Digital Curation Centre
| Formation | 2005 |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Digital curation |
| Headquarters | Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom |
|
Parent organization
|
Jisc |
| Slogan | because good research needs good data |
| Website | www |
The Digital Curation Centre (DCC) was established to help solve the extensive challenges of digital preservation and digital curation and to lead research, development, advice, and support services for higher education institutions in the United Kingdom.
The original call to establish the DCC described its function as
Scientists, researchers and scholars across the UK generate increasingly vast amounts of digital data, with further investment in digitization and purchase of digital content and information. The scientific record and the documentary heritage created in digital form are at risk from obsolescence, from the fragility of digital media, and from lack of the basics of good practice, such as adequate documentation for the data.
Working with other practitioners, the DCC supports UK institutions who store, manage and preserve these data to help ensure their enhancement and their continuing long-term use. The DCC also provides a national focus for research and development into digital curation issues and to promote expertise and good practice, both national and international, for the management of all research outputs in digital format.
It provides information about tools developed by the DCC and others which support all parts of the digital curation lifecycle. It provides training in the use of tools and other aspects of digital curation. It provides online tools, such as the Data Management Planning tool, to support the creation and management of research data.
The DCC runs a number of regular events to support different aspects of its mission. The International Digital Curation Conference (IDCC) acts as a focus for research activity in digital curation as well as reports of practice. The Research Data Management Forum brings together practitioners from a wide range of backgrounds including government, publishers, researchers and funders, to focus on particular topics of common interest. The Data Management Roadshows aim to raise awareness amongst UK universities of the assistance that the DCC can offer with establishing or improving research data services.
Jisc took a decision to establish the Digital Curation Centre some time in 2002, having funded a number of projects in the field of digital preservation. JISC's then digital preservation focus, Neil Beagrie, recognised that a number of the more compelling challenges required more than simple preservation of materials. The term digital curation was coined to refer to more active long-term management of digital material. The original call for bids to run the center was withdrawn in July 2003, allowing the UK's e-science programme to add funding for a 4-year research programme to complement the work on education and advocacy funded by JISC. The revised call from July 2003 required bids by 2003-09-18 with an intention to establish the DCC early in 2004. The range of expertise required meant that the funders expected to see collaborative, multi-centre bids. A number were shortlisted with the winning bid chosen on 2003-11-26. Led by the University of Edinburgh (involving its School of Informatics, the National e-Science Centre (NeSC), the EDINA national data centre and the AHRC Centre for the Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law) the winning consortium also included HATII at the University of Glasgow, UKOLN at the University of Bath, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).
...
Wikipedia