US DPIF Workshop, Gaithersburg, MD, March 31, 2010 Helen R. Tibbo School of Information and Library...

US DPIF Workshop, Gaithersburg, MD, March 31, 2010

Helen R. TibboSchool of Information and Library ScienceUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Thank YouTo Wo Chang and NIST for the opportunity to

speak with you today;To IMLS for funding and providing guidance

for the DigCCurr, Educating Stewards of Public Information (ESOPI-21), and the Closing the Digital Curation Gap (CDCG) projects;

To Ken Thibodeau for working with us on three of these projects; and

To several audience members who have shared insights with Cal Lee and I about the work of digital curation and educational needs.

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This Morning’s TalkWhat is Digital Curation?Digital Curation education landscape and

needs.Brief overview of the DigCCurr and related

projects.Matrix of Digital Curation Knowledge and

Competencies and the High-Level Categories of Digital Curation Functions .

Educational Issues.Lessons learned.

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What is Digital Curation?The active management and

preservation of digital resources over the life-cycle of scholarly, cultural, commercial, and scientific interest, and over time for current and future generations of users.Education can range from raising awareness through a Ph.D.

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Digital Curation Life Cycle

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Need for Digital Curation Education

“Mechanisms are also needed to accelerate the transfer of new knowledge into practical working digital preservation systems to prevent further loss of valuable digital collections.”

-“It’s About Time” NSF/LC Report, 2003 “The new discipline of digital preservation needs

to be supported. This should include the provision of continual professional development for existing individuals with relevant skill sets, e.g., archivists, librarians and IT staff.”

-Waller and Sharpe, “Mind the Gap: Assessing Digital Preservation in the UK,” DPC, 2006

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Digital Curation Education ChallengesDeveloping sustainable and evolving digital

curation educational programsProfessional, continuing, life-long educationGraduate, professional educationDoctoral education

Programs need to be:InternationalInterdisciplinaryLinked to practical experiences, internships, etc.

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Digital Curation/Preservation Education Standards?I am listed as a “Standards Track” speaker for

this meeting. Hum… what does this mean?Secret – There’s nothing “standard” about

most of higher education!Some professional fields have fairly specified

educational programs, but not Information and Library Science.

Even less standardization for an emerging field like Digital Curation or Digital Preservation.

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A Framework for Digital Curation EducationThrough the DigCCurr projects we are building a

framework for Digital Curation/Preservation education.Matrix of Digital Curation Knowledge and

Competencies.High-Level Categories of Digital Curation

Functions.We are providing an environment in which to

capture and education components that populate the framework: Digital Curation Exchangehttp://www.digitalcurationexchange.org

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http://www.digitalcurationexchange.org

An Ongoing Community ProcessWe are adding initial educational content.Community of educators will hopefully add

additional content.Iterative process as educational content is

constantly evolving.Effort becomes more a clearing house of

ideas rather than static, finished products.Conversations, not textbooks.Framework, not standard.

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DigCCurr I ProjectPreserving Access to Our Digital Future:

Building an International Digital Curation Curriculum. http://www.ils.unc.edu/digccurr.

This project is funded through IMLS Grant # RE-05-06-0044.

A collaboration of the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) and the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Project ran July 1, 2006 – December 31, 2009. US DPIF Workshop, Gaithersburg, MD, March 31, 2010 15

DigCCurr I GoalsBuild graduate-level curriculum.Fund master’s student Fellows.Host two international symposia.Build a network of digital curation

educators and experts.

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DigCCurr II Project“Extending an International Digital

Curation Curriculum to Doctoral Students and Practitioners.” http://ils.unc.edu/digccurr/aboutII.html.

This project is funded through IMLS Laura Bush funds (Grant # RE-05-08-0060).

A collaboration of the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) and the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Project to run September 1, 2008 – August 31, 2012.

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DigCCurr II GoalsContinue to foster a growing and evolving

network of international experts in the DC arena.

Develop a doctoral-level curricular framework; course content; and networked, distributed, international seminars to prepare future faculty to educate 21st century digital curators.

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DigCCurr II GoalsDevelop & host 3 multi-stage Professional

Institutes for Practitioners in Digital Curation Issues, taught by a team of international experts, designed to have an immediate impact on curation practices.

Increase public and professional awareness of digital curation issues, processes, and technologies.

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Educating Stewards of Public Information in the 21st Century (ESOPI-21)ESOPI-21 seeks to prepare the next generation

of public information stewards by building on the existing dual degree program offered jointly by UNC-CH's School of Information and Library Science and its School of Government.

Designed to prepare leaders in public information curation and public policy administration.

http://ils.unc.edu/esopi21/index.html

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Closing the Digital Curation Gap (CDCG) ProjectThe CDCG collaboration is designed to serve as a

locus of interaction between those doing leading edge digital curation research, development, teaching, and training in academic and practitioner communities those with a professional interest in applying viable innovations within particular organizational contexts.

Partners: UNC-SILS, IMLS, Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) (UK), Digital Curation Centre (UK).

