Digital curation is emerging as a new discipline, but faces challenges in being validated and educating students. It draws on existing fields like information science, but requires a distinct curriculum. Developing a defined curriculum, appropriate accreditation, targeted applicants, and improved graduate outcomes could help establish digital curation as a unique academic domain and profession. This would provide better trained practitioners and help the field gain recognition.

1. Digital curation:
Challenges in educating for a
new discipline
Sarah Higgins
sjh@aber.ac.uk
IMLA: Department of Information Management, Archives and
Libraries
Aberystwyth University
Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum

2. The nature of a discipline
Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
‘The disciplines characterize, classify,
specialize; they distribute along a scale,
around a norm, hierarchize individuals
in relation to one another and, if
necessary, disqualify and invalidate.’
(Foucault, 1975, p.223)

3. Digital curation – a new discipline
Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
Object of
research
Professional
bodies
Theories
and
concepts
Specialist
language
Specialist
tools and
research
methods
Body of
knowledge
Higher or
further
education
Data
DPC,DCC,NCDD(now
DigitalHeritage
Network),NDIIPP,
UKOLN
OAIS,DCCCuration
LifecycleModel,
PREMIS,TDR,Audit
andCertification
EuropeanProjects,JISC
FundedProjects,
NDIPP(libraryof
Congress),NSF
OAIS,DROID,COPTR,
OPF
Preservica,
Archivematica
Universities
(DigCCurr,DigCurV)
Development of digital
curation as a discipline
(Higgins, S. 2018 - after
Bawden & Robinson,
2012; Krishnan, 2009)

4. Digital curation –applied in a single paradigm
Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
Academic areas differ according to:
(a) concern with a single paradigm
(hard vs. soft),
(b) concern with application (pure vs.
applied), and
(c) concern with life systems (life-
system vs. non-life system)’
Biglan’s Taxonomy of Academic Disciplines (Biglan, 1973,
p.204)

5. Digital curation - a practical discipline
Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
Characterisation of academic disciplines (after
(after Becher & Trowler, 2001, p.36)

6. Digital curation – professional/academic partnership
Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
The academic to professional feedback loop of a professionally
orientated discipline (after Cohen & Lloyd, 2014; Eastwood, 1994;
Krishnan, 2009)

7. Digital curation – a sub-discipline?
Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
The academic and professional focus of
information science (after Capurro & Hjørland
2003)

8. Digital curation – or a meta-discipline?
Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
Digital curation as a sub-meta-discipline of information science
(Higgins, 2018)

9. Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
• A sub-discipline of information science?
– Post-graduate or undergraduate?
– Part of an integrated scheme with another discipline?
– Taught as single module within an information science scheme?
– Possibly an optional topic?
• A discipline in it’s own right?
– Taught as a dedicated degree scheme?
Educating in digital curation
where does it sit?

10. Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
Validation 1: External quality assurance
Quality Assurance Agency – sets and monitors standards of UK higher
education
• Subject Benchmark Statement: Librarianship, Information, Knowledge,
Records and Archives Management, 2015
• Generic information management skills except: ‘Understanding of the
preservation implications of digital materials (digitised and born-digital)
and the ability to design or specify appropriate systems for digital
preservation’ (p.10 / 22).
• DigCurV, DigCCurr – specific curricula development
Educating in digital curation
validation challenges

11. Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
Validation 2: Internal quality assurance
Robust committee processes
• Departmental level – how does it fit with current staff / skills?
• Faculty level – can we collaborate across faculty?
– Not – computer science, management, history, film and TV …. etc.
• University QA level (for full scheme)
– What on earth is this?
– Where’s the QAA Statement?
– Is there really a market for this?
Educating in digital curation
validation challenges

12. Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
Validation 3: Accreditation bodies
Paperwork and visits every 5 years
• CILIP – Professional Knowledge and Skills Base
(PKSB)
• Generic information management or cross-
disciplinary skills
• ARA - Operating Procedures and Assessment
Criteria of the Archives and Records Association
Qualifications Accreditation Panel
• Format neutral archive management skills
• Digital curation only mentioned for pre-course
experience of students or pre-academic experience
of staff
Educating in digital curation
validation challenges

13. Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
Potential applicants typically:
• Looking for generic skills archive / librarian education
• Concerned about course accreditation
• From humanities backgrounds (love books / old things)
• Think ‘digital’ will make them more employable (but don’t really like it)
• Have low IT skills
• Outreach to the IT capable
Educating in digital curation
applicant challenges

14. Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
• IT support – open source support, licensing, common desktop
• Suitable IT lab space – enough seats, enough space for physical items
• Forensic lab – enough cables and monitors!
• Practical projects – scope and size
Educating in digital curation
internal challenges

15. Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
Typically a post-graduate ‘conversion course’ – students
have limited prior knowledge/experience – starting from
1st base
• 1 year full-time (2-5 years asynchronous distance learning)
• 120 taught credits, 60 credits dissertation
‒ if part of an information science scheme digital
preservation may be only 10 or 20 credits
‒ clearly defined learning outcomes
‒ assignments – academic and professional activities
• 8-10 hours contact time per week for 30 weeks for full scheme
– mix of lectures, seminars and practicals
– 20 total if part of a wider scheme
Educating in digital curation
employer challenges
Theory
Policies and
processes
Roles and
responsibilities
Standards and
technologies

16. Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
Educating for a profession NOT training for a task
• IT skills limited?
• Employer confusion – want graduates to hit the ground running on tasks
• Need someone to do a task they can’t?
• Little workplace mentoring for new graduates?
Educating in digital curation
employer challenges

17. Digital curation as a discipline … next steps
Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
Statement of
ethics
Defined
Curriculum
Appropriate
accreditation
and validation
Appropriate
applicants
Better
graduates
Chartered
practitioners
Academic domain
Professional
domain
Digital
specific

18. Bibliography
Memory Makers - Digital Preservation Skills and How to Get Them
29th-30th November 2018 – Amsterdam Museum
Bawden, D., & Robinson, L. (2012). What is information science? Disciplines and professions. In Introduction to
information science. London, UK: Facet Publishing. Retrieved from
http://mesharpe.metapress.com/index/N9774121111G60L5.pdf
Becher, T., & Trowler, P. R. (2001). Academic tribes and territories (2nd ed.). Philadelphia, USA: SRHE and Open University
Press.
Biglan, A. (1973). Relationship between subject matter characteristics and the structure and output of university
departments. Journal of Applied Psychology, 57(3), 204–213. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0034699
Capurro, R., & Hjørland, B. (2003). The concept of information. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 37,
343–411. https://doi.org/doi:10.1002/aris.1440370109
Cohen, E. B., & Lloyd, S. J. (2014). Disciplinary evolution and the rise of the transdiscipline. Informing Science: The
International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline, 17, 189–215. Retrieved from
http://www.inform.nu/Articles/Vol17/ISJv17p189-215Cohen0702.pdf
Eastwood, T. (1994). Archival theory: What is it and why is it important? Archivaria, 37, 122–130.
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.322.7301.1536
Foucault, M. (1975). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. Vintage Books. Retrieved from
https://zulfahmed.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/disciplineandpunish.pdf
Higgins, S. (2018). Digital curation: the development of a discipline within information science. Journal of Documentation,
74(6), 1318–1338. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-02-2018-0024
Krishnan, A. (2009). What are academic disciplines? ESRC National Centre for Research Methods NCRM Working Paper
Series, 3(9). Retrieved from
http://www.forschungsnetzwerk.at/downloadpub/what_are_academic_disciplines2009.pdf