Setting up a national Digital Curation Centre

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Setting up a national Digital Curation Centre
EDINA Exchange 11 May 2004

• Robin Rice
• Phase One Project Co-ordinator
• www.dcc.ac.uk

Funded by
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Timeline

• May 2003 - JCSR-commissioned study by
  Lord Macdonald recommends the
  establishment of a UK Centre of expertise.
• June 2003 - JISC and e-Science Programme
  issues a joint call for tenders, with a deadline
  of November 2003.
• February 2004 - the CANDO Consortium wins funding
  for a March 2004 start.
• DCC currently in set-up and planning phase,
  looking toward an October 2004 date for official
  launch at the National e-Science Centre in
  Edinburgh.

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Digital curation digital preservation data
curation

• The actions needed to maintain digital research
  data and other materials over their life-cycle,
  for current and future generations.
• These actions include digital archiving and
  preservation, and good practice in data creation
  and management.
• Also, providing the capacity for adding value to
  data to generate new sources of information and
  knowledge.

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Why a national centre?

• Scientists and researchers across the UK
  generate increasingly vast amounts of digital
  data, with further investment in digitisation and
  purchase of digital content and information. The
  scientific record and the documentary heritage
  created in digital form are at risk from
  technology obsolescence and by the fragility of
  digital media.
• - JISC press release, 3/04

• Long-term curation and preservation of digital
  resources is seen as a challenge which is
  difficult if not impossible for individual
  institutions to resolve on their own due to the
  complexity and scale of the challenges involved.
  
• - JISC circular, 6/03

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Distributed leadership of DCC
with the National e-Science Centre at Edinburgh
Glasgow playing unifying role amongst partners.
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Organisational Structure

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Deliverables(indicates EDINA involvement)