DC-net Services priorities Rolf Källman National Archives of Sweden New e-services in the field of Digital Cultural Heritage Ankara, the 15th of October 2012 1

DC-net project DC-NET - Digital Cultural heritage NETwork was an ERA-NET (European Research Area Network) project, financed by the European Commission under the e-Infrastructure -Capacities Programme of the FP7. The main aim of the project was to develop and to strengthen the co-ordination of the public research programmes among the European countries, in the sector of the digital cultural heritage.

The DC-net partners: Italy Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico delle biblioteche italiane e per le informazioni bibliografiche of the Italian Ministry of Culture Belgium Federal Science Policy Office/Scientific and Technical Information Service Estonia Eesti Vabariigi Kultuuriministeerium Estonian Ministry of Culture France Ministère de la Culture e la Communication - Département de la Recherche de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Technologie - French Ministry of Culture Greece Hellenic Ministry of Culture Hungary Oktatási Kulturális Minisztérium - Ministry of Education and Culture Slovenia Ministrstvo za Kulturo Slovenia - Ministry of Culture Sweden Kulturdepartementet Swedish Ministry of Culture, represented by the National Archives

DC-net Services Priorities The main task of Work Package 3 was to draw up a new set of priorities for digital cultural heritage research to establish a systematic exchange of information and best practices on existing programmes that can be activated for the actual implementation of research.

DC-net Services Priorities In order to achieve the objectives, the activities of WP 3 were divided into two blocks: Service Priorities and Best Practices

WP3 Services Priorities Three main inputs: an internal project report on research priorities a Handbook on e-Infrastructures (DC-NET deliverable D2.2) an analysis of discussions held by all partners with their e-Infrastructure providers. Work done: Preceded by workshops/seminars and interviews a main workshop was held in Paris in February 2011. The research priorities were reviewed with the aim to generate a common set of priorities for future work, applicable to, in the first place, all consortium countries. Outputs: The priorities discussed was, then, analysed and further investigated to form the basis for the DC-NET deliverable Digital Cultural Heritage Services Priorities Report (D3.1).

New Services Priorities: Categories Category 1: Services for content providers Creation of an on-line location Identification of areas of priorities for the DCH research community Technical services needed Category 2: Services for managing and adding value to the content. Category 3: Services to support activities of content consumers/end users (and enhance virtual research communities).

Priority ordering Priority 1: Long term preservation Priority 2: Persistent identifiers Priority3: Interoperability & Aggregation Priority 4: Advanced Search Priority 5: Data Resource Setup Priority 6: User Authentication and Access Control Priority 7: IPR and Digital Rights Management

Priority 1: Long term preservation Is given top priority because Preservation is an urgent issue, with hardware obsolescence and the need for media migration e-Infrastructures are in a position to offer substantial storage immediately Moving critical DCH holdings to a “cloud environment” has the potential to place it on a new and stable platform for other new services Relatively minor R&D is needed for “raw” or “simple” storage.

Priority 2: Persistent identifiers Is given second priority because Broken links and moving digital content due to website redevelopment, etc. are an urgent problem There is excellent research and development already done in this area, and one or more of the existing schemes (e.g. DOI, ARK, URI, URN, etc.) could be adopted with minimal adjustment A PID registry is a service which can benefit significantly from a centralised or cloud-based implementation; e-Infrastructures have much to offer here The PID requirements do not vary significantly from one DCH initiative to another.

Priority 3: Interoperability & Aggregation This service receives third priority because Although very important for European DCH, it is technically challenging and will require substantial effort and investment. The effort increases linearly with the number of data resources made interoperable – a solution for one resource will not often be immediately applicable to another. Once achieved, interoperability can underpin aggregation, some advanced search services and some elements of digital rights management.

Priority 4: Advanced Search This service receives fourth priority because It is technically challenging and requires a great deal of effort. Several initiatives are underway, others have been completed and more will be needed before this realises its full potential. It can benefit significantly from interoperability and from PIDs; thus, these should be addressed first; it may be so that both of these services will be addressed hand-in-hand. This is perhaps the single most important user-facing new service.

Priority 5: Data Resource Setup This service receives fifth priority because It is effectively an “add-on” for persistent storage and preservation, rather than a key issue in its own right It will require customisation and adjustment for each DCH organisation which sets up a data resource However It is identified as valuable by many DCH organisations It can aid in interoperability and in advanced search It can facilitate the migration of data to the e-Infrastructures environment, with associated benefits in stability, scalability and network access.

Priority 6: User Authentication and Access Control This service receives sixth priority because persistent storage/preservation and advanced search are higher priority None the less It is essential for community-focused, collaborative and interactive/annotation services It is an important element of the enforcing of IPR and DRM policies User authentication is an ideal centralised and scalable services for e-Infrastructure implementation

Priority 7: IPR and Digital Rights Management This service receives seventh priority because Other services are also of very high priority, and benefit more from e-Infrastructures However IPR is an urgent issue for all collaborative and portal initiatives DRM must be addressed effectively if a content industry is to be accepted in the EU

New Services Priorities: Basic Elements Three elements connected to e-Infrastructures served as a baseline and ground pillars for new services: qualified performance, scalability and stability. These elements can be enhanced by facilities normally provided by e-Infrastructure: access to faster networks, more CPU power and increased storage. The concept of common services, where a service is provided “in the cloud” and used by multiple DCH websites. By removing location and by providing extensive processing and storage capabilities, e-Infrastructures can support services that remove replication, overlap and redundancy in the DCH community as a whole.

Best practices The overall goal for best practices was to inspire by spreading good ideas, lessons learned and knowhow.

Publication on DC-NET Service priorities and best practices for digital cultural heritage Targeted to institutions from the cultural heritage domain invlolved in the creation and use of online data resources for DCH that could benefit from e-Infrastructures as well as to e-Infrastructures service providers, which can learn more about cultural institutions needs in order to offer more empowered services. Download the publication from www.dc-net.org

Conditions for Sustainability Recognition of the benefits by decision makers Appropriate organisation and governance of activities Ongoing and efficient allocation of resources Memorandum of Understanding Plan for the future: DCH-RP Implementation on a national and institutional level

Thank you for your attention! Rolf Källman rolf.kallman@riksarkivet.se 20 20