=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=None
|storemode=property
|title=Bridging by Design: the Curation and Management of Digital Assets Specialization at the University of Maryland
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1016/paper24.pdf
|volume=Vol-1016
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/digcurv/ShiltonKAMOW13
}}
==Bridging by Design: the Curation and Management of Digital Assets Specialization at the University of Maryland==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1016/paper24.pdf
Bridging by Design:
the Curation and Management of Digital Assets
Specialization at the University of Maryland
Katie Shilton, Bruce Ambacher, Michael Kurtz, Douglas W. Oard
Erik Mitchell, Ann Weeks College of Information Studies and UMIACS
College of Information Studies, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, USA
University of Maryland College Park oard@umd.edu
College Park, MD, USA
kshilton@umd.edu, bambache@umd.edu, mkurtz1@umd.edu,
erik@umd.edu, acweeks@umd.edu
Abstract—The Curation and Management of Digital Assets preservation, and current and future access to digital assets in a
specialization in the College of Information Studies at the variety of disciplines and sectors of the economy. While many
University of Maryland focuses on instruction in the creation, Information School (iSchool) and Library and Information
management and use, long-term preservation, and access to digital Science (LIS) programs focus on curation of science and research
assets in a variety of disciplines and sectors of the economy. This
data [4], our program has adopted a broader scope. Because of
paper describes the development of this new specialization, which
will include students from two degree programs: a Master’s in our location, student needs, and faculty expertise, we are
Library & Information Science, and a Master’s in Information developing a curriculum to highlight data curation throughout the
Management. The paper discusses interdisciplinary opportunities information professions, ranging from cultural heritage data, to
for the program, including a demonstrated cross-sector need sensitive personal data in the healthcare, advertising, and security
among employers in the region, as well as the opportunity to industries, to the “big data” cultivated by scientists and other
strengthen the college’s interdisciplinary mission. It also discusses researchers. To accomplish this range of instruction, we are
challenges presented by the program, including developing taking a multidisciplinary approach that bridges two master’s
curriculum to train students with diverse work backgrounds and degree programs: the Master’s in Information Management
technical expertise, and bridging divergent expertise and skill sets
(MIM), with a focus on strategic deployment of information
among the faculty and professionals who will teach in the program.
technology; and the Master’s in Library Science (MLS), with a
Keywords—Digital curation, curriculum development. focus on professional information services.
I. INTRODUCTION II. OPPORTUNITIES: DEFINING THE NEED
Digital information is at the heart of our society’s ability to The human capital needed to manage digital information is
learn, conduct business, and manage scientific, technological, currently outstripped by the amount of digital information being
industrial, and information infrastructure. Technical, societal, and created. It is estimated that by 2018, the United States will have a
conceptual challenges confront the effective curation and shortage of 140,000-190,000 people with the analytical and
management of digital assets in the public, private, and not-for- technical skills needed to manage large holdings of digital assets
profit sectors nationally and internationally. The field of digital [5]. Moreover, it is estimated that as many as 1.5 million
assets curation and management is a relatively new and rapidly managers and analysts will need to have the knowledge to use
evolving area for research and practice. The rapid growth of managed digital assets in strategic decision-making [5]. Digital
electronic information and the need to actively manage this curation skills are necessarily multidisciplinary in nature, and
information is recognized in diverse communities [1]–[3]. these skills are a pressing need in public, academic and corporate
environments [6].
The Curation and Management of Digital Assets (CMDA)
specialization in the College of Information Studies at the In the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore metropolitan region, the
University of Maryland (the UMD iSchool) has been designed to need for professionals to curate and manage digital assets is
focus on the creation, management and use, long-term acute. Major corporations, international organizations,
universities, a diverse ecosystem of not-for-profit entities and specialization that will serve two distinct student groups: those
advocacy groups, and an exceptional range of cultural pursuing an MLS (Master of Library Science) degree, and those
institutions, all have a need for skilled professionals in the digital pursuing an MIM (Master of Information Management) degree.
