Curation
Background
Introduction
The Dryad repository has a curatorial team that works to enforce quality control on existing content in Dryad and collaborate in development of the repository.
From the Digital Curation Centre:
- Digital curation can be defined as follows: 'The activity of managing the use of data from its point of creation to ensure it is available for discovery and re-use in the future.' Data curation can also include managing vast data sets for daily use; updating it to keep it readable, etc. Therefore the term data curator is applicable to a large range of professional backgrounds, from minimal management of digital materials, to the addition of metadata, to managing institutional repositories.
Professional Data Curation Tasks
- Name authority/authority control for authors
- Quality control
- Clean up citation fields.
- View the contents of metadata fields across the repository, and enforce consistency.
- Maintain documentation of cataloging/curation policies.
- Spot check entries to make sure they have high-quality metadata.
- Spot check entries to make sure the files have the data they claim to have.
- Determine when files need to be migrated to new formats and supervise the migration process.
Curation Time Estimates (this content from first NSF grant)
A Google Spreadsheet outlines our current estimates for time to curate an item. The curation times are specified for three different levels of curation. NOTE: these estimates were developed for Dryad sustainability planning. As a result, they assume the use of tools/features that are not yet available in Dryad (but which we reasonably expect to include by the end of the NSF grant).
Summarizing from the spreadsheet, curation for each article will require:
- Level 1 tasks will take about 5 minutes.
- Level 2 tasks will take an additional 15 minutes.
- Level 3 tasks will take an additional 1-3 hours.
Curation Practices
Current Curation Practices (March 2013)
The files below contain only minor changes from the December and August 2012 curation manuals, primarily the addition of manual registration of all DOIs (until our automated DOI registration is updated to provide all fields now required by DataCite/EZID) and a modification to how we handle a bug that causes duplication of DOIs in the metadata.
Curation Manual: Powerpoint, PDF
Historic Curation Practices
December 2012
The files below contain only minor changes from the August 2012 curation manual, primarily the addition of manual registration of all DOIs (until our automated DOI registration is updated to provide all fields now required by DataCite/EZID).
- December 2012 Curation Manual: Powerpoint, PDF
August 2012
The files below reflect current curatorial practice in the repository August-December 2012. These include some work-arounds and manual processes that will become automated or semi-automated.
- August 2012 Curation Manual: Powerpoint, PDF
November 2011
The files below reflect current curatorial practice in the repository as of February 6, 2012. These include some work-arounds and manual processes that will become automated or semi-automated. Implementation of the Dryad Application Profile version 3.0 will cause significant changes to these practices.
- November 2011 Curation Manual: PDF, Word.
- Also see Templates for Correspondence.
April 2011
The files below reflect current curatorial practice in the repository as of May 3, 2011. These include some work-arounds and manual processes that will become automated or semi-automated. Implementation of the Dryad Application Profile version 3.0 will cause significant changes to these practices.
- April 2011 Curation Manual: PDF, Word.
- Also see Templates for Correspondence.
January 2011
The files below reflect current curatorial practice in the repository as of January 21, 2011. These include temporary work-arounds and manual processes that will become automated or semi-automated. Implementation of the Dryad Application Profile version 3.0 will cause significant changes to these practices.
- January 2011 Curation Manual: PDF, Word.
- Also see Templates for Correspondence.
Third Quarter 2010
The files below reflect current curatorial practice in the repository as of July, 2010. These include temporary work-arounds and many manual processes that will become automated or semi-automated. Implementation of the Dryad Application Profile version 3.0 will cause significant changes to these practices.
Second Quarter 2010
The release of DSpace 1.6.0 will allow enhanced curation tools to be implemented in Dryad. This space will be updated with second quarter curation practices (pushed to third quarter).
- March 2010 Curation Tools Wish List: PDF, Word. Also see Summer 2009 Curation Project documentation.
First Quarter 2010
As of early 2010 all submissions to Dryad are undergoing Level 1 curation. A rough checklist of curation practice is available below. A fuller curation manual will be created to reflect the new release of DSpace/Dryad in spring 2010.
Summer 2009 Curation Project
Sarah Carrier produced two documents during summer 2009 that detail the curatorial management of data and metadata in Dryad, and offer some ideas for overall policy and requirements. The first document is for the redesign of the Dryad interface to better accommodate curation tasks. The second is a manual that details the current (as of summer 2009) curation workflow. This manual will be used by a curator hired fall 2009.
- Curation Proposal: PDF, Word
- Curation Manual: PDF, Word
- Akio's technical evaluation of the Curation Proposal: PDF, Word
These two documents represent the latest information regarding curation. Other pages on the wiki that include curation information used during the summer 2009 curation project:
- Curator Tools
- Summer 2009 Curation Workflow Specification
- Curation System Requirements and Mockups
- Cataloging Guidelines 2009
