Exploring digital curation definition across research centers, university, government, and commercial industries in the U.S.

Cursory research of literature and select US and foreign institutions' websites on the emerging field of digital curation reveal varied definitions of digital curation with some definitions possessing ambiguous interpretations when digital curation and data curation appear to be used interchangeably to define digital curation. Hence, a survey titled defining digital curation understanding was developed to address this research issue. The goal of this survey is to understand the public's perception of data curation, digital preservation, digital curation, and life cycle terms. This survey was created to illuminate common terminology development across multiple research disciplines for deeper inter-disciplinary research exploration and collaboration within the broader context of data management. Since digital curation involves multiple research disciplines, institutions and organizations, there is a need to assess the public's response to the development towards common nomenclature of definitions and interpretations across multiple disciplines. The data from this survey will be used to support and stimulate discussions toward impacting decisions for the establishment of baseline terminology agreement across disciplines, institutions, and organizations in the US with practical implications for contributions to curriculum, theoretical, and professional development. This exploratory research poster will use text, graphics, and survey results to explore defining digital curation understanding across disciplines, institutions, and organizations in the US, provide insight into future digital curation curriculum development, and contribute to existing literature in the emerging field of digital curation research in the US