assets arena. The region’s employers also include federal, state, In addition, the coursework developed for the CDMA
and local agencies dealing with e-government challenges, and specialization can support students in our doctoral program who
military and intelligence agencies that require scalable, are interested in pursuing research in this dynamic area.
responsive and secure management of digital assets. Similar
In recent years, the UMD iSchool has responded to increasing
needs exist among the broad and diverse range of research
interest in information technology education by adding a new
institutions in our community, which develop and use
master’s degree program focused on human-computer
particularly complex forms of digital information. These
interaction. Adding new degree programs allows us to serve new
activities include advanced medical imaging research at the
markets, but new degree programs alone would not fully realize
National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Standards
the potential of an iSchool for integrating across different types
and Technology’s long-term commitment to material science,
of knowledge and different ways of knowing. That’s one reason
extensive environmental data assembled by the Environmental
why we elected to create a multiple-program specialization for
Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
digital curation rather than rolling out a new degree program.
Administration’s vital meteorological data, and geospatial,
satellite and remote sensing data collected by a range of federal The evolution of library schools into iSchools, of which
agencies. Add to this one of the largest concentrations of major UMD’s transition to an iSchool is an example, has provided an
research universities in the nation, and the market demand for opportunity to embrace the kinds of knowledge required for the
these skills becomes clear. management and curation of digital assets. The UMD iSchool
focuses on the intersection of people, technologies, and social
As an example that is particularly salient for the UMD
context. The school retains a deep focus on LIS education, and
iSchool student body (about three-fifths of whom are studying
includes existing specializations in Archives and Records
for an ALA-accredited degree), on the most recent American
Management, E-Government, School Libraries, and Information
Library Association (ALA) Jobsite, 20% of 267 position
and Diverse Populations. Principles and skills taught in these
announcements were either specifically seeking digital resource
programs, such as appraisal, preservation, and information
managers/archivists, or listed the expectation that successful
policy, provide a rich foundation for the new CDMA
candidates would have knowledge, skills, and abilities in
specialization. One notable characteristic of the evolution of LIS
managing, preserving, curating, and cataloging digital resources.
programs into iSchools has been an increased integration of
The potential student population for this proposed information technology in many aspects of our work [7]. Our
specialization is substantial. The UMD iSchool currently enrolls growth as an iSchool has introduced new faculty and new
about 500 students across four highly selective graduate infrastructure that the CDMA specialization will be able to draw
programs. Our students have embraced the idea of upon. This will facilitate instruction in skills such as database
specializations, which allow them to focus their educational design, migration and emulation, information retrieval, and web-
experience on a rich and important aspect of their studies. As an scale information processing.
example, an existing specialization in Archives and Records
CMDA will be the first “joint” specialization in the UMD
Management was able to accept only about one-third of the 125
iSchool, designed to meet the needs of students in more than one
applicants for its Fall 2012 class. Offering the CMDA will
of our masters programs. This responds to the expressed interests
expand the popular specialization option.
of MLS and MIM students in opportunities to draw on skills and
There are currently few programs of this type in the perspectives well developed in the other program. A cross-
Washington-Baltimore region. Though several US information program focus gives us the opportunity to accomplish this skill
schools have begun digital curation programs, none are in this sharing by creating an interdisciplinary learning community
geographic area [4]. It is also important to note that although patterned after the design of iSchools themselves.
neighboring business schools and technology programs do
Students from both degree programs will take classes
include a focus on data analysis, they tend not to emphasize
together and share their skills. While this will create some
digital curation, management, and preservation.
challenges—students in these programs often come from
III. MEETING THE NEED different undergraduate and professional backgrounds and have
The UMD iSchool plans to meet this multi-sector need for diverse interests—it will also create unique synergies.
data curation training and research by creating an integrated Information professionals of all stripes must learn the
interdisciplinary skills required to work in a 21st century digitalized) assets in the public, commercial, or not-for-
information economy. This requires professionals trained in profit sector.
