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This article tackles the issue of integrating heterogeneous archival sources in one single data repository, namely the EHRI portal, whose aim is to support Holocaust research by providing online access to information about dispersed sources relating to the Holocaust (http://portal.ehri-project.eu). In this case, the problem at hand is to combine data coming from a network of archives in order to create an interoperable data space which can be used to search for, retrieve and disseminate content in the context of archival-based research. The central aspect of the work described in this paper is the assessment of the role of the Encoded Archival Description (EAD) standard as the basis for achieving the tasks described above. We have worked out how we could develop a real strategy of defining specific customization of EAD that could be used at various stages of the process of integrating heterogeneous sources. We have developed a methodology based on a specification and customization method inspired from the extensive experience of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) community. In the TEI framework, one has the possibility to model specific subsets or extensions of the TEI guidelines while maintaining both the technical (XML schemas) and editorial (documentation) content within a single framework. This work has led us quite far in anticipating that the method we have developed may be of a wider interest within similar environments, but also, as we believe, for the future maintenance of the EAD standard. Special thanks to Annelies van Nispen (NIOD) and Hector Martinez Alonso (ALMAnaCH) for their help, and to Lou Burnard (TEI) for his wise comments International audience

This paper advocates the necessity of developing a pragmatic alternative to the dominant custodial theorization of digital curation as an “umbrella concept for digital preservation, data curation, electronic records, and digital asset management”. Starting from a historical account and an examination of prevalent definitions, it points to the current dependence of digital curation on a prescriptive approach rooted in its cognate field of digital preservation, aiming to serve the needs of professional stewardship. It demonstrates the disconnect of this theorization with the rich historical traditions of museum curatorship where the notion of curation originated, its inability to act as a framework for understanding the diversity and pervasiveness of contemporary digital curation practices “in the wild” (such as content curation, personal archiving, and pro-am digitization), and its dependence on a “wild frontier” ideology dissonant with contemporary critical cultural heritage scholarship. The alternative, pragmatic approach views digital curation as a “contact zone” practice, routinely performed by a broad range of actors including researchers, artists, users, and communities, on dynamically evolving objects, domain knowledge representations, and interactions, beyond the curation life cycle prescribed for custodial environments. On this basis, this study calls for a formal reconceptualization of digital curation, adequate knowledge representation of its objects, evidence-based research on curation practices, and establishment of curation-enabled digital infrastructures suitable for curation in the continuum. Reaching beyond a custodial view, this approach aims to establish digital curation as a field of intellectual inquiry relevant to emerging pervasive curation practices in the digital environment.