Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative: A Case Study

Haley Suby,Mikala Narlock,Shannon Martin,Laura Bell,Allison Mcclanahan,Leif Christiansen,Devan Ray Donaldson

doi:10.2218/ijdc.v13i1.502

Abstract

Since its creation nearly a decade ago, the Digital Curation Centre (DCC) Curation Lifecycle Model has become the quintessential framework for understanding digital curation. Organizations and consortia around the world have used the DCC Curation Lifecycle Model as a tool to ensure that all the necessary stages of digital curation are undertaken, to define roles and responsibilities, and to build a framework of standards and technologies for digital curation. Yet, research on the application of the model to large-scale digitization projects as a way of understanding their efforts at digital curation is scant. This paper reports on findings of a qualitative case study analysis of Indiana University Bloomingtonâ€™s multi-million-dollar Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative (MDPI), employing the DCC Curation Lifecycle Model as a lens for examining the scope and effectiveness of its digital curation efforts. Findings underscore the success of MDPI in performing digital curation by illustrating the ways it implements each of the modelâ€™s components. Implications for the application of the DCC Curation Lifecycle Model in understanding digital curation for mass digitization projects are discussed as well as directions for future research.

Highlights

Since its creation nearly a decade ago, the Digital Curation Centre (DCC) Curation Lifecycle Model has become the quintessential framework for understanding digital curation
Researchers have begun exploring the impact of the DCC Curation Lifecycle Model on understanding how digital curation is performed in various contexts with different types of digital data
The main research question this study addresses is: How do the actions of Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative (MDPI) compare to the actions specified in the DCC Curation Lifecycle Model?

Summary

Introduction

Since its creation nearly a decade ago, the Digital Curation Centre (DCC) Curation Lifecycle Model has become the quintessential framework for understanding digital curation. Researchers have begun exploring the impact of the DCC Curation Lifecycle Model on understanding how digital curation is performed in various contexts with different types of digital data. One unexplored research area involves the utility of the DCC Curation Lifecycle Model to act as a lens for understanding digital curation in mass digitization projects This type of research is critical given the rise of mass digitization projects over the past decade, which is expected to increase within the cultural heritage and library services domains. Note that they are not mutually exclusive: Aggregation and production (e.g., whether a project aggregates material that others have digitized, and the extent to which a project performs any digitization in-house); Openness (e.g., the extent to which materials are open and freely accessible); Business model and cost (e.g., commercial, non-profit, etc., and who pays for the digitization?); Scope (e.g., are you digitizing everything, most everything, or specific collections?); Format (e.g., digitized books, audiovisual materials, 3D Materials, etc.); Time spent digitizing (e.g., seconds per item, minutes per item, hours per item, etc.)

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