I read through the Digital Curation Wiki page and, while some passages resonated, a lot of sounded unfamiliar. I think this is due in a large part to content, perhaps, or text being cut and pasted; not contextualized and presented in “easy to understand” language as suggested by the “Editing Wikipedia” brochure.
For instance, in the opening, overview paragraph, the passage, “Enterprises are starting to use digital curation to improve the quality of information and data within their operational and strategic processes” feels wedged into the rest of the text. I think there is value and insight, but it’s not quite clear what are “enterprises,” and how digital curation “improves the quality of information and data.” What does that mean? This can be a bit off-putting to someone not an MLIS student or professional.
The Yakel article, “Digital Curation,” we read in Week 2 (and in other courses and tends to be often cited) notes that “digital curation is becoming the umbrella term for digital preservation, data curation, and digital assets and electronic records management.” I think it would useful to readers to include a section about how it’s been diffilcult to pinpoint an exact definition, give excerpts of the various definitions that have been offered by various communities, and how the definition evolves as technology evolves. Including the above cited Yakel quote would be useful to include.
In the “New representational forms” section, it is unclear what the author means by saying it is hard to encode knowledge of skilled workers or artisans. What are examples of skilled workers and how might they or their work be digitized? This seems like a section to reference and incorporate information from Jeanette Bastian’s article “‘Play Mas:’ Carnival in the Archives and the Archives in Carnival: Records and Community Identity in U.S. Virgin Islands” which discusses expanding the definition of archives beyond the tangible to include the non-traditional records (performance, expression, experience, etc.). This also leads into the area of communities that limit digital access to records. I’m thinking specifically of indigenous groups and what limitations there are for specific audiences of accessing cultural and religious materials.
The “Digitization of print” section could use some examples (like, what kind of resources) and could be expanded to include the benefits/challenges of this. I find the section awkward (“epitomized to some degree” – a combo ultimate/limited language use) and thin.
“Sheer curation” is a new term to me. The example given does not help clarify the term. In fact, I find it more confusing. This whole section reads like an excerpt from a term paper or dissertation.
In “Channelisation,” I feel like the author has some specific example or examples in mind, but does not give them. Examples would help ground the definition in real-world uses that a reader could relate to. I immediately thought of YouTube, and how people can create a playlist of Prince videos that a user can let auto-play but I’m not quite sure if this is what the author means.
I like how even in your blog post, you give lots of citations!
You really highlight how the issue of terminology and organization can build or break down barriers to learning about a topic. Presumably, using this controlled vocabulary creates a sense of authority and expertise that gives the article trustworthiness. But, it does presume a foreknowlege that many may not have. Do you think it is better to use the controlled vocab and just use linking definitions or popups, or is it better to use more accessible but vaguer terms?
On a side note, it’s interesting to see how the assigned materials of past classes (I loved the Bastian article, too!) continues to inform us. I wonder, though, do we rely too heavily on the syllabi of our teachers sometimes to do the heavy lifting of situating scholarly debate?
Almost point for point I had most of the same reactions to the Digital Curation article that you outline here. Particularly regarding adding a more detailed explanation of how digital curation relates to similar terms, such as digital preservation and digital asset management, etc. For an article aimed at the general public I think differentiation of these terms is necessary.
I also agree with many of the same “weirdnesses” you cite in terms of points like the “Sheer curation” section and the digitization section. In fact the digitization section actually used to have a weirder name before I changed it, and someone had shoehorned the DCC lifecycle model into that section but didn’t explain how it was relevant. I’m still not happy with the new name, but figured it best to let it stay until I had a chance to take a broader appraisal of the overall structure and content gaps.
If you’re planning to work on this article as well it would be great to coordinate our efforts!
I thought Sheer Curation made sense in terms of our class discussion about actively and continuously integrating digital curation processes into the everyday workflow, rather than making preservation an afterthought. But I agree that it is not a term I had encountered before!