemination

‒ A/V: Web content management system (CMS). ‒ 3D objects: Web content management system (CMS). ‒ 2D objects: File management software with web CMS.

Access rights’ practices depend on the institution’s governance structure and the level of protection required for the content. Access Rights definition Matrix is illustrated, and defined in Exhibit 28.

Exhibit 28: Access Rights Definition Matrix

Access rights are classified into four categories, each with different requirements:

A. Viewership: Lower-resolution files are published online and should be watermarked. Open access for external viewership yet users cannot manipulate files. Require website registration to download.

B. Ownership: Web management team can access content and internal employees can access files through the intranet; Information in metadata is linked to Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) with access only to users with authentication.

Internal User External User

Ma

ste

r

co

nte

nt

Pu

bli

sh

ed

co

nte

nt

AB

C DProtected

ViewershipOwnership

Prevented

Access Rights Guidelines

Access Rights Definition Matrix

Viewership

Lower-resolution files are published online;

recommended to be watermarked

Open access for external viewership; users

cannot manipulate files

Require website registration to download

Ownership

Web management team can access content

Internal employees can access files through the

intranet

Information in metadata to be linked to LDAP;

allow access only to users with authentication

Protected

Limited access within institution; master files

maintained in controlled environment

Network log of all individuals who have

accessed the files

Organization approval process required

Prevented

No access to master files

Formal request and approval process for rare

case of external user (e.g. from sister

institutions) requiring master file access

A

B

C

D



50

C. Protected: Limited access within institution and master files are maintained in controlled environment. Network log of all individuals who have accessed the files. Organization approval process required.

D. Prevented: No access to master files; Formal request and approval process for rare case of external user (e.g. from sister institutions) requiring master file access.

2. Content Management: Content management includes two main systems: MAM for complex A/V files and a CMS for simpler formats. Detailed specifications for both systems are defined below:

Media Asset Management (MAM) systems specifications include:

Type of files: Required for broadcast quality video and audio files, captured in from legacy source.

Size of Unit file: 1.5 Terabytes (1500 Gigabytes)/ unit file.

Key files components: Main high resolution video, Low resolution derivatives, Audio & subtitles (up to 4) and Time code.

File manipulation requirements: Quick playback, Fast file transfer between users, Content assessment without viewing full file and Broadcast and web dissemination.

Storage infrastructure: Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) system, 3 storage layers (online/ near-line discs/ tapes) and Collapsed core architecture for fast file transfer.

Storage Manipulation requirements: Automatic and optimized transfer of files between 3 storage layers, based on demand.

Content Management Systems (CMS) specifications include:

Type of files: High resolution video, photographed and scanned images.

Size of Unit file: 0.5 Gigabytes to 5 Gigabytes/ unit file.

Key files components: Master high resolution video, Low resolution derivatives, Photographed/ scanned image and Various metadata.

File manipulation requirements: Web dissemination and Less critical file transfer between users.

Storage infrastructure: Typical enterprise storage with discs and tapes. Architecture depends on amount of data.

Storage Manipulation requirements: High demand content stored on discs, Low demand content stored on tapes and retrieval of data on tape requires human intervention.

3. Publishing Publishing guidelines aim to fulfill institution’s objectives by facilitating content sharing and ensuring an attractive user experience.

Publishing objectives vary by institution type and are defined as following:

Broadcasters: Increase viewership, increase content consumption and promote content creation.

Museums: Increase user interaction, increase user appreciation for culture and heritage content and invoke national pride.



51

Libraries: Increase readership, increase interest in collection and provide easier access to content within collections.

Social Groups: Increase content sharing, increase access to new content and increase interaction and community building.

Publishing guidelines are aligned amongst all institutions and include:

Strategy: Integrate digital content as a part of institution’s strategy to fulfill mission and vision.

Standards: Adopt web-publishing standards as listed by the W3 Consortium.

Digital rights: Record digital rights in metadata, identify rights through watermarks, co-operate with license providers (such as Creative Commons) to protect content.

Platforms: Use institution’s website for publishing, use unified access portals for more visibility and leverage search engine and aggregators for greater online footprint.

Analytics & Retention: Implement user analytics collection, utilize user analytics to drive digitization of content by demand and create user retention strategies.

4. Disaster Recovery Business recovery guidelines exist to increase institution’s awareness and readiness to recover from technology disruptions.

Business continuity and disaster recovery guidelines are defined along 3 steps: Preparation, rehearsal and implementation. The process is defined in Exhibit 29.

