This project will adopt an environmentally conscious approach to all of its activities, including its digital outputs. Here, we will be transparent about that approach, its benefits and its limitations. This page will be updated regularly to account for project progress and the new learning that comes from this.
Website: You will notice that the only image we use on this website is our logo, a low resolution black and white png. Images require greater energy to view on websites. Of course, this project does not need images and so we are in a good position to use as few as possible. For an institution who depends on images (of collections, buildings, maps) this would be a greater issue. Here, we might think of using the lowest possible number and quality of images, and to use still images rather than video. We have chosen to upload our bibliography and tables with collated data on digitisation guidelines and carbon calculators as a text-only pages, too. We are currently thinking through the best format to provide access to our slides but we have chosen to publish them as downloadable powerpoint files for now.
The Website Carbon Calculator reveals that this particular project website receives an A+ rating for carbon output, but that hosting is an issue, stating that “If this site used green hosting, then it would emit 9% less CO2”.
Communications: We avoid images in our email signatures and in any correspondence we send out. In one email, we included a map to help participants find an in-person venue, balancing ease of access to an unknown area against this carbon cost. We use social media sparingly and consider the size and number of images we share there.
Events: We chose to hold our first workshop online. This enabled participation globally and we believe that this successfully offset any carbon emissions from international travel. We held our second event, a strategic meeting, in-person in St Andrews. We provided ample budget for travel to this venue by public transport and also provided accommodation to facilitate this. Catering was provided by the University which commits to sustainable food procurement and production. Waste was created here since we could not adjust the catering order downwards after some participants were unable to attend. We ensured that we distributed leftovers to colleagues and participants.
Travel: Where possible, we encouraged public transport by bus, train and ferry, and ensured that the project budget catered for this (even though in many cases this was more expensive than air travel).