Two Decades, Same Story? Insights and Future Directions in Long Tail Data Curation
This paper examines the evolution of the concept of long tail research data in the scholarly literature. The “long tail” concept, originally used to describe “niche” digital products that have a significant market share when taken as an aggregate, was first applied to research data in 2007 to refer...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Edinburgh
2025-06-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Digital Curation |
| Online Access: | https://ijdc.net/index.php/ijdc/article/view/1057 |
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| _version_ | 1849467951324856320 |
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| author | Inna Kouper Gretchen Stahlman |
| author_facet | Inna Kouper Gretchen Stahlman |
| author_sort | Inna Kouper |
| collection | DOAJ |
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This paper examines the evolution of the concept of long tail research data in the scholarly literature. The “long tail” concept, originally used to describe “niche” digital products that have a significant market share when taken as an aggregate, was first applied to research data in 2007 to refer to a vast array of smaller, heterogeneous data collections that cumulatively represent a substantial portion of scientific knowledge. These datasets are frequently overlooked due to inadequate data management practices and institutional support. Bridging the discussions on data curation in library & information science (LIS) and domain-specific contexts, this paper identifies several themes in these discussions and offers insights, or provocations, that encourage researchers to rethink the existing frameworks and methods and find new approaches that would help both researchers and data professionals. This review seeks to enhance understanding of long tail data as both a concept and a field, while also informing current and future research and practice.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-42233b68f8ff4848abbb7e49840cd4e9 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1746-8256 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Digital Curation |
| spelling | doaj-art-42233b68f8ff4848abbb7e49840cd4e92025-08-20T03:25:59ZengUniversity of EdinburghInternational Journal of Digital Curation1746-82562025-06-0119110.2218/ijdc.v19i1.1057Two Decades, Same Story? Insights and Future Directions in Long Tail Data CurationInna Kouper0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9801-2277Gretchen Stahlman1Indiana UniversityFlorida State University This paper examines the evolution of the concept of long tail research data in the scholarly literature. The “long tail” concept, originally used to describe “niche” digital products that have a significant market share when taken as an aggregate, was first applied to research data in 2007 to refer to a vast array of smaller, heterogeneous data collections that cumulatively represent a substantial portion of scientific knowledge. These datasets are frequently overlooked due to inadequate data management practices and institutional support. Bridging the discussions on data curation in library & information science (LIS) and domain-specific contexts, this paper identifies several themes in these discussions and offers insights, or provocations, that encourage researchers to rethink the existing frameworks and methods and find new approaches that would help both researchers and data professionals. This review seeks to enhance understanding of long tail data as both a concept and a field, while also informing current and future research and practice. https://ijdc.net/index.php/ijdc/article/view/1057 |
| spellingShingle | Inna Kouper Gretchen Stahlman Two Decades, Same Story? Insights and Future Directions in Long Tail Data Curation International Journal of Digital Curation |
| title | Two Decades, Same Story? Insights and Future Directions in Long Tail Data Curation |
| title_full | Two Decades, Same Story? Insights and Future Directions in Long Tail Data Curation |
| title_fullStr | Two Decades, Same Story? Insights and Future Directions in Long Tail Data Curation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Two Decades, Same Story? Insights and Future Directions in Long Tail Data Curation |
| title_short | Two Decades, Same Story? Insights and Future Directions in Long Tail Data Curation |
| title_sort | two decades same story insights and future directions in long tail data curation |
| url | https://ijdc.net/index.php/ijdc/article/view/1057 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT innakouper twodecadessamestoryinsightsandfuturedirectionsinlongtaildatacuration AT gretchenstahlman twodecadessamestoryinsightsandfuturedirectionsinlongtaildatacuration |