The Convergence of Curation

Digital resources develop through a sequence of technical, economic, legal, and social steps. The computer problems have been solved first; the late Jim Gray once wished “may all your problems be technical.” From a start with text, we can digitize and store images, sounds, and even 3-D objects. The economic problems are still serious but less so as the processes of digitization and delivery become less expensive. Legal issues are currently at the forefront, but even for objects old enough to pose few copyright problems, we can see social obstacles to the convergence of cultural institutions. Libraries, museums, and archives all have their own traditions of collecting, cataloging, preservation, user relationships, fund-raising, and now Web presentations. We can expect these traditions to outlast the physical design of buildings and the physical forms of early digital objects. Users may hope for a seamless presentation of cultural materials, but social and organizational issues will slow the convergence of the institutions.