Presentation by Katie Shilton, Michael Kurtz, Bruce Ambacher, Erik Mitchell, Douglas Oard, and Ann Weeks, University of Maryland at the DigCurV International Conference; Framing the digital curation curriculum
6-7 May, 2013
Florence, Rome
Bridging By Design: The Curation and Management of Digital Assets Specialization at the University of Maryland
1. BRIDGING BY DESIGN
CMDA at the University of Maryland
Katie Shilton, Michael Kurtz, Bruce Ambacher, Erik
Mitchell, Douglas Oard, and Ann Weeks
Framing the Digital Curation
Curriculum Conference
May 7 2013
2. Curation & Management of Digital Assets
• Creation
• Management
• Use
• Long-term preservation
• Current and future access
A specialization with a focus on the:
Of digital assets in a variety of disciplines and
sectors of the economy.
3. Bridging Two Programs
Open to students in two master’s degree programs:
• Master’s in Information Management (MIM)
• focus on strategic deployment of information technology, especially in
corporate settings;
• Master’s in Library Science (MLS)
• focus on professional information services, especially in non-profits and
cultural heritage institutions.
First joint specialization
• An opportunity… and a challenge
4. Why Start this Program?
• By 2018, US will have a shortage of 140,000-190,000 with
skills needed to manage digital assets
• Estimated that 1.5 million managers will need to use
digital assets in strategic decision-making
• Washington DC area needs:
• Not-for-profits & advocacy groups, cultural heritage
institutions, research institutions, federal agencies, defense and
intelligence agencies.
• Ideal challenge for an iSchool
• Curation requires technology, policy, and management skills
5. CMDA: An iSchool Opportunity
Evolution of library schools into iSchools provides opportunity
Expertise in nexus of people, technologies & social context.
Faculty work in:
• archives and records management
• e-government
• information and diverse populations
• database design
• migration and emulation
• information retrieval,
• web-scale information processing
But… none of us does all of this.
6. Managing the Challenge
Planned curriculum: orient and then specialize.
Balance technology, management & policy
3 required courses
• Principles of Digital Curation
• Implementing Digital Curation
• Policy Issues in Digital
Curation
2 elective courses
• Personal Digital Curation
• Curation in Cultural Institutions
• Database Design
• Information Retrieval Systems
• Information Architecture
• Principles of Records &
Information Management
• Electronic Records
Required field study
7. Combining Students
• Students from both degree programs will take classes
together & share their skills.
• Challenge: diversity of student preparation for the
social, organizational & technical aspects of the program.
• Opportunity: peer learning
• Those trained in information practices such as
reference, preservation alongside those with strong technical
backgrounds.
• Help students build trust in those with different
experience, expertise.
8. Combining Faculty
• We need to teach socio-technical skills
• Challenge:
• Integrating broad intellectual content that underpins CDMA
Divergent expertise, skill sets among professors
• Opportunity: co-teaching
• Logistics of credit, course loads unresolved
• Isn’t this what iSchools are for?
9. Soft Launch This Fall
• 3 required courses will be offered in 2013-2014
• Students will select electives from courses already offered
• New electives to be added in 2014-2015
• Planning for cohort of approximately 18 for first run
