Digital stewardship from start to finish: decision-making and workflows for born-digital content

The Digital Stewardship End-to-End Workflow Model and the Digital Streams Matrix – developed as part of the Digital Preservation at Oxford and Cambridge project – are two tools that can be used by archivists and collecting institutions to assist in handling born-digital content. The model outlines fourteen stages that digital content passes through (from conception to use and/or reuse). The matrix provides a practical mechanism for applying the model, guiding decision-making when stewarding digital content.

Organisations that are beginning to develop processes for handling born-digital content will find that on the one hand, it may be difficult to know where to start but on the other hand, it may be overwhelming to consider the many tasks they may need to undertakeall the various steps that they may need to take. It is hard to know where responsibilities for digital archiving, digital curation and digital preservation should lie. Collecting institutions should consider adopting a ‘digital stewardship’ approach as a means of holistically managing digital content throughout its lifecycle.

As part of the Digital Preservation at Oxford and Cambridge project (2016 – 2018), the author developed two ‘alpha release’ tools: the Digital Stewardship End-to-End Workflow Model and the Digital Streams Matrix. These tools provide practical mechanisms for managing born-digital content. The tools were based on previous born-digital collecting and preservation activities, undertaken collaboratively with former colleagues in Australia, and informed by international dialogue.

The Digital Stewardship End-to-End Workflow Model identifies fourteen ‘stages’ that digital content needs to pass through from conception through to use and/or reuse. Several other models for managing digital content already exist, including the Records Continuum Model (1990s), the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model (1999), the Digital Curation Centre’s Curation Lifecycle Model (2007), An Inter-Institutional Model for Stewardship (AIMS) (2011), and the Research360 Institutional Research Lifecycle Concept (2012). However, based on real-world experiences, it was identified that the existing models contained various gaps. Additional stages are needed when acquiring, processing, managing, preserving and making available born-digital content. Hence, the Digital Stewardship End-to-End Workflow Model was developed.

In order to be able to practically apply the Digital Stewardship End-to-End Workflow Model, it was also necessary to create the Digital Streams Matrix. The Digital Streams Matrix indicates a series of tasks that may be undertaken at each stage of the end-to-end workflow. Depending on the type of digital content, or the form in which it exists (on a carrier, a website etc.), and coupled with the ‘class’ the digital content belongs to (such as unpublished born-digital manuscripts, audiovisual or published research outputs), decisions can be made about which tasks could be carried out. This matrix can assist archivists, guiding their decision-making regarding what is ‘bare minimum’ or ‘good practice’ for their organisation.

Until such times that managing digital content becomes ‘business as usual’, tools assisting the step-by-step approaches to managing digital content – such as this model and matrix – will be required.