Hi Janet,
I think it is telling that the European Commission's report envisions the potential of Digitisation to create a 'New Renaissance'.
Given that our own Renaissance in the Regions is now nearly 10 years old, and that we have a clearly technophile Culture Minister, I have been thinking that this could be a good opportunity for the sector to launch a concerted bid to pitch a combined BIS/DCMS funding programme for our own Digital Renaissance.
In truth, we have no joined-up response to the imperative to provide digital access to our Collections, and it is possible that in the Arts Council, we would find a willing recipient of good ideas on the Digital front. Equally, I know that other funders, such as the HLF, have been revisiting their own Digital priorities and might welcome a coordinated pitch from the sector as to what we actually need - which might well include resurrecting the previous generation of content before we plough on to create the next.
I am mindful of the very positive step that Gemma took at the last MCG meeting in proposing an advocacy message created by the group. Renaissance in the Regions happened because a self-starting group of people in the sector created a vision which happened to chime with the political priorities of the time. Collections Trust would certainly be happy to work with the MCG and other sector bodies on a joint wishlist for a Digital funding programme to be presented to Government, funders and other agencies - in the same way as the original Renaissance Report was presented.
We are good at Digital in the UK, and we have much to celebrate. I hope that we have moved beyond wanting money simply to Digitise Stuff into thinking about the panoply of possibilities offered by API, applications, marketing and the social web. I would love to see a concerted programme of investment enabling our museums to bring the best of what we have to offer to the marketplace, and to have at a sector-wide level some of those conversations with the broader Creative Industries that have so far happened on an individual basis.
On the financial front - the days of a single public funding stream are probably over. But it should be possible to assemble funding support from several sources. This is certainly a more complex environment than the very cash-rich world into which Renaissance was born, but that is no reason not to create a vision of what it is that we want to achieve. Even if we do not get the funding for it, we would still have a clearer idea of our collective aspirations as a community.
I'd really welcome opinions from the Group on whether you think it would be worth putting together a group of people to work on a proposal for a national funding programme for Digital in Museums, to be put to Government and other funding agencies later in the year.
All best,
Nick
Nick Poole
Chief Executive
Collections Trust
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Tel: 0207 022 1889
OpenCulture 2011
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Register online at http://www.openculture2011.org.uk
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-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of J DAVIS
Sent: 10 January 2011 16:32
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: EC 'Comite des Sages' calls for 'New Renaissance' in Digitisation & Online Access to Cultural
Thank you, Nick, for providing us with a concise summary of the key points (and for the work that you/Collections Trust contributed to it).
It could take us till 2016 just to dig out the old material digitised before 2005 as part of NOF or HLF funded projects.
I welcome the official recognition by Europe that such work is worthwhile and deserves resources. I will be very interested to see whence the money will come for such work.
Janet
Janet E Davis
--- On Mon, 10/1/11, Jeremy Ottevanger <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> From: Jeremy Ottevanger <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: EC 'Comite des Sages' calls for 'New Renaissance' in Digitisation & Online Access to Cultural
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Monday, 10 January, 2011, 15:41
> This is a big one, Nick. We can
> presume, I think, that in due course many of the
> recommendations will be adopted and put into effect. I can't
> wait to see what happens with "Member States must ensure
> that all material digitised with public funding is available
> on the site, and bring all their public domain masterpieces
> into Europeana by 2016".
>
> I'm looking forward to reading the report properly (on a
> dead tree) on the way home tonight and seeing what other
> gems lie within
>
> Jeremy
>
> >>> [log in to unmask]
> 10/01/2011 15:30:09 >>>
>
> Dear MCGer's,
>
>
>
> I thought you might be interested to know that the European
> Commission has just published its press release announcing
> the recommendations of the Comite des Sages (Council of the
> Wise) on Digitisation, online accessibility of Digital
> cultural heritage and Digital Preservation.
>
>
>
> To those of you not actively following the EC's work on
> Digitisation(!), the Comite des Sages (Council of the Wise)
> was established to review the barriers and opportunities for
> digital cultural content and to make recommendations on how
> the overall situation can be improved.
>
>
>
> The full report can be downloaded here: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/digital_libraries/doc/reflection_group/final-report-cdS3.pdf
>
>
>
>
> In summary, the main recommendations are:
>
>
>
> · Recognition of
> Europeana as the central reference point for European
> Cultural Heritage
>
> · A workable
> solution for the use of Orphan Works needs to be found
>
> · Member States need
> to increase considerably their investment in Digitisation
>
> · An active hybrid
> economy of public/private partnerships must be encouraged
>
> · Europeana should
> act as an archival repository for EU Cultural Heritage
>
>
>
> The Collections Trust is proud to have completed the
> research into the Costs of Digitising Europe's Cultural
> Heritage, which forms the economic underpinning of the
> recommendations made in the report. An abridged version of
> this research will be published on the Collections Link
> website (www.collectionslink.org.uk) later this month.
>
>
>
> The text of the Press Release is provided below:
>
>
>
> Digital Agenda: "Comité des Sages" calls for a "New
> Renaissance" by bringing Europe's cultural heritage online
>
>
>
> The report of the Comité des Sages (high-level reflection
> group) on Digitisation of Europe's cultural heritage was
> delivered today to Neelie Kroes, European Commission
> Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, and Androulla
> Vassiliou, Commissioner responsible for Education and
> Culture. The report urges EU Member States to step up their
> efforts to put online the collections held in all their
> libraries, archives and museums. It stresses the benefits of
> making Europe's culture and knowledge more easily
> accessible. It also points to the potential economic
> benefits of digitisation, including through public-private
> partnerships, for the development of innovative services in
> sectors like tourism, research and education. The report
> endorses the Digital Agenda's objective of strengthening
> Europe's digital library Europeana and suggests solutions
> for making works covered by copyright available online. The
> Comité des Sages on Digitisation comprises Maurice Lévy,
> Elisabeth Niggemann and Jacques de Decker (see IP/10/456).
