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View from across the Pond: Opportunities, Gaps, and Challenges in Digital Curation Lifelong Learning

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

HillDigCurV International Conference

Framing the Digital Curation CurriculumMay 6, 2013

Thank you!

* The Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for their generous support of numerous Digital Curation Education initiatives in the US and especially for support of the “DigCCurr II: Extending an International Digital Curation Curriculum to Doctoral Students and Practitioners” (#RE-05-08-0060-08).

* The DigCurV team for all their hard work on this project and the solid framework they have developed.

* The European Commission that funded DigCurV through their Leonardo da Vinci programme.

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Sample Programs

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Digital Preservation Management Workshops: Some Observations

Slides from Nancy Y. McGovern,Closing the Digital Curation Gap Symposium

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DPM Workshops

First NEH grant awarded in 2002 (+ 2004, 2007, 2012) First workshop presented in August 2003 More than 40 workshops in various formats

1400+ attendees, 350+ orgs (from 35+ countries, 6 continents)

Developed at Cornell, hosted by ICPSR, now at MIT Workshop website: dpworkshop.org Faculty evolves over time Curriculum evolves: core concepts and framework New grant: evaluate outcomes, recommend next steps

(what?)

(how?) (how much?)

DPM Three-Legged Stool

holistic development of sustainable programs

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Five Stages of Program Development

1. Acknowledge: aware of digital preservation as a local concern

2. Act: initiate digital preservation projects

3. Consolidate: segue from project to program

4. Institutionalize: rationalize program, aware of community

5. Externalize: embrace inter-institutional collaboration, dependency

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Curriculum

Desired outcomes Common outcomes across cohorts Encourage managers to build sustainable programs

Audience Built for managers of digital content Stress audience for each workshop

Extensions Advanced topics Models and examples

Contributions to other programs US: DigCCurr, e-science Institute, DPOE, & SAA’s DAS UK: DPTP, AIDA, CARDIO

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This is Nancy McGovern’s program Hard to see this continuing without Nancy…

Is This Sustainable?

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LOC Digital Preservation Outreach & Education Program (DPOE)

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Train the Trainer MissionThe LIBRARY of CONGRESS

To foster national outreach and education about digital preservation by building a collaborative network of instructors and partners to provide training to individuals and organizations seeking to preserve their digital content.

Train the Trainer Mission

Slides from George Coulbourne, Office of Strategic Initiatives, Library of Congress

Distribute Training through a National Network

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…for an Industry Ready Curriculum

Identify - what digital content do you have? Select - what portion of that content will be

preserved? Store - what issues are there for long term

storage? Protect - what steps are needed to protect your

digital content? Manage - what provisions are needed for long-

term management? Provide - what considerations are there for

long-term access?

The LIBRARY of CONGRESS

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Targeted at Each Layer of the Workforce

The LIBRARY of CONGRESS

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Planned Locally and Promoted Nationally

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Institutional home Instructors not paid So far, many instructors have

been eager to help out!

Is This Sustainable?

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DigCCurr I & II

School of Information and Library ScienceUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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DigCCurr Isay: seeker

Preserving Access to Our Digital Future: Building an International Digital Curation Curriculum. http://www.ils.unc.edu/digccurr.

IMLS Grant # RE-05-06-0044

Collaboration of School of Information & Library Science (SILS), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) & U.S. National Archives & Records Administration (NARA)

Ran July 1, 2006 – December 31, 2009

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DigCCurr I Components

Curriculum: To prepare students for digital curation with wide variety of organizations,

contexts & types of resources:

Graduate-level (master’s) curricular framework

Course modules

Course development

Experiential components

International guest speakers

Two International Symposia: DigCCurr2007: April 18-20, 2007 in Chapel Hill -

http://ils.unc.edu/digccurr2007/

DigCCurr2009: Practice, Promise and Prospects: April 1-3, 2009 in Chapel Hill - http://ils.unc.edu/digccurr2009

Carolina Digital Curation Fellowship program (master’s students)

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DigCCurr Matrix of Digital Curation Knowledge & Competencies

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).

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Six Matrix Dimensions

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

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DigCCurr II

“Extending an International Digital Curation Curriculum to Doctoral Students and Practitioners.” http://www.ils.unc.edu/digccurr.

This project is funded through IMLS Laura Bush funds.

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) and Univ. of Toronto through Seamus Ross.

Project to run August 1, 2008 – July 31, 2013.

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DigCCurr II Key Activities

PhD Fellowships - 6 Digital Curation Exchange (DCE)

http://digitalcurationexchange.org/ Summer Institutes

Week-long summer workshop for practitioners. Follow-up session held approximately six

months later. http://www.ils.unc.edu/digccurr/institute.html

Fifth to be held May 12-17, 2013 Public Symposia - Third held January 9, 2013

CurateGear Ph.D. Seminar Series, 2012-2013

AERI Workshop, July 2012 “Curate Thyself,” March 17, 2013

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http://digitalcurationexchange.org/

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SILS Digital Curation Programs

Master’s of Science in Library or Information Science. Concentration in Archives and Records

Management. Certificate in Digital Curation. Dual MSIS/MSLS – MPA program with UNC

School of Government. 10+ Ph.D. students in digital curation

presently. DigCCurr Professional Institute and other

life-long professional education & support.

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Drs. Helen Tibbo & Christopher Lee are the driving forces behind the DigCCurr Professional Institute

We are not being paid for conducting the Institute…

How long will be do it??? DigCCurr hopefully will live on in the Matrix

and those it has educated The SILS Certificate (30 credit degree) in

Data Curation is expensive…

Is This Sustainable?

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SAA’s Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) Curriculum &

Certificate

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DAS

Was conceptualized in 2011 while I was SAA President

Is developed and refreshed by experts in the field of digital archives

Is structured in tiers of study Is offered face-to-face around the country or

via webinars

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DAS Designed to:

Provide education and training to ensure that archivists adopt appropriate practices for appraising, capturing, preserving, and providing access to electronic records. 

Provide archivists with the information and tools they need to manage the demands of born-digital records.

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Four Tiers of Study

Foundational Courses focus on the essential skills that archivists need to manage digital archives.  They focus primarily, but not exclusively, on the needs of practitioners—archivists who are or will be working directly with electronic records.  These courses present information that an archivist might implement in the next year.

Tactical and Strategic Courses focus on the skills that archivists need to make significant changes in their organizations so that they can develop a digital archives and work seriously on managing electronic records.  They focus primarily, but not exclusively, on the needs of managers—those archivists who manage other professionals and who oversee programmatic operations.  These courses present information that an archivist might implement in the next five years.

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Four tiers of study

Tools and Services Courses focus on specific tools and services that archivists need to use for their work with digital archives.  They are practical courses focused on specific software products and other tools and they focus primarily, but not exclusively, on the needs of practitioner archivists.  These courses present information that an archivist could implement immediately.

Transformational Courses focus on the skills that archivists need to change their working lives dramatically and transform their institutions into full-fledged digital archives.  They focus primarily, but not exclusively, on the needs of administrators—those archivists with oversight over the entire archival enterprise of an institution.  These courses present information that an archivist might implement over the course of the next ten years.

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Key audiences

The Archivist Practitioner is a hands-on, front-line archivist who manages or will manage electronic records personally.

The Archivist Manager is an archivist who has oversight over the work of other professional archivists and who may or may not manage electronic records directly.

The Archivist Administrator is an archivist who works in a large archives, who oversees archivist managers, who is responsible for organizational planning, and who does not manage electronic records directly but must ensure the organization’s capacity to do so.

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7 digital competencies

#1: Understand the nature of records in electronic form, including the functions of various storage media, the nature of system dependence, and the effect on integrity of records over time.

#2: Communicate and define requirements, roles, and responsibilities related to digital archives to a variety of partners and audiences.

#3: Formulate strategies and tactics for appraising, describing, managing, organizing, and preserving digital archives.

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7 digital competencies

#4: Integrate technologies, tools, software, and media within existing functions for appraising, capturing, preserving, and providing access to digital collections.

#5: Plan for the integration of new tools or successive generations of emerging technologies, software, and media.

#6: Curate, store, and retrieve original masters and access copies of digital archives.

#7: Provide dependable organization and service to designated communities across networks.

