Reference Model for Economically Sustainable Digital Curation

December 2011 Draft Reference Model for Economically Sustainable Digital Curation

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Reference Model for Economically Sustainable

Digital Curation

Brian Lavoie, OCLCChris Rusbridge, Consultant

IDCC11 WorkshopBristol, England

8 December 2011


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BACKGROUND


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Foundations for progress

15 years ago …Focus on digital preservationas a technical problem

OAIS Reference ModelOrganized problem space and providedfoundation for future progress

Today … Focus on digital curationas economic/organizationalproblem

Report: “Sustainable Economics for a Digital Planet:Ensuring Long-Term Access to Digital Information”

Draft: “Reference Model for Economically Sustainable Digital Curation” Organize problem space, providefoundation for future progress


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Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access

• Task Force:– Supported by NSF, Mellon, JISC, Library of Congress, CLIR, NARA– Cross-domain: cultural heritage, academia, public sector, private sector– Cross-discipline: computer scientists, economists, archivists, librarians

• Goal: Frame digital preservation as sustainable economic activity– Define and characterize the problem space– Provide practical recommendations for key decision-makers– Establish foundations of an economics of digital preservation


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• Comprehensive description of fundamentals of economics of digital preservation– Definition of economic sustainability in digital preservation context– Identification and explanation of core economic attributes of digital

preservation, and their impact on sustainability

• Practical findings and recommendations to aid preservation decision-making:– Based on detailed economic analysis of 4 key digital preservation

scenarios– Both context-specific and general recommendations

• “Second-order results”: concepts, vocabulary, organizing framework to shape future work on economically sustainable digital preservation

Final Report:Sustainable Economics for a Digital Planet:Ensuring Long-Term Access to Digital Information


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Some reflections on the report …

• Strengths:– Relevant to virtually all digital preservation activities– Comprehensive assessment of the economic infrastructure needed to

support successful digital preservation– Well-suited to inform high-level strategic analysis and planning

– Solid foundation for future work on economics of digital preservation

• But …– Lengthy narrative form (110 pages) aimed at senior decision-makers– Not easily applied as a practical tool for developing a sustainability

strategy for a particular curation context


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Reference Model (via Wikipedia)

• “model … that embodies the basic goal or idea of something and can then be looked at as a reference for various purposes”

• Attributes:– Abstract: not real things, but abstract representation of things (concepts) – Entities and Relationships: things that exist, and how they relate/interact– Within an environment: describes a particular problem space– “Technology agnostic”: does not make assumptions about the real-world

environment that would reduce its applicability

• Uses:– Create standards for entities and relationships– Educate (deconstruct and analyze the problem space)– Improve communication – Create clear roles and responsibilities– Compare implications of alternative solutions

e.g., OAIS


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Reference model for economically sustainable digital curation

• Model that embodies the basic goal of economically sustainable digital curation and can then be looked at as a reference for building a sustainability strategy for a curation activity.

• Attributes:– Abstract: key concepts of economic sustainability – Entities and Relationships: ecosystem of stakeholders and relationships– Within an environment: focuses on economic aspects of digital curation– “Technology agnostic”: applicable to most digital curation contexts


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REFERENCE MODEL FOR ECONOMICALLY SUSTAINABLE DIGITAL CURATION


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Preservation or curation?

• Lots of interpretations!• Preservation: we are taking to mean actions at

the archival stage (cf OAIS)– Digital assets less active, value harder to

determine• Curation: we are taking to mean caring for the

digital asset throughout its life– Value easier to identify at active use stage and in

aggregate


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DigitalAssets

Stake-holders

CurationProcess

SustainabilityStrategy

A sustainability strategy orchestrates the Key Entitiesto achieve Sustainability …

BenefitsSelectionIncentives

Organization/governanceOngoing resource allocation


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Summary of Model


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Economic lifecycle


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Creator

RightsHolder

Current Beneficiaries

FutureBeneficiaries

Managing Agency

Representatives of the Long-term

Public Interest

Supply-side Demand-side

Lifecycle Management

DigitalAssets

“Investors”

Ecosystem Layer 1: Roles


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Creator

RightsHolder


FutureBeneficiaries

Managing Agency

Representatives of the Long-term

Public Interest

Supply-side Demand-side


DigitalAssets

“Investors”

Ecosystem Layer 2:Relationships


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Economic risks• What is affected by economic risks?

– Value– Selection issues– Incentives – Rights issues– Organisational issues (including policy)– Resources

• Risk actions– Avoid – Reduce/mitigate **– Transfer – Accept


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Commentary so far

• Style too dense; needs work• Alternative economic lifecycle model• Need business plan rather than sustainability

strategy?• Balancing value, risk, and reassurance• Concern we’re not covering preservation• Framework of use cases for stakeholder

categories?