> The report's recommendations will feed into the Commission's
> broader strategy, under the Digital Agenda for Europe, to
> help cultural institutions make the transition towards the
> digital age.
>
>
>
> Neelie Kroes said: "I sincerely thank the three "sages" for
> their constructive suggestions on how we can trigger a
> "Digital Renaissance" in Europe. Bringing our museums' and
> libraries' collections online not only shows Europe's rich
> history and culture but can also usher in new benefits for
> education, for innovation and for generating new economic
> activities. It will put high quality content on the net for
> many generations."
>
>
>
> Androulla Vassiliou added: "The Group has balanced the
> interests of creators with the imperatives of a changing
> environment in the digital era. We need to find ways and
> means to do so in all the areas where the cultural and
> creative industries are confronted with the challenges of
> moving into the digital age. Culture and heritage in the
> digital era represent a set of opportunities for European
> economies and societies."
>
>
>
> The report, called "The New Renaissance", key conclusions
> and recommendations are:
>
>
>
> · The Europeana
> portal should become the central reference point for
> Europe's online cultural heritage. Member States must ensure
> that all material digitised with public funding is available
> on the site, and bring all their public domain masterpieces
> into Europeana by 2016. Cultural institutions, the European
> Commission and Member States should actively and widely
> promote Europeana.
>
>
>
> · Works that are
> covered by copyright, but are no longer distributed
> commercially, need to be brought online. It is primarily the
> role of rights-holders to digitise these works and exploit
> them. But, if rights holders do not do so, cultural
> institutions must have a window of opportunity to digitise
> material and make it available to the public, for which
> right holders should be remunerated.
>
>
>
> · EU rules for
> orphan works (whose rights holders cannot be identified)
> need to be adopted as soon as possible. The Report defines
> eight fundamental conditions for any solution.
>
>
>
> · Member States need
> to considerably increase their funding for digitisation in
> order to generate jobs and growth in the future. The funds
> needed to build 100 km of roads would pay for the
> digitisation of 16% of all available books in EU libraries,
> or the digitisation of every piece of audio content in EU
> Member States' cultural institutions.
>
>
>
> · Public-private
> partnerships for digitisation must be encouraged. They must
> be transparent, non-exclusive and equitable for all
> partners, and must result in cross-border access to the
> digitised material for all. Preferential use of the
> digitised material granted to the private partner should not
> exceed seven years.
>
>
>
> · To guarantee the
> preservation of collections in their digital format, a
> second copy of this cultural material should be archived at
> Europeana. In addition, a system should be developed so that
> any cultural material that currently needs to be deposited
> in several countries would only be deposited once.
>
>
>
> The recommendations of the 'Comité des sages' will feed
> into the Commission's broader strategy, under the Digital
> Agenda for Europe to help cultural institutions make the
> transition towards the digital age and to search for new and
> effective business models that accelerate digitisation while
> allowing fair remuneration for rights holders where
> necessary (see IP/10/581, MEMO/10/199 and MEMO/10/200). The
> recommendations will also be useful for the Commission's
> plan to develop a sustainable funding model for Europeana by
> 2012.
>
>
>
> Today europeana.eu already offers access to more than 15
> million digitised books, maps, photographs, film clips,
> paintings and musical extracts, but this is only a fraction
> of works held by Europe's cultural institutions (see
> IP/10/1524). Most digitised materials are older works in the
> public domain, to avoid potential litigation for works
> covered by copyright.
>
>
>
> Background
>
>
>
> The "Comité des sages" comprised Maurice Lévy (Chairman
> and Chief Executive Officer of advertising and
> communications company Publicis), Elisabeth Niggemann
> (Director-General of the German National Library and chair
> of the Europeana Foundation) and Jacques De Decker (author
> and Permanent Secretary of Belgium's Royal Academy of French
> language and literature).
>
>
>
> Comité des Sages' recommendations: link here:
>
>
>
> http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/digital_libraries/index_en.htm
>
>
>
>
> Nick Poole
>
> Chief Executive
>
> Collections Trust
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>
> Tel: 0207 022 1889
>
> OpenCulture 2011
> UK and international Collections Management Trade Fair and
> Conference
> 7th & 8th June 2011.
> Register online at http://www.openculture2011.org.uk <http://www.openculture2011.org.uk>
>
>
>
> http://www.collectionstrust.org.uk
>
> http://www.collectionslink.org.uk
>
> http://openculture.collectionstrustblogs.org.uk
>
>
>
> Follow us on Twitter: @collectiontrust <http://www.twitter.com/collectiontrust>
>
> Follow me on Twitter: @nickpoole1
>
> Contact me on Skype: nickpoole3
>
> Connect via LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=5289899&locale=en_US&trk=tab_pro
>
>
>
>
> Company Registration No: 1300565
>
> Registered Charity No: 273984
>
> Registered Office: Collections Trust c/o CAN Mezzanine,
> Downstream Building, No1 London Bridge, London SE1 9BG
>
>
>
>
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