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Run by a professional society, not individuals Not dependent on grant funding SAA has made this a revenue stream upon which

they depend Wide range and supply of instructors (who do get

paid, albeit a small amount) A community effort – archivists training other

archivists DAS appears to have the greatest chance of

sustainability of the continuing education programs presented here

Is This Sustainable?

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Challenges for Professional Education in Digital Curation

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How long/extensive should training be? Where should training be held? How should training be

supported/funded? How much should training cost? “Everything should be 5 cents!” What types of credentialing are

appropriate? Who should do the instruction? Should instruction be broad or specific? What should be the content? What prerequisite knowledge is

necessary?

Open Questions for Professional Education in Digital Curation

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Patchwork quilt of course offerings Format of offerings

Face-to-face Webinar

Length of offerings 1-2 hours ½ day 1 day 2-3 days 1 week 1 week + Multi –workshops over time 5 course certificates 10 course certificate

Current Professional Education Landscape in Digital Curation

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College/university – participants come to teachers

Have workshop will travel One’s computer (webinar) A series in one place A series in multiple places

Venues for Professional Education in Digital Curation

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Grant-funded projects Income stream for

professional organizations Continuing education

programs in universities Commercial firms

Conducting and charging for programs

PASIG – Oracle

Sources for Professional Education in Digital Curation

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Integrated programs that address technical and professional knowledge and skills across the digital asset lifecycle.

Capacity to specialize in various functions, environments, and material types.

Programs that address specific digital environments & resource types.

Gaps to Fill

Pedagogical Issues

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What to Teach?

Curriculum just being developed and following a blend of archival, information, business, and ethical principles along with cutting edge technical and process developments.

Core content unclear; range of content is unclear.

What is core vs. extended/specialized content?

Uncertainty at all educational levels.43

How to Teach?

Face-to-face vs. remote. Lecture/discussion vs. hands-on, what’s the right

mixture? What is the role of field

experiences/internships/residency programs? How do we sustain internships when grant money

runs out?

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Audience Level

* At what audience(s) should digital curation education be aimed?

* How do we articulate the range of audiences?* What are the implications for pre-requisite

knowledge?* What can we expect various audiences to know in

advance?* What can we teach based on what an audience

knows?* How do we best deal with mixed-level audiences?

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Audience Focus

How do teaching methods and content change based on the focus of the audience? Do we provide different content/methods for

scientists who need to manage data vs. humanists vs. the general public?

How do we best teach data curation and information management to content specialists (individual curators) vs. professional curators?

How do we best segment the marketplace?

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Programmatic Duration

How long? How do pedagogical goals relate to length of

instruction? What can we teach in 2 hours? 2 days? 2

weeks? 2 months? 2 years? How do you get a core of information

management and curation to specialized audiences who have a limited attention span for learning about digital curation?

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Programmatic Sustainability

• Who is going to pay for all this?• What is the business model for continuing education?• Who is going to take this on? • How is the academy going to be rewarded for

working in this arena beyond formal graduate and undergraduate education?

• How can we reach such a large audience (everyone needs to know about digital curation!)?

• Can I-Schools provide the digital curation teaching capacity that the government, military, corporate, scientific, academic, and public sectors will require?

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Where Are We?

Everything above is exploratory and experimental – even the formal looking concentrations and certificates.

There is only an emerging canon for the field of digital curation.

Research and development is rapid but not easily translated into workflows of existing professionals.

We are working this out.49

Educational Needs

Digital curation educators need to work together, across national boundaries and across levels, scope, and instructional purpose.

We need to share materials and discuss approaches and emerging good practice.

We need to ramp-up the educational workforce.

We need to ramp-up educational efforts.50

Next Steps

Analogous to needs in digital curation as a whole, we need to: Move from hand-crafted approaches to wide-

spread and easily replicable solutions. Produce more educators who can train the

trainer? Be able to certify learning.

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THANK YOU

Questions?

Please visit the Digital Curation Exchange at digitalcurationexchange.org

Feedback…tibbo@email.unc.edu

ASIST 2008, Columbus, OH 53

DigCCurr Professional Institute: Curation Practices for the Digital Object Lifecycle

May 12-17, 2013 & January 6-7, 2014 Chapel Hill, NC, USA

http://www.ils.unc.edu/digccurr/institute.html53