Presentation by Achim Osswald, Cologne University of Applied Sciences Institute of Information Science at the DigCurV International Conference; Framing the digital curation curriculum

1. Educational opportunities for digital curation professionals
Achim Osswald
Florence, Italy, 7 May 2013
Skills for the Future:
Educational Opportunities
for Digital Curation Professionals
Achim Osswald
Cologne University of Applied Sciences
Institute of Information Science
achim.osswald@fh-koeln.de

2. Educational opportunities for digital curation professionals
Achim Osswald
Florence, Italy, 7 May 2013
educational opportunities
FOR BY
vocational
education & training
teaching & training experts
digital curation professionals

3. Educational opportunities for digital curation professionals
Achim Osswald
Florence, Italy, 7 May 2013
Challenges of educational activities in dc
gap between
growing (number of) communities
demanding different qualification
limited number of digital curation
and teaching experts
state-of-the-art demand
objects / methods / processes still not met sufficiently
Basic demand
awareness still not met sufficiently

4. Educational opportunities for digital curation professionals
Achim Osswald
Florence, Italy, 7 May 2013
Looking back on educational activities in dc (1)
http://galerie.chip.de/index.cfm?pid=1511&pk=970385
Until about 2005
- everybody was a pioneer
- raising awareness
- low number of publications
=> cooperative efforts of
experts with practical
experiences & teaching
and training experts

5. Educational opportunities for digital curation professionals
Achim Osswald
Florence, Italy, 7 May 2013
Looking back on educational activities in dc (2)
http://galerie.chip.de/index.cfm?pid=1511&pk=970385
Since then
- Progress in research
and practice
- differentiated results
regarding objects & methods
- increased publication rate
=> education & training as
- basic, introductory courses
- courses / events on
high-end results involving
research specialists
(experts to experts)

6. Educational opportunities for digital curation professionals
Achim Osswald
Florence, Italy, 7 May 2013
Looking back on educational activities in dc (3)
http://galerie.chip.de/index.cfm?pid=1511&pk=970385
Training and tutorials
as a topic of projects
Team Digital Preservation videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/wepreserve

7. Educational opportunities for digital curation professionals
Achim Osswald
Florence, Italy, 7 May 2013
Looking back on educational activities in dc (4)
http://galerie.chip.de/index.cfm?pid=1511&pk=970385
Localization
- introductory courses
in national languages
- scholarly discourses
in national languages
(including research,
translations; new
publications and seminars)
=> time consuming effort

8. Educational opportunities for digital curation professionals
Achim Osswald
Florence, Italy, 7 May 2013
Customizing and updating
Expectations by participants and students
• Latest and updated content
• Adapted to the latest technological environment
• Stunning presentations
• All for free
=> Sustainability and reusability
as a challenge for teaching and training experts

9. Educational opportunities for digital curation professionals
Achim Osswald
Florence, Italy, 7 May 2013
University programs
for graduates and post-graduates
Professionalization
• Digital curation being topic of a course within a program
• BA programs focusing on (aspects of) digital curation
• Postgraduate programs (certificate / Master)
Teaching and training & digital curation qualification
is needed to provide these educational opportunities
Mismatch: still low demand on the job market

10. Educational opportunities for digital curation professionals
Achim Osswald
Florence, Italy, 7 May 2013
jobs
• Difficult to hire digital curation experts
• Project based or terminated jobs
=> movement of experts to other jobs
image
• Hardly glamorous or admired
• Service oriented back office activity
• High requirements regarding experiences &
skills („swiss army knife“)
salaries • Low and limited (especially in public sector)
Labor market
llimited
number of
new positions
/ aging staff
no solution in
the near
future
Limits our
digital
curation
activities

11. Educational opportunities for digital curation professionals
Achim Osswald
Florence, Italy, 7 May 2013
Areas of action with educational opportunities
Introductory qualification
• Spreading awareness
• Providing a basic level of knowlegde on dc
• Tutorial / Massive Open Online Courses
(MOOCs) / game based
Basic and specialized qualification
• (part of) university programs
(graduate or post-graduate)
• a single university or cooperating universities
Vocational education and training
• different preconditions regarding topics, knowledge
& needs, learning styles etc.
• demand driven and flexible
• in reference to the labor market

12. Educational opportunities for digital curation professionals
Achim Osswald
Florence, Italy, 7 May 2013
Emerging chance and challenge:
Personal archiving
There is a great variety of
educational opportunities
at least in
vocational education and training
by and for digital curation professionals
in a nutshell
• Relevant to everybody in science and society
• An opportunity for heritage institutions - especially for
public and academic libraries - providing first level
support to everybody
• Service cooperations with private companies possible
• MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) / video option

13. Educational opportunities for digital curation professionals
Achim Osswald
Florence, Italy, 7 May 2013
Thank you!
Any comments and questions ?
Achim Osswald
Cologne University of Applied Sciences
achim.osswald@fh-koeln.de