Assignment Task

Purpose

The aim is to initiate a discourse on digital curation, exploring its definition and description as an emerging field in information science.

Related literature

The research delved into a comprehensive 201 literatures. One crucial issue highlighted in the article is the abundance of data in our society and how researchers are grappling with the challenge of transforming this data into scientific output (Gantz, 2008; Haendel, Vasilevsky & Wirz, 2012). Another significant concept discussed in the paper is the "digital dark age" as referenced in Bollacker (2010). The digital dark age refers to a phenomenon where data is lost due to technological evolution; historical information is lost because file formats, software, and hardware become outdated or corrupted. Digital curation was another extensively explained concept, defined as a term that encompasses digital preservation, data curation, and asset management throughout its lifecycle (Lee & Tibbo, 2007; Yakel, 2007). The authors suggest that data has several meanings and can be defined by format, origin, degree of processing, and its potential reproducibility. Some define it in terms of its operations similar to OIAS and DDI models (Open Archival Information Systems and Data Documentation Initiative) as documented in Borgam (2015). The author explains how metadata is crucial to digital curation by providing a controlled vocabulary and acting as a "holy grail" for sharing and reusing data (Harvey, 2010; Edwards, Mayernik, Batcheller, Bowker, & Borgman, 2011). The study touches on other relevant topics such as data reuse and sharing, researcher behavior, and scholarly communication.

Research design or strategy

The strategy employed was to explore studies on digital curation to generate ideas on how to enhance ROI concerning work on data.

Results, Discussions, and Conclusions

Relevant discussions were provided regarding data originators, sharing and reusing data; the observation that originators often do all the work while researchers who reuse the data reap the benefits. The study sheds light on the intra- and interdisciplinary use of data and the necessity for data curation to flow across and within disciplines. This leads to new scholarly communication and communities of practice. Scholarly communication may manifest as "cyberscholarship," rooted in interdisciplinary knowledge discovery in a collaborative manner. It may also take the form of scholarly publication and citation. Citation, as noted by Mooney & Newton (2012), enhances scholarly productivity and incentivizes sharing and reuse. The study also discusses the legal implications of intellectual property rights concerning digital curation, given the existence of countries` copyright laws and disciplinary practices. The author elaborates on the four infrastructural pillars of the digital curation lifecycle, which are archives, centers, and institutional repositories (IRs). The paper discusses the development of "digital curation profiles" (DCPs) by Purdue University, providing information about data creation and/or use and the digital curation requirements of the research community.

The author emphasizes the need for appropriate standards, governance, and policies, sustainability, outreach, risk management, evaluation, and metrics as key success factors of digital curation.

Contributions

The paper provides an in-depth exploration of digital and data curation. Although conceptual in nature and focused on Anglo-America, the study offers a solid framework for digital curation that can be utilized by various stakeholders, sectors, and disciplines. The author also suggests various potential future research areas for archivists, scholars, and digital curators.

Critical Analysis

This paper is highly comprehensive. I particularly appreciate the author`s insights into digital curation; its requirements, challenges, and responsibilities. The subtopics complement each other, creating a coherent synergy that renders the paper accessible and engaging. As someone new to the field of data and digital curation, I must commend the author for sparking my interest in this area.

Questions to Discuss

The author touches on the interdisciplinary nature of data and how archivists are inclined to store this data in discipline-specific repositories. How do archivists presently manage data for interdisciplinary studies?