Economics of Sustainable Digital Information

Digital information is all around us, but responsible curation is necessary in order to ensure persistence for reuse in the future. This half term course examines sustainable digital preservation activities in the United States and internationally. The course covers economic mechanisms and cost models and then focuses on case studies of several approaches to digital preservation programs. The goal of the course is to integrate economic concepts and digital preservation initiatives in order to assess whether or not these activities are leading towards sustainable digital preservation programs. The course will also discuss cost models for analog materials in order to both establish a baseline, contrast, and discussion on how to manage information resources in the analog / hybrid world. The main goal of the course is to round out student's knowledge of digital preservation by providing an economic perspective in contrast to the technological and user-centered perspectives featured in other PI classes.