Digital Curation in Architecture Curricula and Vocational Training for Architects The DEDICATE Framework in Architectural CAD Courses Design Dr Ian Anderson and Dr Ruggero Lancia HATII (Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute) University of Glasgow Glasgow, UK Ian.G.Anderson@glasgow.ac.uk and Ruggero.Lancia@glasgow.ac.uk Abstract—As the design processes in architectural practices procedures in the day-to-day operations of architects and the still switch toward entirely digital workflows, architects are gradually high costs of the CAD procedures management, delayed the required, because of their legal and commercial liability, to provide development of a specific CAD education in Architecture for both a relatively long-term curation of their own digital curricula. Interestingly, in 1980, a review conducted by Patrick products and the deposit of authoritative data. But, despite being Purcell on the CAD syllabuses offered by the architectural the sole curation actors for their data, architects receive little education or training in either pertinent competences nor agreed schools of the British Isles and other prominent international and established procedures to comply with these duties. institutions explained the difficulty of inserting a formal CAD syllabus in the Architecture curriculum, emphasising the lack of In this paper, the DEDICATE project, an AHRC funded project architectural competences and research interests among CAD hosted by the HATII of the University of Glasgow, will be educators, in most of cases coming then from engineering and discussed to explain its role in the design of Digital Curation courses within architectural CAD education and architects' computer sciences [2]. vocational training. Between the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, Keywords—Digital Curation, CAD, CAM, Architectural CAD CAD applications triggered a switch in the traditional design Education. process introducing 3D modelling and visualisation functions, parametric modifications and semantic modelling with simplified I. CAD/CAM IN PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES AND analysis features. ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION Since the 90s, CAD training has been regularly offered in the Early computer aided drafting systems started being adopted majority of the Architecture courses in Developed Countries, in Architecture design as soon as the 1970s within large more often than not within other disciplines syllabuses and companies and public bodies [1] At the beginning of the 1980s, usually without either formal assessments nor graded both the diffusion of personal computing and the releases of progression. Because of both this persistent informal approach to CAD software running on microcomputers permitted this CAD education and the diffusion of professional CAD packages phenomenon to expand across smaller businesses. These firsts running on personal computers, vocational and technical schools systems were generally developed as substitute of the CAD courses started acquiring popularity resulting in a new class conventional drawing board and aimed at augmenting the of specialised draughtsmen lacking any design background [3]. efficiency of the traditional design process cutting the drafting costs. More elaborated idiosyncratic systems with integrated Despite the lack of formal education in these years, the design analytical functions started being developed in the same period processes in architectural practices grew predominantly digital, within research institutions and large corporations especially to the availability of integrated procedures for the design and manage statutory requirements of design, such as the energy production of building elements, such as CNC (Computer codes. Numerical Control) manufacturing, has accelerated practices' switch toward entirely digital workflows often concurrent with In the first two decades of CAD application to Architecture other related digital design workflows, such as Engineering Design, the scarce integration of automated methods in the Design. Major architecture schools have interpreted and building industry, the limited diffusion of computer assisted supported this change offering training and post-grad specialist qualifications in advanced CAD scripting, generative and responsibilities will likely take place as a result of both the parametric design. technological adaptation of competitors companies aspiring to public clients and the strategic request of public bodies for an Despite the thorough understanding of both the processes increased control over the Built Environment. applied on and the characteristics of digital design data required by these technologies, there are neither Architecture curricula So far, the heterogeneity and complexity of architectural including Digital Curation training nor vocational training for digital data, as well as the prevailing role of major repositories architects on this subject to support the rising need for in establishing preservation and curation policies, has neglected management of digital data. policies, agreed standards and feasible procedures to be implemented by design professionals. Data management constituted a topic of the CAD education at the beginning of the 1980s in the MIT Master of Science course The workflow ramifications and the still limited legal in Computer-aided design and at the Carnegie-Mellon University, pressure on architecture practices for both implementing in a four-week module in the professional architectural consistent data retention procedures and depositing authoritative programme [2]. As idiosyncratic CAD systems development was data, actually prevent both Digital Curation professional from superseded by commercial package solutions, the interest on this approaching this field and architects from appealing to their topic was exhausted and, to date, there are no evidences of other services. As a result, most practices resort to commercial CAD courses held in Architecture Schools addressing the services for data management that do not solve crucial curatorial management of design data. issues, such as long-term data accessibility and authoritativeness. II. ARCHITECTS' COMMERCIAL AND LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES FOR DIGITAL CURATION III. THE DEDICATE PROJECT There is evidence that statutory project documentation is The Design's Digital Curation for Architecture (DEDICATE) mainly adapted to be printed and kept in paper archives by project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council architectural practices [4]. But, the request for producing and (with the ref. AH/J008265/1) and is hosted by the Humanities depositing authoritative digital