Focus on building tools for small and medium-sized cultural heritage institutions (LAMs).

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Prepare students for digital curation with wide variety of organizations, contexts & types of resources:

Graduate-level curricular framework Course modules Experiential components International guest speakers

DigCCurr I - Curriculum

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5 Digital Curation Fellows pursuing degrees at SILS August 2007 – May 2009.

UNC partners providing practical experience opportunities: Academic Affairs Library, Odum Institute, ibiblio, & ITS.

Four 2008-2009 Fellows supported by UNC partners started in fall 2008.

DigCCurr I - Carolina Digital Curation Fellows

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To bring the issues of digital curation and this curriculum to the attention of librarians, archivists, museum professionals, data curators, scholars, and the general public.

First was held April 18-20, 2007 in Chapel Hill. http://ils.unc.edu/digccurr2007/

Second to take place April 1-3, 2009. http://ils.unc.edu/digccurr2009

DigCCurr I - Two International Symposia

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Review of literature (publications, guidelines, standards, reports).

Syllabi & materials from existing courses & workshops.

Job advertisements. Interviews (transcribed & coded) with & other

feedback from 17-member expert Advisory Board. Materials generated at DigCCurr2007 Symposium

(including participant survey). National survey. Experience in implementing the curriculum at

SILS. Ongoing feedback from CDC Fellows and partners.

Data Sources for DigCCurr Curriculum Building

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Build on an installed base.Digital curation activities span entire life of

digital resources.Build from modules, rather than entire

courses.Emphasize core, generalizable modules.Avoid tying the curriculum to one specific

institution typee.g. identifying relatively simple & general set

of lifecycle stages & then identifying detailed set of functions that one may apply at each stage

Guiding Principles

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Tool for thinking about, planning for, identifying & organizing material to cover in curriculum.

Each unit of curriculum content can address one or more dimensions.

Helping us to address a fundamental issue: All digital curation students should all get some aspects of the curriculum, but other aspects will only be necessary for students planning to work in particular types of places or jobs (i.e. balancing core vs. specialized knowledge).

Matrix of Digital Curation Knowledge & Competencies

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Mandates, values & principles.Professional, disciplinary or

institutional/organizational context.Transition point in information

continuum/lifecycle.Type of resource.Function or skill.Prerequisite knowledge.

http://ils.unc.edu/digccurr/digccurr-matrix.html

Six Matrix Dimensions

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MSIS/MSLSAdvanced Certificate in Digital CurationPh.D. degreeLife-long professional education &

support

Different Tiers, Levels or Degrees Offered

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Students need to get a general core foundation, in order toHave a holistic view of the digital curation pictureRemain flexible in moving between jobs/

environmentsStudents need some specialized knowledge

(e.g. specific domain, function, or level of management/technological abstraction), becauseOne person can’t do it all – need teams with different

backgrounds & skillsDomain knowledge required to understand content &

gain legitimacy with stakeholders (e.g. PhD in physics to work with physicists & their data sets)

Breadth vs. Depth in Curriculum

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Students need to get a general core foundation, in order toHave a holistic view of the digital curation pictureRemain flexible in moving between jobs/

environmentsStudents need some specialized knowledge (e.g.

specific domain, function, or level of management/technological abstraction), becauseOne person can’t do it all – need teams with

different backgrounds & skillsDomain knowledge required to understand

content & gain legitimacy with stakeholders (e.g. PhD in physics to work with physicists & their data sets)

Breadth vs. Depth in Curriculum

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Digital Curation As a Bridging ProfessionDigital Curator must be able to communicate

withContent providersRepository staffTechnologistsPresent and future content users and reusersResource allocatorsPolicy makersOther stakeholders.

Digital Curators must be bright, agile, political, flexible, and extremely energetic!

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Students should engage in at least two different field experiences.

Field experiences should involve some hands-on work of dealing with digital objects in a way that has actual consequences, rather than just conceptual or policy work.

Importance of partnering with field experience sites that already successfully engage in digital curation, rather than just advising those who don't.

Practical Field Experience

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Some (most?) types of digital curation work can require knowledge & experience before students enter the curriculum, including:Domain expertise - e.g. research experience in

physics, in order to work with physics dataIT expertise

Prerequisite Knowledge

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Big Lessons!Organizing conferences are a ton of work!Creating curricular content is also a ton of

work!One never budgets enough resources, or,Things grow grander in their process and

progression.

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Lessons LearnedContent must be managed across the life cycle.Life cycle extends well before and after repository

life.Not all repositories will be archival but archival

principles, i.e., need to preserve authenticity of content, underlie all repositories.

Much of the difference between Digital Library work and Digital Curation has been focus – access vs. preservation.

Institutional repositories in academic libraries engage all the skills, requirements discussed here and are a great training ground.

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Lessons LearnedDigital Curation is about maintaining and

extending context over time and is essential for re-use.

Digital Curators must bridge between content creators/producers and technologists.

Digital Curators need to anticipate future re-use of content.

Young and evolving field.

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