Exhibit 29: Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Process

Difference between Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR) is in the extent of recovery in an emergency. As such, Business Continuity enables continuous functioning and limited loss while Disaster Recovery accepts that loss is inevitable and institution is willing to take risk. For both Business

Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR)

Stage 3

ImplementIncreasing Readiness

Stage 1

PrepareIncreasing Awareness

Adopt a

“Top Down”

Structured

View

Identify

Critical

HR Functions

Identify

Critical

Information

Identify

Critical

Systems

Identify

Critical

Services

Stage 2

RehearseIncreasing Confidence

Create a

BC/DR Team

Including

Seniors

Identify

Training

Requirements

Paper

Exercises on

Response to

Critical Loss

Formulate

Draft BC/DR

Plans

Rehearse

and Refine

Draft Plan

Set “recovery

Time”

Objectives

Establish

Critical

Backup

Requirements

Establish

Critical Blue

Light

Services

Update and

Publish

BC/DR Plan

Rehearse,

Refine and

Update

Quarterly



52

Continuity and Disaster Recovery, planning at initial stage of project implementation is essential to deploy adequate Technology (storage, redundancies, etc.) and human resource capabilities / training

8.4 MCH National Digitization Technical Architecture

8.4.1 Technical Architecture Summary

Today, Qatari institutions’ technology models are mostly decentralized. For an effective implementation of digitization, a semi-centralized technology infrastructure model is recommended. It ensures cost efficiencies and operational synergies, while maintaining content ownership and content promotion decisions with institutions. The semi-centralized technology infrastructure is defined as follows:

Ingest: Centralized operations with three Digital Conversion Centers for A/V, 3D and 2D, providing ingest and indexing services to institutions owning corresponding content types.

E-Archiving/ Storage: ‒ Centralized storage, content management and DRM, where institutions not owning

storage facilities leverage a central repository to store content, while institutions owning storage maintain their own operations.

‒ Local storage at Digital Conversion Centers level (for short term storage prior to transfer to central facility).

Publishing: ‒ Decentralized access for each institution.

‒ One Unified Access Platform, accessing content of all institutions based on-predefined rights.

As such, 3D Digital Conversion Centers, 2D Digital Conversion Centers and A/V Digital Conversion Centers will provide centralized ingest services to institutions owning corresponding content types. A Central Storage (potentially hosted with conversion center(s)) should be developed and will primarily serve 3D and A/V content owners, since 2D content owners (Print media and Libraries) already have in-house storage facilities.

Central Storage will include content management applications such as: Hierarchical Storage Management, Media Asset Management, Digital Rights Management, in addition to Disaster Recovery systems. Recommended Technology infrastructure is illustrated in Exhibit 30



53

Exhibit 30: MCH Digitization High Level Technical Infrastructure

In addition, a detailed architecture for MCH digitization was developed based on strategic guidelines, best practices, current situation of institutions and their future requirements. Recommended technology and infrastructure architecture will be further detailed including:

1. Key design principles.

2. Design of Technical Architecture for A/V conversion.

3. Design Technical Architecture for 3D conversion.

4. Design Technical Architecture for 2D conversion.

8.4.2 Key Design Principles

Key technology and infrastructure design principles are defined as follow:

1. Accessibility: Ensure system is accessible by all required users, including remote staff and external authorities .

2. Availability: Ensure a highly available architecture, where achievable. This encompasses reliability (no of failures in time) where availability is time without failure.

3. Flexibility: Ensure components are able to handle changes in functions.

4. Interoperability: Ensure the capability to exchange and share data is based on a holistic national view.

5. Maintainability: Ensure the target architecture can be supported and maintained considering staff skills and the magnitude of operations.

6. Performance: Ensure that components meet performance recommendations where achievable. This is most relevant within implementation.

7. Usability: Ensure the target architecture is usable by users, who may have difficulties if the environment changes rapidly.



54

8. Reusability: Ensure ‘openness’, to reduce future costs, ensure flexibility and increase function and data sharing within the government.

9. Scalability: Ensure the technology is scalable to suit potential future business demand and growth.

10. Security: Ensure consideration of CIA (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability) which are Information Security Attributes, given the nature of the organization.

8.4.3 Design of Technical Architecture for A/V conversion:

Technical architecture is customized along the 6 main IT layers to meet their high bandwidth requirements. A customized architecture is required for Media Asset Management, Hierarchical Storage Management, digital ingest infrastructure, and collapsed core infrastructure. Technical architecture of A/V conversion is detailed in Exhibit 31.

Exhibit 31: Technical Architecture - A/V conversion

8.4.4 Design of Technical Architecture for Institutions with 3D material

Institutions with 3D material require a cost effective architecture to manage digital requirements. A customized architecture is required for Media Asset Management, Storage area network, digital ingest infrastructure, and IT enterprise architecture. Technical architecture required for 3D conversion is detailed in Exhibit 32.



55

Exhibit 32: Technical Architecture – 3D Content

8.4.5 Design of Technical Architecture for 2D conversion

Institutions with only 2D material require a standard IT network architecture with adequate data storage space. A customized architecture is required for Storage area network, digital ingest infrastructure, and IT enterprise architecture. Technical architecture of 2D conversion is detailed in Exhibit 33.

