Curation: Toward a New Ethic of Digital Public History

Abstract

This essay argues that a new curatorial ethic has emerged at the heart of digital public history, reflecting a flourishing of curatorial work in the broad culture. Everyone has become a curator: the disc jockey who spins records at a club or selects playlists for Internet radio as well as the creator of a born digital archive who collects and shares cultural records. This curatorial turn has shattered the thick walls that once existed between various public history professional specializations – such as libraries, archives, and scholars. As digital public historians redefine the fields from which their practice is drawn, they create new possibilities for engaging and building wide public communities; and yet building this new curatorial ethic remains challenging because its inclusive promise depends heavily on mastering and navigating increasingly specialized technical and administrative conversations about the management and organization of digital materials.