Views and Updates from UMD iSchool students working in digital curation!
3 thoughts on “Evaluating Wikipedia’s “Digital Curation” Article (Week 4)”
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!
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!