traditional information practices such as reference or preservation
A. Curriculum
to work alongside professionals with strong technical
backgrounds. Helping students embrace interdisciplinarity The Curation and Management of Digital Assets
requires building the necessary trust relationships to work side- specialization will consist of three courses that are required of all
by-side with those who bring different experience and expertise. students (described below), plus two additional curation-focused
Students graduating from the digital curation specialization will electives. Students will take these classes in addition to the core
have the academic, technical, and practical and experiential skills and elective courses for their MLS or MIM degree program.
to work in diverse organizational settings in the business and Principles of Digital Curation is the introductory course for
commercial sectors, cultural organizations, the digital arts and the specialization, focusing on teaching the values, principles,
humanities, and scientific research and development. and approaches underlying the profession [6], [8]. This course
The specialization will enable students to develop a range of explores the principles, theories, and standards involved in
practical and analytical skills to provide the technical and designing and implementing programs for the long-term
management leadership for born-digital and digitized assets as management of digital assets, both born-digital and digitized
defined by research in the broader digital curation community. assets. Digital assets management decision-making is analyzed
Our program follows core competencies such as those developed by evaluating the technical, practical, economic, legal, social and
by the ongoing DigCur research project [8] and throughout the political factors that provide the framework for the retention, use,
digital curation literature [6]. Students will master core and preservation of digital assets. Case studies are presented in
competencies in managing the digital assets life cycle in the classes that explore the analytic prisms through which digital
classroom, and will demonstrate this mastery in hands-on, real- assets management decisions are made.
world internship opportunities. Upon successfully completing the Implementing Digital Curation focuses on introducing
Curation and Management of Digital Assets specialization a students to the functions and skills necessary for digital curation,
student will be able to: as well as the types of resources with which they should be
• Manage digital assets over the life cycle from pre- familiar. It will instruct students in the management of, and
creation activities (systems design, file formats, and data technology tools for, application of digital curation principles in
creation standards) through the capture of contextual specific settings. This course will highlight characteristics,
information for assets in long-term repositories. representation, conversion, and preservation of digital objects,
• Understand the issues and challenges involved in and instruct in the application of standards for digitization,
managing digital assets in diverse professional description, and preservation. Students will gain experience
environments (e.g., business, science, the arts and planning for sustainability, risk mitigation and disaster recovery.
humanities, libraries, archives, and museums). Policy Issues in Digital Curation focuses on the
• Identify and apply best practices and strategies for long- organizational, political and cultural contexts in which impact
term preservation and access to digital assets. digital curation. The course will explore the intellectual property,
• Understand linkages between analog and digital assets privacy, and security issues related to curation and long-term
and how to effectively manage diverse holdings and preservation of digital information. Bridging law, social science,
collections. computer science, and professional practice, this course will
• Conduct and apply research affecting the on-going focus on understanding copyright and other forms of intellectual
evolution in managing digital assets. property raised by preservation copies of digital data and records;
• Demonstrate awareness of the social contexts involved in dealing with complex privacy issues in digital data and records;
managing digital assets and the needs and roles of securing integrity and trust in digital information and content
various stakeholders. throughout the information lifecycle; and implementing security
• Demonstrate an understanding of the intersection of for digital information in a range of contexts.
legal, ethical, policy, and political sensitivities in After completing the required courses, specialization students
managing digital assets. will select two elective courses from a range of curation-focused
• Apply academic principles and theories in a practical possibilities, including new courses such as personal digital
work setting involving the management of digital (and curation and curation in cultural institutions; technology-focused
courses such as database design, information retrieval systems,
and information architecture; and courses from our archives and and useful blend. The CMDA specialization is designed to take
records management specialization such as principles of records advantage of this combination. Information professionals with a
and information management and electronic records. Integrating multidisciplinary curation background can be influential actors in
archival principles with data management education will allow the emerging data economy. Training professionals who can
students to prepare for diverse disciplinary and multi-sector grapple with both the social and technical impacts of emerging
careers. technologies will strengthen our ability to deal with the data
deluge.
