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SCOPE

Issues dealt with in this guideline include:
Government policy initiatives
Planning
IPR
File formats
Hardware and software
Resource description
Workflow

POLICY ISSUES

The digitisation of ‘traditional’ materials – print, images etc. – is a supportive process to Europe-wide efforts to capture and create digital cultural heritages. In this DGM, the emphasis is on digitisation of images (including images of text), but most of what is said applies equally to other digitised objects (such as audio files).

Government Policy Initiatives
In Europe, agreement has been reached that digitisation offers strategic opportunities and should be pursued vigorously. The European Commission has declared that it will act as a co-ordinator of this vital activity. For example it has said that: ‘Digitisation is an essential first step to generating digital content that will underpin a fully digital Europe. It is a vital activity in preserving Europe's collective cultural heritage, providing improved access for the citizen to that heritage, to enhancing education and tourism, and to the development of eContent industries.’ The critical role that it plays was recognised in the eEurope 2002 Action Plan endorsed by the EU Member States at the Feira European Council in June 2000. This places digitisation at the heart of the achievement of the eEurope concept. There is a specific action line on digital content. A key event was a meeting held in Lund, Sweden, in April 2001 at which it was agreed that co-ordination of national initiatives was both desirable and necessary. It was stated that ‘digitisation provided a key mechanism to exploit Europe’s unique heritage and to support cultural diversity, education and the generation of content industries. Although the Member States were investing in enabling access to their cultural heritage there are still many obstacles to the near and longer term success of these initiatives. These hurdles include the diversity of approaches to digitisation, the risks associated with the use of inappropriate technologies and inadequate standards, the challenges posed by long term preservation and access to digital objects, lack of consistency in approaches to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and the lack of synergy between cultural and new technology programmes.

The Lund Meeting concluded that these obstacles could be tackled and the objectives of the eEurope Action Plan could be advanced if the Member States were to

• establish an ongoing forum for coordination

• support the developing of a European view on policies and programmes

• develop mechanisms to promote good practice and consistency of practice and skills development

• work in a collaborative manner to make visible and accessible the digitised cultural and scientific heritage of Europe.

MINERVA, a Network of Excellence funded under the IST Programme, has now been established. With an initial membership of seven Ministries or related national bodies, it provides a collaborative framework for the Lund Action Plan and its working groups. MINERVA aims to extend its network to all Member States in the short term, with the aim of ensuring that digitisation policies have impact at local level.
http://www.minervaeurope.org/

The FP6 cultural workplan includes as a priority that digitisation costs be cut by 50% through automated techniques, which should have an impact on the ability of local institutions to generate content.

The principles agreed at Lund and other background documents are available on CORDIS, the EC’s official web site. National sites, with additional resources, are also available e.g. The People's Network. The report of a meeting held in London in July 2001 which deals with many relevant issues and includes links to key documents can be found at http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue5/giants/.

Points to note:

• There is a common interest in digitisation between all types of memory institution (libraries, museums, archives, galleries, record offices, etc.).

• Digitisation should constitute an important facet of the planning of national and international information infrastructures.

• Public libraries will need to be careful not to infringe copyright by digitising material to which they do not own the rights, but will also want to protect their investment. (See copyright)

• The Legal Deposit of digitised materials needs to be addressed.

Home | Digitisation (Summary)
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