Toward distributed infrastructures for digital preservation: the roles of collaboration and trust

Toward distributed infrastructures for digital preservation: the roles of collaboration and trust Michael Day DCC Research Team UKOLN, University of Bath Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom [email_address]

Presentation outline
Thinking about infrastructure requirements for the present and future
Not primarily about technologies, but about the need for inter-organisational collaboration
Main foci:
Collaboration, specifically research collaboration models and their potential influence on data curation practices
The role of of trust in collaborative networks

The need for deep infrastructure
Recognised as far back as 1996 by the Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information:
Digital preservation involves the "grander problem of organizing ourselves over time and as a society ... [to manoeuvre] effectively in a digital landscape" (p. 7)
Also identified the need for infrastructures that could support distributed networks of digital repositories (and other services)

Intra-organisational collaboration
Intra-organisational collaboration is increasingly important in many different contexts, e.g.:
Commerce (public-private partnerships, outsourcing, strategic alliances, etc.)
Institutional repository networks
Scientific research and development
Research collaboration is a well-established phenomenon that has been studied by sociologists of science (and others)
Collaboration has an influence on data sharing and curation

Research collaboration (1)
The nature of collaboration differs markedly between academic disciplines
Collaboration exists on a continuum that includes:
Informal social networks
Helps to define disciplinary norms and interpretational paradigms
Formalised, semi-permanent organisations
Traditionally most common in "big-science" domains, e.g. high energy physics, space science
The growth of e-science has emphasised the collaborative nature of research

A study of the physical sciences (Chompalov, et al ., 2002) broadly identified four different organisational models:
Bureaucratic - formalised and hierarchical structures with clear lines of authority
Leaderless - formalised structures, but collegiate
Non-specialised - Broadly hierarchical, but with unspecialised division of labour
Participatory - fundamentally egalitarian

Chompalov, et al . found that collaboration models may have an influence on knowledge production and data sharing
Suggestion that non-specialised collaborations were most representative of domains where data collection needs to be standardised across several collecting sites
Relationships between collaboration type and data acquisition and sharing practices were quite complex

It is unclear what all this might mean for data curation:
Collaborative data curation facilities might emerge first in sub-disciplines that have a more participatory collaboration pattern or otherwise have a strong emphasis on data sharing
Need for more systematic research into this across all research domains
The Digital Curation Centre's SCARP studies will provide detailed accounts of selected domains

Collaboration for data curation (1)
Currently focused at the disciplinary or sub-disciplinary level
Embedded within particular research communities
Takes advantage of the specialised knowledge available within particular "designated communities"
Common standards emerge where there is a need for data sharing
The existence of common standards make data centres and repositories viable

Collaboration for data curation (2)
The nature of the traditional research enterprise (and its funding structures) means that there was little demand for collaboration on data curation across disciplinary borders
The fundamentally collaborative nature of e-research should make us challenge this:
A need to pool resources and expertise
A need for supporting infrastructures
Infrastructure requirements are often overlooked and are likely to be problematic

Collaboration for preservation
Growing interest in the socio-economic and cultural processes that underpin digital preservation
Strategic alliances
National initiatives, e.g. DPC, NDIIPP, nestor
European Alliance for Permanent Access
Co-operative ventures
Many different models for national networks
International co-operation can be focused through organisations like IFLA or CDNL
International co-operation on specific challenges through initiatives like the International Internet Preservation Consortium (IIPC)

Collaboration for repositories (1)
Institutional repositories:
Development of IRs has helped to focus attention on the importance of collaboration
Interoperability (currently based on OAI-PMH) means that IRs rarely work in isolation
IRs work in a 'service-oriented' context
Services that enhance metadata, improve subject access (terminology services), that support citation linking and research assessment
Services that provide long-term preservation (e.g. the DARE programme in the Netherlands)

Collaboration for repositories (2)
SHERPA DP:
Proposed disaggregated model for a shared preservation environment
Developed framework based on OAIS reference model
PRESERV:
IR interaction with multiple third-party services
Bit-level preservation, preservation planning, object characterisation and validation (e.g., using registry tools like PRONOM-DROID)

The role of trust in collaborations
Trust is a concept explored extensively in management science
Defined in terms of the confidence that parties have in the actions, intentions and goodwill of others, within a given context
Understood in terms of vulnerability:
"The willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other will perform a particular action important to the trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other party" (Mayer, et al ., 1995, p. 712)

Trust and control
Trust in inter-organisational networks
Parties accept a level of vulnerability, in exchange for certain benefits, e.g. in sharing risk or knowledge
Inter-organisational trust is developmental
Successful partnerships have higher levels of trust
High-levels of trust can have risks (e.g. Enron)
Trust is contrasted with 'control,' i.e. the processes used to monitor and enforce actions
"Trust is good, control is better" (adapted from Lenin)
Trust and control can work together (a duality)

Trustworthy repositories (1)
The main current focus is on the development of criteria for the evaluation of repositories and other preservation services
A requirement articulated by the Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information (1996)
Current initiatives include:
Trusted Repositories Audit & Certification (TRAC) framework
Digital Curation Centre and Digital Preservation Europe's DRAMBORA toolkit takes an approach to self-assessment based on risk assessment
Proposed ISO standard

Trustworthy repositories (2)
Audit and certification frameworks
Are examples of control mechanisms
Focus not just on technical suitability, but on organisational and financial viability and sustainability
Two main approaches
External audit (ISO model)
Self-assessment
Enables the development of shared organisational cultures that are focused on solving problems in an incremental way

Conclusions
Trust is an important factor in collaborative networks, e.g.:
Strategic alliances, research projects and shared infrastructures
Established cultural heritage organisations can build on their existing competences (and legal mandates)
Scientific data archives gain trust by their close integration into disciplines
Collaboration and trust are important topics that will repay further investigation

References cited
Chompalov, I., et al . (2002). "The organisation of scientific collaboration." Research Policy , 31: 749-767.
Mayer, R.C., et al . (1995). "An integrative model of organisational trust." Academy of Management Review , 20: 709-734.

Toward distributed infrastructures for digital preservation: the roles of collaboration and trust

by Michael Day on Feb 13, 2008

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Toward distributed infrastructures for digital preservation: the roles of collaboration and trust — Presentation Transcript