Cameron, could you explain briefly what you mean by "curate the network, not the objects" ? I always thought digital curation was about preservation of objects+metadata ... but the networks linking objects, unlike the typical digitally archived object, are dynamic. In that case, can the networks be curated, in the traditional sense ? - Andrew Perry

Can't help thinking that in academia at least, we have a culture that rewards individual prowess over communal activity. Scientists always claim that they are creating new collaborations but when it comes to doing *the work*, everyone scurries back to their own local compartments, doing it in their own way, in their own time and in secret. - Neil Saunders

@Neil: I think the system rewards luck more than anything. You get a couple of years to roll the dice, and if nothing good comes up it's the scrapheap for you, Loser. If something pans out you're set, and you're supposed to scrabble gratefully up the ladder and tell yourself it was hard work and talent that got you there. (Who, me? Bitter? Why ever do you ask?) - Bill Hooker

@Andrew: I think there's a middle ground. The problem with a lot of what's been going on as "digital preservation" is decontextualization of the preserved objects, and Cameron is quite right to point that up as a problem. However, networks have points as well as edges, and somebody's gotta look after the points. The trick is to do so without removing the points from the network. We (meaning librarians; can't speak for scientists) haven't figured that trick out yet. - D0r0th34

Andrew, I am being a bit deliberately provocative (actually lets be honest, at a digitial curation conference I am likely to get lynched for this). The point I am trying to make is that there is a strong relationship between attribution, extracting meaning, and "network thinking". Its the bit of the talk that I am least happy with - what isn't in the slides but I will say is a) I don't mean we should throw the baby out with the bath water and b) I don't think semantic web solves all the problems either - Cameron Neylon

I guess what I am saying is that I think the edges are actually less dynamic then the nodes - because they contain meaning which is more stable than assertions or objects (like I said I'm not happy with this bit yet) - Cameron Neylon

Neil, I agree - but I wanted to frame the talk from a pragmatic view. After the first few slides the plan is to say "yes and it would all be lovely if everyone shared and everyone attributed but is it worth the hassle in the real world" - the idea is to come back at the end and show that if you build the system then people will be more open for reasons of self interest.... - Cameron Neylon

@Cameron: Thanks for clarifying. I hope you don't get lynched too severely, what you are saying makes sense :) @Dorothea: Good to hear the librarian's perspective. I agree wholeheartedly ... someones gotta look after the nodes (can't have any useful edges without them !) - Andrew Perry

No lynchings here, Cameron. :) - D0r0th34

nice use of images - by the way I'm meeting with the Drexel library in an hour to see what options we might have for archiving of UsefulChem and the ONS Challenge :) - Jean-Claude Bradley

Knowing a fair number of the folks you're likely to see at the conference, I don't think you'll get lynched at all - in fact, I think you'll find quite a few that are like-minded (even librarians!) - Sarah