Sustaining knowledge infrastructures remains a persistent issue that requires continued engagement from diverse stakeholders as new questions and values arise in relation to KI maintenance. We draw on existing academic literature, practical experience with KI projects, and our discussions at a 2024 workshop for researchers and practitioners exploring KI evaluation to pose five questions for KI project managers to consider when thinking about how to make their KIs evolve sustainably over time. These questions include reflecting on sustainability throughout the life cycle of KIs, communicating evolving visions and values, engaging communities, right sizing a KI, and developing an iterative process for decision-making. Reflecting on these themes, we suggest, can support KI stakeholders to evolve, not necessarily grow, to meet the needs and values of their communities. How these themes are discussed will necessarily vary by funding sources, disciplines, governance, communities, and other contextual factors. However, adopting a deliberate and strategic approach to KI sustainability and aligning the invisible infrastructural work of KI maintenance with the outward-facing institutional work is, we argue, relevant to all KIs.

翻译：维持知识基础设施仍然是一个持续存在的问题，随着知识基础设施维护相关的新问题和价值观不断涌现，需要各利益相关方持续参与。我们借鉴现有学术文献、知识基础设施项目的实践经验，以及2024年面向探索知识基础设施评估的研究者与实践者研讨会的讨论成果，提出了五个问题供知识基础设施项目管理者在思考如何使其知识基础设施随时间可持续演进时考量。这些问题包括：反思知识基础设施全生命周期的可持续性、传达不断演进的愿景与价值观、社群参与、合理规划知识基础设施规模，以及建立迭代决策流程。我们认为，对这些主题的反思能够支持知识基础设施利益相关方实现演进（而非必然扩张），以满足其社群的需求与价值观。这些主题的讨论方式必然因资金来源、学科领域、治理模式、社群特征及其他情境因素而异。但我们主张，采取审慎战略性的知识基础设施可持续性方法，并将隐性的基础设施维护工作与对外的制度性工作相协调，对所有知识基础设施都具有普遍意义。