This paper describes ex-ante the process of developing a framework for establishing a digital resource at National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI). The content of the digital resource is provided through high resolution digitisation of the original Olympics class ship drawings and plans including “Titanic”. This collaborative exercise is carried out with a view to registering a strong beneficial impact, using the “Balanced Value Impact” (BVI) tool to seek and justify funding.
For any Impact analysis to be trusted as good evidence on which to base a major decision (such as strategy, policy or funding), the perspective of resource managers and the context in which it is established need to be clearly and transparently stated. After providing a short introduction of the BVI model and tool kit which had been published by Dr Simon Tanner (Deputy Head of Digital Humanities at Kings College London) in 2012 under “Creative Commons” non commercial use, license. This paper will explain the collaborative and multi disciplinary process of digitizing large ship drawings (up to 6 meters long) to a very high resolution using a Kyoto University IDElab scanner technology. The project was managed by ideaScan Ltd, UK and was sponsored by NMNI’s Head of Collections Management.
Finally the paper will make suggestions for a design and analysis process which will establish the digital resource related to the content described. In line with BVI recommendations this study shall suggest appropriate contextualisation of the stakeholders, user communities and target audiences whilst being mindful of the investments which address challenges such as viewing software for big data accessibility, high definition screens, and interactivity.