Second edition of Digital Creation balances theory and practice.

• Author: Speer, Ryan
• Position: Digital Curation - Book review

Digital Curation, 2nd Ed.

Authors: Gillian Oliver and Ross Harvey

Publisher: Neal-Schuman

Publication Date: 2016

Length: 240 pages

Price: $85

ISBN: 978-0-8389-1385-7

Source: www.alastore.org

This extensive revision of Oliver and Harvey's Digital Curation presents comprehensive background information and expert guidance for managing and preserving digital material over the long term.

What's New in this Edition

Conceptual models of digital curation processes are central to the organization and tone of the book: The Digital Curation Centre (DCC) Curation Lifecycle Model lends structure to the discussion of curation requirements and actions in the latter portion of the book, and the authors present a new theoretical model, the Data Curation Continuum, as an alternative to the lifecycle model.

Other material new to this second edition of Digital Curation addresses the impact of cloud computing on the cost of data curation and associated storage solutions. This edition adroitly balances theory and practice and will be useful in both academic and professional settings.

Part I: Digital Curation Overview

Part I consists of four chapters intended to provide an overview of the digital curation field. The first two chapters explain the need and incentives for digital curation and describe the landscape of digital curation.

Two chapters introduce conceptual models (the DCC Curation Lifecycle Model, the Open Archival Information System [OAIS] Reference Model, and the Data Curation Continuum) and explore in-depth the term data and its implications for the practice of curation.

The chapter covering the curation landscape uses academia as an interpretive standpoint, but it includes insightful descriptions of digital curation and data management professional requirements with the potential for broader application. The discussion of data and its various meanings is also adequately generalized, emphasizing the scope of data management issues well beyond the e-science considerations which originally inspired the digital curation field.

Part II: Full Lifecycle Actions

Part II has four chapters, each of which covers one of four Full Lifecycle Actions specified by the DCC Curation Lifecycle Model, central actions which apply to every stage in the life cycle. These four actions are:

1. Description and Representation Information

2. Preservation Planning

3. Community Watch and Participation

4. Curate and Preserve

The longest and perhaps most valuable chapter is on...