Cultural institutions and cultural Open Data
Publication Date/Time
2018-05-23T09:00:00+00:00
THE RISE OF CULTURAL OPEN DATA 

Cultural institutions possess a lot of valuable information. Examples
are the collections that cultural institutions manage and the
available knowledge about these collections. New technologies have
made it possible to expose cultural heritage on digital platforms and
in the last few years, an increasing number of cultural institutions
digitised their collections. Digitised material from cultural
institutions can be re-used to develop, among others: learning and
educational content, documentaries, animations and design tools.
However, re-use of data is only possible if the digitised data is
'open', which means that end users can re-use and further distribute
the data. To re-use cultural data, the material must be 1) digitised
(published online) and 2) open (data that can be freely used, re-used
and redistributed by anyone).

Currently, 90% of all the cultural heritage in the world has not been
digitised, according to Europeana
[https://pro.europeana.eu/files/Europeana_Professional/Publications/Europeana%20Presidencies%20White%20Paper.pdf].
And once the material of cultural institutions is digitised, low
metadata quality, low resolution of the material, policy and
contractual constraints of institutions still stand in the way of
wider use and re-use of the digitised materials. From the 10%
digitised material, only 34% of the digitised objects are available
online and barely 3% of that work is 'open'.

 

THE DILEMMA CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS FACE 

Cultural institutions all over the world have to answer the following
important question for themselves: do the benefits of publishing
cultural artefacts in an open way outweigh the concerns?

This article elaborates on the benefits of digitising cultural data
and making it openly available, supported by interviews with the
Rijksmuseum
[https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio?ii=0&p=0&from=2018-05-23T11%3A08%3A44.9665056Z]
(the Netherlands) and the Statens Museum for Kunst
[http://collection.smk.dk/#/en/] (SMK) (Denmark). These museums made
their collections openly available successfully and shared their
experiences.

 

BENEFITS OF DIGITISING CULTURAL DATA AND MAKING IT OPENLY AVAILABLE 

A substantial part of all the cultural heritage in the world has not
been digitised yet. Much can be done by cultural institutions to boost
the digitisation of cultural material. To achieve this, the first step
is to provide insights in the benefits of digitising cultural heritage
to make organisations aware of the importance of investments in
digitisation. The benefits outlined below apply to cultural
institutions and people from all over the world who are interested in
cultural material, according to Lorna M. Hughes in "Digitizing
Collections"
[http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/downloads/file/sample_chapters/digitising%20collections%20chapter%201.pdf].
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/201821-cultural-bubbles.png]
_Figure 1 Benefits of digitising cultural heritage_

 

ACCESS FOR A BROADER AUDIENCE

The primary benefit of cultural digitisation is that it provides
people across the globe access to collections from various cultural
institutions. Digital material can be made available by cultural
institutions for a broader audience than only the ones who are able to
view the piece physically. According to the Rijksmuseum and the SMK,
one of the primary reasons for digitising their collections was the
firm belief that the The Rijksmuseum states that especially some
smaller institutions still have the following idea of digitisation:
"the collection is ours, we take care of it and we are the boss. If
you want to re-use the material, you can, but you have to pay for it.
People are often surprised when we tell them: we have already let go
of this idea. If people hear our story they often see it as an
eyeopener. We therefore find it important to bring information to
other parties".

Another reason for digitisation of the collection was that re-use of
the content has always been an important driver for both museums. The
Rijksmuseum mentioned the following about this: "we specifically
wanted to digitise our collection in the highest quality possible to
make sure people from all over the world can re-use the material for
various purposes. In the beginning period, if someone wanted to use
one or more of our files, they had to purchase them. However, after a
certain period, the decision was made to make the files available for
free. We had to answer questions for ourselves such as: 'how do we
manage this process of incoming money flows and associated
administrative costs?' We decided we did not want to manage this and
therefore we choose to let it go and make the files available for
free".

 

DAMAGE PREVENTION OF THE ORIGINAL COPY

Developing a digital copy of a rare or fragile original object can
provide access to users while preventing the original from damage. For
the British Library, this was the motivation for digitisation a
substantive part of their cultural material, for example a manuscript
which is too fragile for use by scholars without special permission.
The Library made available a high-resolution imaging of the original
and created digital images that can be subject to advanced imaging
analysis including x-ray photography.

 

REUNIFICATION OF COLLECTIONS

By using digital material, gaps in existing collections can be
overcome: collaborative digitisation initiatives allow the
re-unification of different pieces that belong together. In a lot of
cases, material that was originally part of a complete collection is
later held in various locations. There is a growing need to present at
least a 'digital' sense of what the entire collection would look like.
By digitising the collection, materials can be 're-unified' and many
projects have been motivated by the idea of 'digitally reuniting' a
collection.

 

RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

Finally, digitisation of cultural heritage can have great benefits for
education. Several cultural institutions already presented educational
'modules' on their websites, presenting 'packages' of educational
material based on their collections. Many museums have been successful
in this area, as most institutions have in-house educational
departments who are responsible for developing material that can
create programs for all levels of digital learners.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

Digital heritage plays a crucial role in developing a deeper
understanding of the world and can help fuel a booming creative
economy and serve educational goals. However, making cultural Open
Data available is not happening on a large scale yet. Therefore, to
speed up this process, several recommendations can be made:

 	* _Get in contact with other cultural institutions that are one step
ahead in the digitising process and let them inspire you and provide
you with new insights.
According to the SMK, knowledge sharing between several cultural
institutions can take institutions to the next level of the
digitisation. In 2011, the SMK took the first step in exploring Open
Data and open content with other institutions in small pilot projects
where SMK invited other Danish museums to digital images sharing
projects. Due to these kind of initiatives, from other museums as
well, there is a greater awareness in the museum sector around the
potential of Open Data._

 	* _Use each other's infrastructure
Do not only collaborate for the purpose of knowledge sharing but to
use each other's infrastructure as well. Especially larger
institutions have the equipment to digitise material. These
institutions have established processes for digitisation. And in some
cases, this equipment is not used 24/7. The Rijksmuseum thus gives the
advice to look where you can use each other's capacities. This also
applies to institutions in your direct environment._

 	* _Start with digitising a small set of items. The situation or
material does not have to be 'perfect' yet but make a beginning and go
further from here: just make a start._
The Rijksmuseum gives the following advice: "perfect is the enemy of
good". Just start. Start with a small set and see how it feels. See
what the reactions are and continue from there. Don't try to get
everything in order and think too long about it. Just start small.

 	* _Make use of other digital platforms than your own and make sure
that you are not somehow trying to avoid your collection being used on
other platforms. Make sure to see those other platforms as part of
you._
The SMK gives the following example on this topic: one small Danish
museum had digital reproductions of their collection, but they did not
have a platform themselves to publish them. Instead, they published
the collection on Wikimedia Commons and this has hugely increased the
use of the collection by many new user groups that they were not in
touch with before. This required minimum effort and it is a sound
investment if you do not have your own digital platforms to invest in.

 	* _Include your digital ambitions in your mission statement_
According to the SMK, it is important to formulate a mission/ impact
statement to make your ambition more concrete. To do this, first
formulate an impact statement and ask the following questions: what do
we really want to achieve in society as a museum? What role do we want
to play? How do we see our impact? And then reason back from that.
Look at your mission statement and see whether it describes the impact
you want to have and then, go back one step at the time to think of
the output you want in order to achieve that impact. Ask the following
questions: what kind of activities do we need to plan to achieve that
output? What kind of resources need to be consulted to achieve those
activities? By doing this, the ambition becomes more clear and
realistic.

