Digital Curation

Digital curation is the term applied to a set of interdisciplinary activities for collection, preservation, maintenance, and archiving of digital information and research data, in order to add value to the llifecycle of that information and data. The significance of digital curation to educational and learning research is that modern society has evolved from an era of information and content scarcity to an era of content abundance. The challenge for researchers and practitioners is in developing the skills and discipline needed to put content into context, in a meaningful way that is organized around specific topics, as new platforms and services continue to emerge.

Historically, curation has fallen primarily within the purview of library and museum workers charged with managing and preserving collections of artifacts and antiquities for current and future generations. In more recent times, the concept of curation has been applied to interaction with social media for compiling purposeful collections of digital artifacts, such as data files, images, Web links, video, and audio recordings. Digital curation is now embedded in practice and research, as evidenced by the availability of tools, the formation of support organizations and standards, and the work of educators to provide training and support for furthering research. As a result, digital curation skills are increasingly viewed as a core competency for individuals, institutions, and society. This entry discusses the need for digital curation skills by individuals and institutions and examines societal trends in digital content consumption that influence digital curation.