Digital Preservation and Research Bulletins

This research bulletin explores three of the most compelling views of our longer term future, the role of technology in those possible futures, and the impact these alternative futures may have on higher education. The alternatives range from a future of extreme constraint and possible collapse (Heinberg’s peak oil scenario) to one of unprecedented abundance, where most of the current work of higher education will be automated (Kurzweil’s singularity). Between these extremes is the more immediate future of globalization and the intensified competitive and collaborative world its proponents espouse (Friedman’s flat world).

Citation for this work: Franke, Thomas L. “How Technology Will Shape Our Future: Three Views of the Twenty-First Century” (Research Bulletin, Issue 2). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Three years ago the University of Central Florida (UCF) began an electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) submission process to enable students to disseminate their research widely and quickly. This research bulletin highlights how UCF implemented the ETD and discusses the necessary policy and procedural changes, including those that were unexpected, and the work now being done.

Almost without exception, students produce theses and dissertations in electronic formats, and it would seem that an institutional electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) program would be the rule and not the exception. In the United States, however, ETD programs have been slow to gain ground; other countries are far ahead in implementing comprehensive strategies for the creation of and access to ETDs. The focus of this bulletin is on the development of institutional policies to address ETDs and the changes needed in academic culture to implement robust ETD programs. The value of ETDs as institutional intellectual assets is also explored.

This research bulletin is a companion to ECAR bulletin #18, 2005, "Digital Preservation: A Campus-Wide Perspective" by the same authors. The earlier bulletin outlined the stewardship responsibilities of the academy with respect to administrative and scholarly content. This bulletin explores a proposed model for establishing a digital preservation program in colleges and universities—requirements for educating the institutional community, developing roles and policies, and establishing an integrated technical architecture to support the complete life cycle of digital information. The model was developed at the University of Kansas.

This bulletin outlines campus-wide issues relating to digital preservation, an emerging aspect of the stewardship responsibility for higher education. Digital presentation requires more than simply extending traditional preservation practices to digital information or assuming that media backups are sufficient. Providing ongoing access to vital current content and stewardship of intellectual and cultural heritage challenges us to define a new information environment that promotes the preservation of fragile digital information. A companion ECAR research bulletin (#19, 2005) details the University of Kansas proposed actions in creating an integrated digital preservation program.