data is an emerging phenomenon Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII) of the across many international Building Control authorities and University of Glasgow. Public Investors that are urging architectural practices to This project is aimed at delivering the policies, requirements implement consistent data management procedures. and procedures to build a sustainable curatorial framework for For example, in Netherlands, since November 2011, the Rgd CAD/CAM assets minimising their loss risks and maximising BIM Norm obliges design contractors involved in public their reusability and interoperability within their stakeholder building projects to produce and deliver their products in community. Building Information Modelling formats following the policies In more detail, DEDICATE is aimed at answering these of the Rgd BIM standard [5]. In the same year, the United research questions related to the different curatorial stages of Kingdom Cabinet Office announced in the Government's new CAD/CAM data, as they are categorised by the high-level Construction Strategy that will require on all public works BIM abstraction of the DCC curation lifecycle model [9]: documentation by 2016 [6]. Further, where workflows are entirely digital, the 1) [Data Pre-production stage] Which capture methods commercial liability of architects extends these requirements for should be preferred for ingesting authoritative data relating to the consistent management of digital data, introducing the need Built Environment? Which modelling tools might be preferred in for relatively long periods of reliable data retention. Such as for order to obtain products apt to enter the curation workflow, that example, in United Kingdom, the architects' professional is released in durable formats and with a metadata set suitable liability period amounts to 12 years [7]. to record their production process? Which data formats should be adopted to enhance the persistence and the reusability of Borrowing from the definition of Digital Curation by Neil information? What information should be kept in metadata at Beagrie as “the actions needed to maintain digital research data this stage and through which technique? and other digital materials over their entire life-cycle and over time” [8] and combining these data management requirements, it 2) [Data Creation stage] How to record the actual use, that is is evident that architects are being given Digital Curation the set of events determining either a modification or the responsibilities over their digital data. In addition, because of the employment, of the digital objects before their ingestion in the key role of public commissions in the growth of commercially repositories? successful practices, a progressive extension of these 3) [Data Appraisal stage] What policies should be defined to tools developed by three outstanding Digital Curation initiatives implement an evaluation method for the appraisal and selection focusing on specific aspects of digital assets' life-cycle: of the digital objects to be collected in repositories? How might 1) DAFD (Data Audit Framework Development) which be involved actively the stakeholders' expertise in this process? provides an audit methodology and online tools to support and 4) [Data Ingestion stage] Which ingestion processes could be facilitate organisations to establish an overview of their data assessed culturally and economically sustainable in this holdings, policies and practices against best practices and new context? Which policies should be adopted to integrate risks (http://www.data-audit.eu); automated procedures and the self-submission of the assets? 2) similarly, DRAMBORA (Digital Repository Audit Method Which information should be retained at this stage for curation Based on Risk Assessment) which offers an audit methodology, and preservation purposes, and how? complemented by a computer-aided audit software, addressing 5) [Data Preservation and Storage stage] Which digital asset the assessment of risks implied by the policies adopted by the management architecture should be adopted and how should it repositories; be implemented to fit the policies and processes of the 3) and finally, Planets (Preservation and Long-term Access researched repository system? through Networked Services) which offers a testbed to 6) [Data Access stage] Which kind of interoperability model experiment the effects of curatorial actions on digital assets. should guarantee access to the information? How many of the To complement the audits' information with statistical results, original functionalities of the digital object should be granted to scripted analyses are run on the partners’ data repositories to their users and adopting which methods? How to deal with the characterise digital products,that is to record important data intellectual property management of these digital objects characteristics, and measure their distribution. considering as well the possibility of deriving new data from those? Thus, the audits consist of both experimental investigation activities resulting in metric findings assessing the digital 7) [Data Transformation stage] Which kind of curation actions held by stakeholders and, on the other, transformations could affect the original data in the repositories unstructured interviews and reports of unobtrusive observations and following which policies? How to manage the data describing the digital assets, the processes taking place in the data migration for preservation purposes in order to retain repositories and their agents. perpetually its contextual functions? Data derived from stored The curatorial framework for CAD/CAM data will result assets might be considered either transformations of the original from both the analysis of the context recorded by the audits and digital objects or new items, and which metadata set should the study of the specific digital workflows involved by common record these kind of relationships between assets? Which model procedures within the stakeholder’s community against the of rights management would enable the control of diverse agreed and general technical and administrative requirements for typologies of intellectual property? a consistent data management across the entire digital products In this investigation, the actors of Built Environment lifecycle. modification and management are considered the major and Eventually, the feasibility of this framework will be more vulnerable stakeholders of these digital products. Thus, evaluated by applying the testbeds developed in Planets and this study is particularly concentrated on architectural practices, CASPAR (Cultural, Artistic and Scientific knowledge for engineering consultancies and Building Control