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 DATA CURATION PRESERVATION (ORGANISATIONAL ISSUES): THE HIDDEN CRISIS IN DATA PRESERVATION



Figure 1: The Data Curation Preservation Issues

Introduction

In cases where the organisation loses valuable research data, the first thought to come to mind will be technological problems such as hardware failure or outdated software. However, there is a growing body of research showing that the real reason why data is lost is organisational issues rather than technological ones.

The Accountability Vacuum

Data governance within research organisations is seriously underdeveloped. A groundbreaking study from 2003 on e-Science data curation noted that there can be uncertainty as to institutional responsibilities for long-term data management, leading to significant deficiencies in preservation procedures (Digital Archiving Consultancy, 2003). Almost twenty years later, the same issue still applies. Despite organisations' investments in their technological infrastructure, questions related to ownership persist. Whose responsibility is it to preserve the data? Whose job is it to maintain the metadata so that it is readable? Such questions will be asked only after the crisis happens.

There are costs associated with curatorial work, which is described as being expensive both in terms of time and effort. A large-scale study conducted recently found that despite such expenses, there was a consistent underestimation of the personnel needs for preservation (AFFORD Project, 2025).

The Problem with Invisible Work

It is important to note that data curation is not a simple, linear process. Observations of curators working at large social science archives showed that the real work done by these experts defies the rote sequence of events implied by many lifecycle or workflow models (Thomer et al., 2022). The practice of curating is largely based on craft knowledge, including tacit knowledge, contextual judgment, and collaboration. This practice is invisible to organisational management, and therefore, it does not receive enough recognition.

Once that knowledge leaves an organisation together with a departing curator, the possibility of preserving digital information disappears. As noted in IDCC (2026), workforce continuity and knowledge transfer have been identified as persistent organizational vulnerabilities.

Deferred curation will almost certainly never occur. However, funding agencies usually do not contribute to the cost of concurrent curation. Furthermore, there are very few incentives in organisations for such curation. In particular, the AFFORD Project (2025) states that the creation of reusable data involves a significant cost at the front end in documentation and formatting that organisations tend to neglect. The 2003 e-Science report wisely predicted that managing activities performed contemporaneously with the process of research generation prove far more effective than retroactive approaches (Digital Archiving Consultancy, 2003). Now it has been almost twenty years since.

Moving Forward

Solving organisational problems entails much more than making policy statements. First, institutions have to appoint curation custodians, compensate curators for their labour, and create cross-disciplinary teams. As suggested by Thomer et al. (2022), viewing curation as a craft activity is the first step towards maintaining it. Technology ensures digital survival while organisations ensure meaningful preservation.

References

AFFORD Project. (2025). Affording reusable data: Recommendations for researchers. Scientific             Data, 12, 258.

Carlos, J. (2025). Transforming practices: Challenges related to the operationalisation of research      data management services in academia. Canadian Journal of Information and Library         Science.

Digital Archiving Consultancy. (2003). e-Science Data Curation Report. JISC / UK National                      Archives.

IDCC (International Digital Curation Conference). (2026). Contemporary Curation Challenges                  Session. Zagreb, Croatia.

Ncube, M. M., & Ngulube, P. (2025). Beyond service inventories: A three-dimensional framework      for diagnosing structural barriers in academic library research dataset                                                management. Information, 16(12), 1046.

Thomer, A. K., Akmon, D., York, J. J., et al. (2022). The craft and coordination of data                                    curation. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 6(CSCW2), 414.

 

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