News Archive
This page is no longer maintained. For information on digital cultural heritage research from September 2007 onwards, see the new DigiCult web site in the ICT portal.
Self audit tool for digital repositories
On 1 March 2007, the DigiCult project DigitalPreservationEurope (DPE) and the Digital Curation Centre (DCC) released DRAMBORA (Digital Repository Audit Method Based on Risk Assessment), a toolkit that facilitates the self-assessment of a broad range of digital repositories with regard to long-term digital preservation. DRAMBORA is designed as a contribution to the definition of trustworthy digital repositories and to the identification of objective criteria for the certification of long-term preservation services.
The toolkit is available for downloading and testing.
Scientific information in the digital age: access, dissemination and preservation
On 15 February 2007, the European Commission announced its Communication "Scientific information in the digital age: access, dissemination and preservation" (EN / FR / DE - PDF, 60KB). The Communication's objective is to signal the importance of and launch a policy process on access to and dissemination of scientific information, as well as strategies for the preservation of scientific information. It announces a series of measures at European level, including the funding of research on long-term preservation of digital material in the framework of FP7.
Call for tenders: study on European efforts and progress in digitisation of cultural resources
The European Commission, Directorate-General Information Society and Media, published on 13 September a call for tenders for the development and testing of a framework and associated methodology for the collection and analysis of data on digitisation of material held by libraries, archives and museums in the EU. The results expected are instruments to better identify the total European digitisation effort and progress, to make international comparisons, and to stimulate further digitisation. The study will be made available to stakeholders that have an interest or direct involvement in digitisation policies and funding (governments, statistical agencies, cultural institutions, academic and scientific institutions, publishers, industry). Deadline for submissions: 9 October 2006.
i2010 Digital Libraries: Commission Recommendation on digitisation, accessibility and preservation
In the context of the i2010 Digital Libraries initiative, the European Commission adopted on 24 August 2006 a Recommendation on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation. It calls on EU Member States to set up large-scale digitisation facilities, so as to accelerate the process of getting Europe's cultural heritage online via the European digital library. It also calls for action in various other areas, ranging from copyright questions to the systematic preservation of digital content in order to ensure long term access to the material. The full text of the Recommendation and other relevant information are available from the website of the i2010 Digital Libraries initiative.
High Level Experts discuss vision for European Digital Library
On 27 March 2006, Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding chaired the first meeting of the High Level Expert Group on Digital Libraries. The group will advise the Commission on how to tackle key challenges in making Europe's cultural heritage available online. In its first meeting, the group discussed the Commission's vision for the European Digital Library and set up a framework for its future work. The group also had a first exchange of views on copyright issues. The 20 members of the High Level Expert Group are experts from libraries, archives, museums, content providers, industry, research organisations and academia. The list of members and more information on the meeting are available from the Digital Libraries website.
Next steps towards the European Digital Library
2 March 2006: The European Commission has launched a press release on digital libraries, announcing the results of the on-line consultation and future plans for promoting digital access to Europe's heritage: 'At least six million books, documents and other cultural works will be made available to anyone with a Web connection through the European Digital Library over the next five years. In order to boost European digitisation efforts, the Commission will co-fund the creation of a Europe-wide network of digitisation centres. The Commission will also address, in a series of policy documents, the issue of the appropriate framework for intellectual property rights protection in the context of digital libraries.'
The European Digital Library will build upon the infrastructure of TEL, The European Library, a webservice set up by members of the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL) and resulting from a DigiCult research project funded under FP5. TEL is today the gateway to the catalogue records of collections in many national libraries, and gives also access to a range of digitised resources of the participating libraries.
The full text of the press release is available in five languages.
Action plan for the EU co-ordination of digitisation
The UK Presidency of the European Union launched on 15 November 2005 the Dynamic Action Plan for the EU co-ordination of digitisation of cultural and scientific content. It presents a range of short-term and longer-term initiatives designed to make Europe's cultural and scientific resources more accessible to a broader public by using digitisation technologies and the Internet.
The action plan is the result of work carried out by the National Representatives Group on digitisation policies and programmes, in particular under the Netherlands, Luxembourg and UK Presidencies of the EU and takes forward the issues of the Lund Action Plan (2001). For more information on the NRG, Lund and associated activities carried out under MINERVA see the DigiCult website, section digitisation'.
Commission unveils plans for European digital libraries
On 30 September 2005, the European Commission unveiled its strategy to make Europe's written and audiovisual heritage available on the Internet. Turning Europe's historic and cultural heritage into digital content will make it usable for European citizens for their studies, work or leisure and will give innovators, artists and entrepreneurs the raw material that they need. The Commission proposes a concerted drive by EU Member States to digitise, preserve, and make this heritage available to all. It presents a first set of actions at European level and invites comments on a series of issues in an online consultation (deadline for replies 20 January 2006). The replies will feed into a proposal for a Recommendation on digitisation and digital preservation, to be presented in June 2006.
To read the Communication and to participate in the on-line consultation, please open the new i2010 Digital Libraries website.
i2010 - A way forward for Europe's ICT and media sectors
In order to boost Europe's ICT and media sectors, the Commission launched i2010, a comprehensive policy initiative relying on regulatory instruments, research and partnerships with industry. Particular attention will be given to the promotion of high-speed and secure broadband networks offering rich and diverse content in Europe. i2010 is built on three pillars - the creation of the i2010 information space, i.e. an open and competitive single market for information society and media services within the EU; increased innovation in ICTs; inclusion and better services for citizens. Presented on 1 June, i2010 is the first Commission initiative to be adopted under the EU's new Jobs and Growth Strategy.
Stronger policy support for preserving and accessing Europe's cultural heritage
On 3 May, the European Commission announced that it is to boost its policy of preserving and exploiting Europe's written and audiovisual heritage. At a time when the internet and the digital technologies are an everyday part of the life of European citizens, tapping the potential of our written text, image and sound archives is of major importance in economic terms as much as in cultural terms. The Commission plans to issue a communication by July outlining the stakes involved and identifying the obstacles to using written and audiovisual archives in the European Union. The communication will be accompanied by a proposal for a Recommendation aimed at enlisting all the public players concerned and facilitating public-private partnerships in the task of digitising our heritage.
As a first step, existing actions to be continued and expanded have been defined, among those the DigiCult projects MINERVA & MINERVAPlus, DIGICULT Forum, The European Library (TEL), PRESTO & PRESTOSPACE. More...
New project started on 1 February 2005
On 1 February 2005, a new project in the Cultural Heritage area took up its activity: TEL-ME-MOR is a support action with the overall goal of stimulating and facilitating the participation of organisations from the new EU member states in the learning and cultural heritage areas of the IST Programme. Part of the work of the project is to extend the network environment TEL - The European Library -to the national libraries of the new member states and thus make their digital resources more accessible for the research community and for other users.
Work Programme 2005-2006 published
The IST Work Programme 2005-2006 can now be consulted on the IST website. One of the Strategic Objectives is 'Access to and preservation of cultural and scientific resources'. Proposals for new research projects can be submitted to the 5th public call in the IST domain, scheduled for summer 2005 (closing date 21 September 2005).
IST event 2004 - 'Participate in Your Future'
This year's edition of the IST event presents a number of opportunities to know about and experiment with results and on-going work of the DigiCult projects and to get in contact with the project teams. We've compiled an overview to help you to find the relevant activities in the programme (PDF, 260KB).