Exhibit 33: Technical Architecture - 2D Content



56

8.5 MCH National Digitization Human Resource Requirements

Digitization requires institutions to embed new roles in their organizations and to expand other existing roles.

8.5.1 A/V Digital Conversion Centers Organizational Requirements

Broadcasters should integrate a digitization function, and require additional roles mainly in infrastructure and IT units. New functions will require managerial, operational and technical know-how, and are detailed as per below:

Level N:

Head of Digitization:

‒ Sets target and KPIs and is responsible for overall implementation of digitization project according to targets.

‒ Monitors overall performance and KPIs, and reports to head of institution.

‒ Sets content prioritization guidelines (with archivists).

Level N-1: (report to the head of digitization)

Technology Support:

‒ Manage day to day line management of technical specialties.

‒ Champion quality management and business continuity.

Level N-2: (report to the head of technology support)

Legacy VTR Support:

‒ In charge of legacy VTRs’ operations, maintenance and equipment set up (Role requiring ~3 employees per machine).

Broadcast Network and Infrastructure Support:

‒ Coordinate with enterprise IT department to ensure high throughput and low latency IT network.

‒ Coordinate with broadcast technology, to ensure maintenance, quality and configuration of infrastructure required for digitization.


Traffic Coordination:

‒ Coordinate internal and external (3rd parties) physical media deliveries and returns.

Prioritization and Scheduling:

‒ Coordinate internal and external digitization requirements.

‒ Schedule workflow operations and manpower plan.

‒ Participate in prioritization with archivists and head of operations.

Digitization Operations:

‒ Manage day to day line management of staff and operation.



57

‒ Champion quality management across digitization process.

Level N-2: (report to the head of digitization operations)

Operation Shift Supervisor:

‒ Supervise operations, and champion quality management, for technology conversion, ingest and metadata.

Ingest Operators:

‒ Oversee digitization workstation and metadata entry.

‒ Act as guardian of quality management.

Legacy VTR and Film Scanner Operators:

‒ Manage technology conversion and editing, through both manual operation of legacy VTR, and film transfers.

‒ Coordinate workflows with ingest operators.

Metadata Entry:

‒ Ensure data entry for additional metadata arriving with physical media.

8.5.2 3D and 2D Digital Conversion Centers Organizational Requirements

2D and 3D Digital Conversion Centers should integrate a digitization function in their organization, and expand responsibilities across existing functions.

New functions will require managerial, operational and technical know-how, and are detailed as per below:

Level N:

Head of Digitization:

‒ Sets target and KPIs and is responsible for overall implementation of digitization project according to targets.

‒ Monitors overall performance and KPIs, and reports to head of institution.

‒ Sets content prioritization guidelines (with archivists).


Workflows Coordinator:

‒ Coordinate and synchronize end-to-end digitization operations, and ensure optimal throughput.

Logistics / Traffic Coordination:

‒ Coordinate deliveries and returns of collections to Digital Conversion Centers /archives.

Quality Management:

‒ Ensure quality of input and output across digitization is met (from physical collection, to digital format and storage).

Prioritization and Scheduling:



58

‒ Prioritize collections (with archivists), and schedule workflow operations and manpower plan.

Scanning and Photography:

‒ Manage the technical conversion of collection across formats.

‒ Manage editing and picture formatting requirements.

Classification, Ingest and Metadata Entry:

‒ Develop metadata dictionary, schemes and taxonomy and ensure metadata updates and editing.

8.5.3 Central Storage

Central Storage (potentially hosted with conversion center(s)) should integrate operations and technology functions, and require additional roles mainly in storage and network management. New functions will require operational and technical know-how, and are detailed as per below:

Level N-1:

Head of Operations:

‒ Senior Management Role performing a GM and Stakeholder Management function.

Head of Technology:

‒ Effectively the Chief Technical Officer for the Facility.

Storage Operations:

‒ Manage day to day line management of staff and operation.

‒ Champion quality management across storage process.

Level N-2

Operation Shift Supervisor:

‒ Supervise operations, and champion both process and quality management, for storage processes.

Storage Management:

‒ Operate digital storage and HSM (Hierarchical Storage Management).

‒ Coordinate short term (overnight) storage and data transfers .

‒ Act as guardian of storage environment.

Interconnectivity Management:

‒ Specialists in high capacity, high volume network operations.

Hardware & Software Platform Support:

‒ Support role similar to standard data center model operation on a 24 x 7 basis.

MAM System Supervisor:

‒ Manage Media Asset Management hardware, and maintain archive accuracy and quality.

Special Application Support:



59

‒ In charge of core asset management software.

‒ Interfaces with enterprise IT on information exchanges.

Documents

Media, Culture and Heritage (MCH) National Digitization Plan...The MCH National Digitization Plan seeks to provide a framework for addressing these critical gaps through a model focused