B. Instruction
The faculty who will teach in the CMDA specialization draw D. Internship
on a broad range of expertise, including electronic records All students enrolled in the digital curation specialization will
management, digitization, digital preservation, databases, be expected to complete a supervised internship (a “field study”)
information retrieval systems, ethics, and privacy. They also focused on the curation of digital assets. The internship can be
bring experience in a broad range of institutional settings in the completed at any of a wide variety of area businesses, non-
public, commercial and not-for-profit sectors. They are profits, government agencies, or cultural heritage institutions.
developing a range of pedagogical activities to build knowledge The student will gain hands-on practical experience, acquire
of information technologies and bridge this expertise with the skills for their career, and begin to build a network for future
larger technical, social and policy issues that shape the practice of employment. The UMD iSchool has a database of approximately
digital curation. For example, the familiar site Facebook takes on 150 institutions that have expressed an ongoing interest in
layers of complexity when students are asked to evaluate the providing field study experiences for students, and we anticipate
medium from the standpoints of professional data managers, that our new CMDA specialization will generate interest from
preservation professionals, current and future employers, or law additional employers.
enforcement agencies. A design game might ask students to sit in
the position of engineers, and make choices between values such E. Research Opportunities
as long-term retention, efficiency, and privacy: values choices Digital curation is a field ripe for research exploration, with
that data managers must face every day. Projects in each course unanswered questions in work processes and practice, technology
expand on these experiences by engaging students directly in applications, policy and ethics, and market and political
systems thinking. Like the computational thinking [9], we see economies. For both master’s and doctoral students interested in
systems thinking as applicable across the full range of technical, pursuing research related to the curation and management of
organizational and social issues that inform digital curation digital assets, there are opportunities available through
decisions. partnerships with individual faculty and through working with a
The goal of these activities is to foster mastery of 21st century broad range of research labs and centers. The specialization
skills such as critical thinking, decision making, and problem articulates with, and draws upon, related research interests of our
solving [10]. To evaluate student learning in these areas, faculty. For example, venues where research on the technical,
instructors will use a combination of classroom participation, oral policy, and implementation challenges of digital curation is being
presentations, written assignments, and technical assignments. conducted include the Information Policy and Access Center
C. Promoting Multiple Areas of Expertise (www.ipac@umd.edu), the Human Computer Interaction
Laboratory (http://hcil.cs.umd.edu), the Maryland Institute for
One component of the CMDA specialization is the ability for Technology in the Humanities (http://mith.umd.edu), the Center
students to double-specialize, gaining expertise in both digital for the Advanced Study of Communities and Information
curation and another area of information management or LIS (http://casci.umd.edu), and the Computational Linguistics and
practice. Digital curation is inextricably linked with many other Information Processing Lab (http://wiki.umiacs.umd.edu/clip/).
topics, and both MLS and MIM degree programs have additional Faculty projects include preservation of online games, data
specializations that CDMA students may wish to pursue. For curation by online communities, participatory data management
example, an MLS student might pursue a specialization in E- in health and science, ethical challenges in personal information
government, in Archives and Records Management, or in management, and experiential reconstruction of the Apollo
Information and Diverse Populations; a MIM student might missions from archival sources.
pursue a specialization in Strategic Management of Information
or in Technology Development and Deployment. IV. CHALLENGES
The combination of humanistic, social science, and
The Creation and Management of Digital Assets
technology literacy fostered in information programs is a crucial
specialization will begin in the fall of 2013. Although we are
excited to launch the specialization, we anticipate some recently, library schools transitioned into iSchools, in part by
challenges as well. One major challenge will be the diversity of adding exactly the kinds of technical expertise that we now need
student preparation for the societal, organizational and technical to draw on as digital curation extends its organizational scope
aspects of the program. For example, some students interested in and reach. In our new specialization we now take the next logical
the CMDA specialization might arrive with strong academic step in building on this confluence of interest.
preparation, but little work experience. Others might have
As Dennis Gabor (the inventor of holography) observed in
extensive organizational and management experience, but little
1963, the future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented.
hands-on familiarity with advanced information technologies.
