Proprietary data formats, undisclosed specifications, partial standardisation, lack of adequate open formats, and the fast obsolescence of hardware, supporting operative systems and software are the major issues undermining both the data survival and reuse. Over-reliance on proprietary solutions, inadequate enrichment of assets with metadata, informal retention policies, idiosyncratic archival and management of data files are also important causes of information loss that occur just at the assets creation stage and that in some cases, such as in the AEC (Architecture Engineering Construction) sector determine economical damages even in the short term.

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It looks as if we two never will be one, something must be done (sing-along reading is encouraged): you say Data Curation and I say Digital Curation, you say Digital Stewardship and I say Digital Preservation, ... 

The famous song by George and Ira Gershwin I have played with above depicts a playful quarrel of lovers whose affaire appears to be doomed by their disparate social origins. A similar “dialectical” differentiation has been promoted by the disciplines within the domain of Library and Information Sciences on the ground of their differences in operational contexts, professional competences and theoretical scopes. More often than not, the educational objectives of research institutions have contributed to create such distinctions too, for example promoting legacy specialisations or, on the contrary, launching new curricula.

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