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Commentary so far - 2

• Comment on aggregate value• Scope and target audience not clear• Limited spheres of influence for stakeholders• Sustainability strategy needs to be less abstract• Comments on balance in text

Abstracted wildly from comments, see web site for actual commentary text & image!


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Contacts/Links

Brian Lavoie: [email protected] Rusbridge: [email protected]

Reference model:http://unsustainableideas.wordpress.com/

economic-sustainability-ref-model-page/(Google: sustainability reference model)

Blue Ribbon Task Force:http://brtf.sdsc.edu/ (web site)http://brtf.sdsc.edu/biblio/BRTF_Final_Report.pdf


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Digital Curation:

Tools & Evidence

IDCC WorkshopBristol, UK

December 8, 2011


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Theory to practice …

Tools to aid in applyingreference model

concepts & frameworks

Development ofevidence base of

“worked examples”

Reference model:Concepts & frameworks

Practical application:Real-world decision-making

(sustainability strategy design)


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Ex: KRDS Benefits Analysis Toolkit

KRDSBenefits Framework

Value Chain & Benefits Impact Tool Partner case studies

User Guides

http://beagrie.com/krds-i2s2.php


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Tools (wishlist!)

• Design template: basic steps to navigate through process of designing a sustainability strategy

Step 1: Understand environmentWhat is the economic lifecycle?

Who are the key stakeholders?Step 2: Characterize curation activityStep 3: Identify risksStep 4: Select remedy

etc.

Creator

RightsHolder


FutureBeneficiaries

Managing Agency

Representatives of the Long -term

Public Interest

Supply -side Demand-side


DigitalAssets

Resource Providers


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More tools

• Interactive questionnaires: Guides to help gather relevant information for well-defined subsets of sustainability decision-making process

Example: Characterizing the stakeholder ecosystemIs the community of beneficiaries well-defined/tightly

coordinated?Is there currently significant usage of the digital assets in

question, or is usage expected in the future?Are there organizations/associations that could act as

liaisons to the community of beneficiaries?etc.


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More tools• Taxonomies & checklists: Lists of real-world

examples of “concepts in practice”

Example: Risk Taxonomy• Creation of curation service: unpersuasive value proposition,

diffused/uncoordinated beneficiaries, etc.• Continuation of curation service: interruptions of funding

flows, loss of key stakeholders, etc.

Example: Starter taxonomies for key relationships in stakeholder ecosystem

• “grants preservation rights to”, “acts on behalf of” “supplies resources to”, etc.


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Hinting at greater complexity…


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More tools

• Adapt existing tools produced for other contexts– KRDS Activity Model (curation process)– KRDS Benefits Analysis Toolkit (value proposition)– Risk assessment tools

• Tool to explore the economic lifecycle

• User guides

• Other ideas???


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Evidence base

• Accumulate evidence base of case studies in sustainability that highlight:– Distinctive features that help digital curation

activities map to case studies similar to local circumstances

– Linkages between environmental & curation activity characteristics, salient economic risks, and effective remedies

– Best practices for using reference model/tools to support process of designing a sustainability strategy

– Shortcomings in reference model/tools that can be addressed in future revisions


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Case studies: different perspectives

• Focus on specific digital curation activities …

• Or generalize to classes of activities– Scholarly discourse; Research data; Commercially-

owned cultural content; Collectively-produced Web content (cf. BRTF report)

– More?

• Encourage range of international contexts

• Provide template to facilitate creation of case studies and promote consistency of information provided across case studies


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Possible next steps

• Identify points in reference model where tools would aid practical application

• Encourage one or two digital curation activities to design & refine tools based on local testing of reference model

• Encourage several digital curation activities to “seed” the evidence base with case studies; develop case study template for wider use


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Digital Curation:

Concluding Discussion

IDCC WorkshopBristol, UK

December 8, 2011


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Questions for discussion …• Are any key sustainability-related concepts & entities from the

curation problem space missing from the reference model?

• How does the reference model link up with other digital curation tools and resources (e.g., OAIS, KRDS, DCC Digital Lifecycle, etc.)?

• What are the best mechanisms for encouraging take-up of the reference model within the digital curation community?

• What are the key use cases for the reference model?– Communicating sustainability plans to funders?– Coordinating digital curation discussions among stakeholders ?– Analyzing impact of alternative policy options?– Foundation for standards-building?

• Other comments?


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Contacts/Links

Brian Lavoie: [email protected] Rusbridge: [email protected]

Reference model:http://unsustainableideas.wordpress.com/

economic-sustainability-ref-model-page/(Google: sustainability reference model)

Blue Ribbon Task Force:http://brtf.sdsc.edu/ (web site)http://brtf.sdsc.edu/biblio/BRTF_Final_Report.pdf


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Thank you!