It is the role of a research university to teach at the leading edge
Still others may have extensive knowledge of information
of what we know, to teach when there is not yet complete
systems, but less understanding of the organizational and social
agreement on what should be taught, and to add to what we know
factors that shape, and are shaped by, their work. It is a challenge
as we teach it. For an iSchool, that leading edge has reached to
to address all of these types of knowledge gaps at one time and in
digital curation, and that, therefore, is where we plan to be.
one classroom.
Realizing the full potential of our program will require that ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
we draw heavily on peer learning. While this diversity of The authors would like to thank the UMD faculty who
expertise and experience is a pedagogical challenge, it is worked to shape the specialization, including Brian Butler, Mary
simultaneously a team-building strength. We envision CMDA Choquette, Kari Kraus, Trevor Muñoz, and Ricardo Punzalan. In
students working together in agile teams that foster peer learning, addition, many thanks to iSchool Dean Jennifer Preece for
and reorganizing those teams around different challenges as they encouragement and support of this program.
emerge over the course of a semester.
REFERENCES
A second important challenge is integrating the broad and [1] Danah boyd and K. Crawford, “Critical questions for big data,”
diverse intellectual content that underpins the CDMA Information, Communication & Society, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 662–679, 2012.
specialization. Such integration is complicated by divergent [2] T. Hey and A. E. Trefethen, “The data deluge: an e-Science Perspective,”
expertise and skill sets among both faculty and professionals who in Grid Computing: Making the Global Infrastructure a Reality, New York:
will teach in this program. Meeting this challenge will not be Wiley, 2003, pp. 809–824.
achieved by assigning single faculty members to teach single [3] “Personal data: the emergence of a new asset class,” World Economic
courses. Instead, we will need to work together, not just in Forum, Geneva, Switzerland, Jan. 2011.
planning the specialization but also as we implement the [4] L. Jahnke, A. Asher, and S. D. C. Keralis, “The Problem of Data,” Council
on Library and Information Resources, Washington, D.C., Aug. 2012.
educational experience for our students. Integration of diverse
[5] J. Manyika, M. Chui, B. Brown, J. Bughin, R. Dobbs, C. Roxburgh, and A.
disciplinary knowledge has always been a challenging task, but H. Byers, “Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and
this integration, writ large, is the very mission for which iSchools productivity,” McKinsey Global Institute, Seoul, San Francisco, London,
were created. That’s not said to minimize the scope of the and Washington DC, May 2011.
challenge, but rather to claim that the challenge is worth facing in [6] E. Yakel, “Digital curation,” OCLC Systems & Services, vol. 23, no. 4, pp.
this way. 335–340, Nov. 2007.
[7] A. Wiggins and S. Sawyer, “Intellectual diversity and the faculty
These pedagogical and disciplinary challenges highlight the composition of iSchools,” Journal of the American Society for Information
need for ongoing faculty preparation for teaching digital curation. Science and Technology.
We have taken the first step by assembling a broad team of [8] C. A. Lee, “Matrix of Digital Curation Knowledge and Competencies,”
DigCCurr, Chapel Hill, NC, Jun. 2009.
faculty with diverse expertise and experience, drawn from both
[9] J. M. Wing, “Computational thinking,” Commun. ACM, vol. 49, no. 3, pp.
academia and professional practice. Attending professional
33–35, Mar. 2006.
development events such as the DigCurV conference will be an
[10] Partnership for 21st Century Skills, “Framework for 21st century learning,”
important step as we learn to think broadly together about how Partnership for 21st Century Learning, Washington, D.C., Mar. 2011.
best to address these challenges. [11] J. M. O’Toole, “The History of Archives and the Archives Profession,” in
Understanding Archives and Manuscripts, Chicago, IL: Society of
V. CONCLUSION American Archivists, 1990, pp. 27–47.
We see the new specialization in Curation and Management
of Digital Assets as a natural next step on a path we have been
following for many years. Decades ago, education in archives
and records management, once the domain of Ph.D. programs in
History, professionalized within library schools [11]. More