Title: Matrix of Digital Curation Knowledge and Competencies (Overview)
Author: Christopher (Cal) Lee, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Draft: June 17, 2009 (Version 13)
Project: DigCCurr (IMLS Grant # RE-05-06-0044)
Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike 3.0 License
[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/]
We have developed a 6-dimensional matrix for identifying and organizing the material to be covered in a digital curation curriculum. The table below summarizes the six dimensions of the matrix. A given curriculum unit can focus on a dimension in general or specifically as it intersects with one or more other dimensions. For example, one could teach a general unit on digital preservation (main considerations and practices), but one might also want to teach a unit specifically on preservation of video, preservation measures to be applied at the time of digital object creation, preservation in a corporate recordkeeping context, or some combination thereof.
For further detail about each dimension, follow the link to page about that dimension.
| Dimension | Explanation or Elaboration |
|---|---|
| 1. Mandates, Values and Principles | Core reasons why the digital curation functions and skills should be carried out and should serve as the basis for criteria to evaluate whether the digital curation activities have been carried out responsibly and appropriately |
| 2. Functions and Skills | "Know how," as opposed to the conceptual, attitudinal or declarative knowledge that dominates several of the other matrix dimensions |
| 3. Professional, Disciplinary, Institutional, Organizational, or Cultural Context | Understanding of challenges, opportunities and characteristics of particular disciplines or institutions (e.g. social science data archive in a university, commercial collection of scanned page images, state archives, serving a population with specific cultural norms) |
| 4. Type of Resource | Types of resources that are the target of digital curation activities |
| 5. Prerequisite Knowledge | Elements of knowledge that are instrumental to understanding and applying other aspects of the curriculum, including specialized terminology and characteristics of technologies |
| 6. Transition Point in Information Continuum | Points of transition that span from pre-creation design and planning all the way to secondary use environments |