Research in digital preservation and curation has often emphasised the cost and complexity of the task in hand.
Despite a considerable amount of research into cost modelling for digital curation, there has been little uptake of the tools and methods developed, and tools to manage and estimate costs have not been integrated with other digital curation processes.
About the project
The project reminds us that the point of this investment is to realise a benefit - our research encompasses related concepts such as ‘risk’, ‘value’, ‘quality’ and ‘sustainability’.
The vision is to create a better understanding of digital curation costs through collaboration. The main aim is to ensure that, where existing work is relevant, stakeholders realise and understand how to employ management and costing tools. We will also examine more closely how such tools might be made fit-for-purpose, more relevant and useable by a variety of organisations operating at different scales in both the public and the private sector.
Stakeholders will also have a better understanding of the complex relationships between cost and other factors. They will have a greater ability to articulate their requirements.
What we're doing
We are developing a co-ordinated programme of outreach and engagement that identifies existing and emerging research and analyses user requirements. This has informed where there are gaps in the current provision of tools, frameworks and models.
Project outputs will include:
Stakeholder engagement and dissemination events (focus groups, workshops, conference)
Reports
Creation of models and specifications
International curation costs exchange framework
This activity will form a research and development agenda and a business engagement strategy, which will be delivered to the European Commission (EU) in the form of a roadmap.
