Introduction
It Takes a Village brings together open-source programs serving cultural and scientific heritage to develop shared sustainability strategies, and to provide our communities with the information needed to assess and contribute to the sustainability of the programs they depend on.
The It Takes a Village in Practice (ITAViP) Toolkit is an adaptable set of tools for practical use in planning and managing sustainability for open-source software (OSS) initiatives serving cultural and scientific heritage organizations.
The ITAViP Kickoff Activity is designed to help determine current program sustainability status, priorities, and capacity, to then be able to decide which of the activities in the Toolkit would be most helpful.
The ITAV Analysis Kickoff Planning and Facilitator Guide and Resource List below provides all the materials needed for your program to plan and carry out a successful ITAV Analysis Kickoff Activity - an activity designed to help determine your program's current sustainability status, priorities, and capacity. After reading through the Planning Guide and getting a better feel for the Kickoff Activity and your program’s needs, you are free to modify the process to work best for your program. Some potential routes include:
- Carry out the Kickoff Activity as designed, using the samples and templates linked in this planning Guide.
- Optional: Identify Kickoff Activities that can be completed asynchronously to accommodate programs with stakeholders who may find it difficult to meet for extended periods, reserving synchronous meeting time for discussions and decision-making.
- Identify a specific Facet your program would like to focus on and shorten the Kickoff to complete only the Core Data Activity and Analysis Checklist for that specific Facet.
- Determine that the level of planning described in this document and by the Kickoff Activity is not needed and move directly to the table of contents for each Toolkit Facet and choose Activities “a la carte.”