bodies. Preservation, Access and Retrieval), specialised in data Given the different results this research aims at preservation and in perpetual accessibility of the digital objects accomplishing, a multiplicity of methods is needed to fulfil the and their contextual environment. In doing so, borrowing from tasks that each investigation stage is intended to carry out. the Information Studies both the quantitative and qualitative approach to services evaluation, the audits will triangulate In order to identify the functions and the current use of the metrics, ethnographic observations and unstructured interviews CAD/CAM assets as well as the events that modify their to assess the implementation of the proposed policies and consistency and to assess the curatorial management of the recommended procedures. digital objects emphasising their correlated risks, this project makes extensive use of audits on project partners, from the selected categories of stakeholders, drawing on the models and IV. DIGITAL CURATION IN ARCHITECTURAL CAD EDUCATION – 6) to monitor and restrict privileges for data access and reuse THE DEDICATE FRAMEWORK CONTRIBUTION according to professional and legal requirements; The scope of the CAD/CAM data curation involves a wide 7) to plan and implement procedures to track the data reuse stakeholder community spanning across different communities and transformation according to good practices in IPR of practice and often bears the responsibility for the preservation management. of information of public interest although not benefiting from statutory archival retention. The three categories of Built The corresponding technical competences expected from the Environment actors which have been selected as context for the addressees of the course are: researched framework constitute a coherent group of 1) expert knowledge of formats, data structure and digital stakeholders both cemented by the mutual need for information design computing procedures; and data exchange, and sharing responsibilities over their digital 2) advanced knowledge of metadata standards and data assets. quality assessment; In such context, post-hoc data curation procedures are 3) thorough knowledge of both the purpose and the neither feasible nor effective, instead, as Alistair Miles proposed originating digital work flow of data; for the project ImageStore, a DCC SCARP section, curatorial 4) understanding of preservation routines function and attention when integrated in the very workflows defining the strategies; data lifecycle enhances the quality of data and their preservation 5) knowledge of repository architectures options; viability in informal retention contexts [10] Therefore, the 6) understanding of the techniques and procedures for researched framework of the DEDICATE project, delivering the privileges based data access; policies and procedures to build a sustainable curatorial 7) knowledge of data watermarking, cryptographic techniques framework for CAD/CAM assets, is expected to be highly options and format migration issues. integrated with architectural design procedures and, as a result, tending to substitute the professional digital curators' Trained architects should be able to understand and promote interventions on this repertory with a competent management by curatorial framework updates as the technologies and the tools the stakeholders themselves. for both curation and design evolve. From this standpoint, the DEDICATE framework will offer also Moreover, the dissemination of curatorial competences to the knowledge to design specific Digital Curation training for students and architects through the CAD training would support Architecture education and architects' vocational training by the evolution of the architect profession and corroborate the contributing technical and managerial competences pertinent to control over the commercial exploitation of digital design the entire design data lifecycle. products. In particular, the managerial tasks that architects are The traditional rationale for introducing computer education expected to be able to carry out are: in architectural schools has predominantly regarded the 1) to plan and implement consistent curatorial procedures professional relevance of the presented techniques [2]. With the along the digital design workflows; affirmation of professional software packages, this attitude has determined a simplification of CAD education contents, often 2) to formulate data appraisal and selection criteria against a reduced to specific packages employment instructions, set of economical and professional objectives to formalise promoting a substantial loss of control over the digital design information disposal procedures; process. The integration of Digital Curation competences into CAD education will fit the latest digital design techniques that 3) to manage the ingestion of digital assets according to demand for computing awareness and coding competences. agreed curatorial policies to ensure data authoritativeness persistence and accessibility; Further, the affirmation of the digital cultural market and the integration of digital design techniques with manufacturing 4) to establish preservation policies according to professional facilities are urging the redefinition of the role of the architect as and legal needs to implement preservation procedures on the a content provider. This renewed scope on the professional assets held in the repository; services expected from architects demand from them the 5) to manage the persistent feasibility of data storage; necessary competences to legally and persistently manage the intellectual property rights (IPR) associated to the design digital products. The Digital Curation module of a CAD training would offer architects the opportunity to integrate consistent IPR [3] G. Vazzana and D. Bachmann, “CAD salary and employment study,” management in the very workflows of the digital design Computer-Aided Design, vol. 27, no. 11, pp. 795–803, 1995. processes and in so doing facilitating the commercial [4] R. Lancia, “First Step Award Final Report - project DIDECU (Digital Design Curation),” University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Feb. 2011. exploitation of their products. [5] D. Van Rillaer, J. Burger, R. Ploegmakers, and V. Mitossi, “Rgd BIM Standard,” Rijksgebouwendienst, Jul. 2012. ACKNOWLEDGMENT [6] Cabinet Office, “Government Construction Strategy,” May 2011. The DEDICATE project would not be possible without the [7] A. Speaight and G. Stone, Architects Legal Handbook. The Law for generous funding from the Fellowship Scheme for Early Career Architects. Oxford, Cambridge, Mass: Architectural Press, 2005. 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