Designated Community: uncertainty and risk
ISSN: 0022-0418
Article publication date: 23 November 2022
Issue publication date: 31 May 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This article explores the tension between the concept of a Designated Community (DC) as a foundational element in Trustworthy Digital Repository (TDR) certification and curators' uncertainty about how to interpret and apply this concept in practice.
Design/methodology/approach
This research employs a qualitative research design involving in-depth semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in the Trustworthy Digital Repository Audit and Certification (TRAC) process.
Findings
The authors' findings indicate that stakeholders in the audit and certification process viewed their uncertainty about how to apply the concept of a DC in the context of an audit as a source of risk for digital repositories and the repositories' collections.
Originality/value
This article brings new insights to digital preservation by applying social theories of risk to trustworthy digital repository audit and certification processes, with an emphasis on the concept of DC.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr. Elizabeth Yakel, Ph.D., Dr. Paul Conway, Ph.D., Dr. Paul Courant, Ph.D. and Dr. Shobita Parthasarathy, Ph.D. for the feedback and guidance at various stages of this project. The authors would also like to thank Megh Marathe and Carl Haynes for the assistance with data analysis.
Funding: This research was funded in part by a University of Michigan Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant. This research was also partly funded by the Einstein Center Digital Future.
Citation
Frank, R.D. and Rothfritz, L. (2023), "Designated Community: uncertainty and risk", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 79 No. 4, pp. 880-897. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-07-2022-0161
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited