Europeana Impact Framework is founded on the principles laid out in the Balanced Value Impact (BVI) Model developed by professor Simon Tanner in 2012.

The goal was to research and test the best methods for assessing the impact of digitised collections and resources, by synthesising different methodologies and techniques and breaking these down into a cohesive and achievable methodology.

🐘 The issues of sustainability and long-term perspectives

“Problems of obtaining evidence of impact to support sustainability [for those creating and managing digital resources] relates in part to one simple aspect of digital resources: they have not existed for a very long time in the main part. Many evaluations of digital resources attempt to measure change over a very short period of time (sometimes even as short as 3 months), and thus have no baseline metrics against which to assess what may have changed. Also, it is difficult to measure impact if the resource or activity has not been supported for very long after the initial development period (and therefore the funding) has ended, and they have not been evaluated or assessed over time.“

Source: Tanner, S. (2012) Measuring the Impact of Digital Resources: The Balanced Value Impact Model. King’s College London, October 2012. Available at: http://www.kdcs.kcl.ac.uk/innovation/impact.html (p. 9)

Balanced Value Impact (BVI) Model

The BVI Model is intended to aid thinking and decision making of those wishing to engage in IA impact assessment for the cultural, heritage, academic or creative industries. It further presumes that the assessment will be measuring change within an ecosystem for a digital resource.

The BVI Model focus is upon measuring change and evaluating the value of that change.

Definition

“The BVI Model defines impact as the measurable outcomes arising from the existence of a digital resource that demonstrate a change in the life or life opportunities of the community.”

Theory and practice

The BVI Model is a measurement model focused on identifying a change in a community arising from the existence of digital resources that are of proven value to the community.

The five steps

The BVI Model is a 5-stage iterative process:

Stage 1: The Context and Stage 5: Review and Respond sections express the essential components of the BVI Model. These stages provide an additional sense of perspective to the overall IAimpact assessment.

All IA impact assessment is driven by perspective and there is a great opportunity embedded in the BVI Model to ensure that perspective is clearly understood and purposefully decided upon. IA Impact assessment derives its power from providing evidence to decision makers.

🔑 About Stage 1: The Context

Main question: 

Has the digital resource demonstrably made the organisation grow better - more efficient and effective in reaching its goals; whilst stakeholders have become more satisfied, found social and economic benefit of tangible worth and society has been enhanced?

To translate this into the Balanced Scorecard approach, Simon Tanner suggested the following core headings:

• Social and Audience Impacts

• Economic Impacts

• Innovation Impacts

• Internal process Impacts

This would assess the way Impact is occurring both externally and internally to the organisation delivering the digital resource. Thus, allowing a balanced perspective of changes to people’s lives that use the resource and changes to the organisation through the existence of the resource.

You can see how these perspectives became the Strategic Perspectives tool 🔽

According to inDICEs document Deliverable 3.1: Policy analysis of value chains for CHIs in the Digital
Single Market (p. 17), three different approaches to the issue of value and impact in the context of cultural heritage stand out:

1. Balanced Value Model by Simon Tanner

2. Europeana Impact Framework (based on Simon Tanner’s model)

3. Pier Luigi Sacco’s eight-tiers approach in Social and Economic Value Creation through Culture (see below)