I would like to welcome everyone to the discussion thread for panel 6, “From RED to READ-IT.” Many thanks to Edmund and Shafquat for their informative and and thought-provoking presentations. In my role as panel discussant, it is my pleasure to initiate the online discussion with the first few questions and comments:

My first question is directed at Edmund. UK RED is a terrific example of a digital humanities project with a long horizon as it dates back to the mid-1990s when the Web was in its infancy (much like printing at the beginning of the project's chronological period). What can new or even nascent projects learn from UK RED's idiosyncratic development history? One would not recommend a new project follow this exact same path, would one?

Shafquat, you mentioned the development of interface translations as a future goal for READ-IT, what convinced your team that this is crucial for maximizing user engagement? Have you encountered literature or case studies on this topic? Also, in more general terms, what advice would you give to fledgling projects on how to assemble and manage such multi-institution projects?

Second, I find your project postcards very intriguing (necessity is the mother of invention, is it not?) and wonder what kind of return/response rate are you hoping for? Are there models from similar public engagement campaigns that you can base your expectations on?

My final question/musing (for now) is directed at you both: 

Would you agree that funding is more likely at scale (national in scope) than at the regional, state, or local community levels? Certainly, the relative scarcity of data encourages the largest practical scale, but how might a project account for variations in the "reading experience" that may be flattened out in such a national or international approach?

I hereby invite responses from the panel and new comments from other workshop presenters and attendees. Feel free to chime in and ask your own questions of Edmund and Shafquat by replying to this topic, and/or start a new topic!