Digital Curation – (M.Sc.)

Yesterday’s information is important for the solution of tomorrow. Learn how to facilitate reuse of digital assets, keeping them reusable for an unpredictable future. This programme addresses the need for curation oriented IT-specialists, by focusing design and development of digital preservation systems and services, as well as organisations. Work with the future today, study digital curation.

Information production grows rapidly. We produce digital photographs, movies, official records, business transactions, maps, drawings, and models, which need to be preserved for future use. Hardware and software are replaced at an ever increasing rate, making already stored material difficult, or sometimes even impossible, to access. So, while we produce, and use, more digital assets every day, the preservation of them have been neglected until recently. This is a concern in enterprise business where information may be used for improving decision making, in research where data sometimes can be costly to gather, and for our cultural heritage. These areas are currently in need of preservation experts with IT-skills.

The programme is designed for students who wish to advance their competence in the field of digital curation. A central idea is that the students develop skills and knowledge to identify and define problems, propose solutions to the defined problems and implement and validate chosen solutions – all in the interest of managing and preserving digital information. This includes: preservation concepts, models, characteristics and activites; access, availability and usability; metadata standards and implementation; design and development of organisations in curation context; design and development of systems and services based on the OAIS reference model, originating from NASA.

The courses primarily consist of advanced courses related to R&D conducted in the National Competence Centre for Long-term Digital Preservation (LPD Centre) at LTU. The third semester consists of electable courses, while the fourth semester is entirely dedicated to the thesis. The thesis is conducted in close connection with R&D activities at the Long-term Digital Preservation Centre. Students with good contacts to organisations can often carry out their practical moments and thesis work in that organisation.

The language of instruction is English. The programme can be studied on campus or by distance.

Distance learning

Your distance studies will entail communication with teachers and other students via e-mail, a free videoconferencing program, telephone, chatting and other appropriate means. An important medium for distance studies will be the course room provided by Fronter, the joint web-based teaching platform at Luleå University of Technology. Here, information including course information, study guides, links, class lists and recorded lectures will be provided. The requirement for distance studies is access to a computer with a headset (camera is optional), permission to install software and an internet connection of at least 0,5 Mb/s.

Specialisations

MSc in Digital Curation

Labour market

By completion of this programme, you will be prepared for a career as e.g. digital curator, preservation officer/manager, web archivist, digital collections manager, digital reformatting specialist, and digital preservation project manager. Career paths include both specialist and managerial assignments. You may work in a digital preservation organisation e.g. archive or library, or in a company or public administration that manages and/or preserves digital information.