An introduction to the Digital Curation Centre

An introduction to the Digital Curation Centre Michael Day DCC Research Team UKOLN, University of Bath Bath BA2 7AY [email_address]

Schedule
Introduction to the Digital Curation Centre (Michael Day, DCC)
Digital curation in the performing arts (Daisy Abbott, AHDS Performing Arts)
Virtual archives and exhibitions (Jessica Gardner and Gary Stringer, University of Exeter)
Questions and discussion

Outline
HE/FE context
DCC aims and objectives
DCC activities

Contexts (1)
There are increasing amounts of information in digital form in FE/HE, e.g.:
Research outputs (publications and data)
Learning materials
Administrative records (electronic records management systems, databases, Web sites)
Information licensed from third-parties (e.g. e-journals, research databases)

Contexts (2)
There is a strategic need to manage these assets on behalf of the institution, e.g.:
Compliance with:
Freedom of Information (FoI) legislation
Data Protection legislation
Verifiability and reproducibility of research
Research Council rules on data retention
The Open Access agenda

Contexts (3)
Institutional responses include:
Electronic Records Management Systems
Institutional Repositories
Supra-institutional initiatives:
Some research councils fund central repositories for certain types of data:
AHRC (Arts and Humanities Data Service)
ESRC (UK Data Archive)
NERC data centres
Many other discipline-based databases

Contexts (4)
The main drivers for digital curation:
An increasing awareness that digital assets are reusable
Continuing access is vital to ensure contemporary scholarship is reproducible and verifiable
Digital assets are fragile
Some recent news stories ...

Digital Curation Centre
Call for proposals in JISC Circular 6/03
Launched: Edinburgh, 5 November 2004
Grant funding from:
Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)
UK e-Science Core Programme (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
Main activities:
Development, services and outreach in digital curation
A research programme

Digital curation
Active management of data over life-cycle of scholarly and scientific interest
Reproducibility
Reuse
Appreciation of differences between disciplines
Ubiquitous relationship with digital information

DCC purpose
Supporting and promoting continuing improvement in the quality of data curation and digital preservation activity

DCC vision
Centre of excellence in digital curation and preservation in the UK
Authoritative source of advocacy and expert advice and guidance to the community
Key facilitator of an informed research community with established collaborative networks of digital curators
Service provider of a wide range of resources, software, tools and support services

DCC objectives
Provide strategic leadership in digital curation and preservation for the UK research community, with particular emphasis on science data
Influence and inform national and international policy
Provide advocacy and expert advice and guidance to practitioners and funding bodies
Create, manage and develop an outstanding suite of resources and tools
Raise the level of awareness and expertise amongst data creators and curators, and other individuals with a curation role
Strengthen community curation networks and collaborative partnerships
Continue our strong association with our research programme

DCC partners
University of Edinburgh
Chris Rusbridge (Director of DCC)
Prof. Peter Buneman (Associate Director, Research)
University of Glasgow
Prof. Seamus Ross, Director of HATII (Associate Director, User Services)
UKOLN, University of Bath
Dr. Liz Lyon, Director of UKOLN (Associate Director, Community Development)
Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC)
Dr. David Giaretta (Associate Director, Tools Development)

Engaging communities of practice
Those who have responsibility
Creators, curators, re-users
Invoke/provoke good practices
Research in productive areas
e.g. informatics, law, e-science ...
Work on the ‘R&D’ to create services of relevance
Turn products of research and development into tools and services for use

DCC pathways

DCC research goals
Bringing Strands of Curation together including
Traditional archiving functions
The curation of evolving knowledge, e.g. as seen in scientific databases
Conduct research in areas crucial to digital curation
To institute two-way conduits between research activity and service provision

DCC research agenda
Data integration and publishing
Annotation
Provenance and data quality
Data citation
Metadata extraction
Archiving and appraisal
Legal issues
Networks of trusted repositories
Economic cost-benefit analysis of curation

DCC tools and infrastructure
Representation Information Registry and Repository
Representation Information is all of the information needed to turn byte-streams into something meaningful
Pilot registry developed in phase 1; it now needs to be deployed as a service
Toolkits for other types of metadata
Packaging tools, e.g. XFDU (XML Formatted Data Unit), SAFE (Standard Archive Format for Europe)

DCC user services (1)
Resources:
Helpdesk system
Publications:
DCC Curation Manual - in depth treatment of a growing range of topics
Briefing Papers - readable by senior management
Case Studies
Standards and Technology Watch
Databases of external resources and standards (DIFFUSE)

DCC user services (2)
Curation services (e.g., DRAMBORA Toolkit)
Professional development, e.g.:
Training events that bring together practitioners and researchers, e.g. forthcoming events:
Joint Workshop on Developing an International Curation and Preservation Training Roadmap, Nice, 29-30 March 2007 (with PLANETS/CASPAR/DPE)
Tutorial on Building Trust in Digital Repositories Using the DRAMBORA Toolkit, London, 27 April 2007 (and The Hague, 3 May 2007, Arlington, Va., 21 May 2007)
LOCKSS Technical Support Service

DCC community development
Raising awareness of DCC and dissemination of results
Web portal ( http://www.dcc.ac.uk )
International Journal of Digital Curation (IJDC)
International Conference (annual)
Associates Network
Understanding users and their needs, e.g.:
Events like today
Specific events with data centres
SCARP - separately funded project
Co-operation with repository initiatives

DCC Associates Network
The DCC has identified the importance of engaging with:
Institutions
Organisations and
Individuals
across all disciplines and domains.
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/associates/

An introduction to the Digital Curation Centre Michael Day DCC Research Team UKOLN, University of Bath Bath BA2 7AY [email_address]

An introduction to the Digital Curation Centre

by Michael Day on Feb 18, 2008

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An introduction to the Digital Curation Centre — Presentation Transcript