WP 5 Guidelines of Quality for Public Cultural Web Applications and the managing of web contents

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WP 5 Guidelines of Quality for Public
Cultural Web Applicationsand the managing of web
contents
Ministerial NEtwoRk for Valorising Activities in
digitisation
U. Boccioni, Stati danimo quelli che vanno
(1911) MOMA NYC
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Outline

• the MINERVA project
• foreground
• partners
• policy scenario
• structure
• working packages
• network enlargement
• MINERVA website
• the WP5 Quality Framework
• the Quality Handbook recommendation
• on long-term conservation of web contents

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the MINERVA project foreground

• June 2000 eEurope endorsement by EU States
• April 2001 meeting in Lund for co-ordination of
  digitisation programmes across Europe
• ? Lund Principles
• to be developed through the
• Lund Action Plan

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the MINERVA project foreground

• MINERVA is the instrument to
• support the implementation of the Lund Action
  Plan
• co-ordinating national programmes
• establishing relationships with
• other European countries
• international organisations
• associations
• networks
• international and national projects,
• with a special focus on the DigiCult action of
  IST

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the MINERVA project Original Partners

• Italy, coordinator (Ministero per i Beni e le
  Attività Culturali)
• Belgium (Ministère de la Communauté Française)
• Finland (University of Helsinki)
• France (Ministère de la culture et de la
  communication)
• Spain (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y
  Deporte)
• Sweden (Riksarkivet)
• United Kingdom (The Council for Museums,
  Archives and Libraries)

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the MINERVA project New Members

• Have already signed the membership agreement
• Denmark
• Greece
• The Netherlands
• Are going to sign
• Austria
• Germany
• Ireland

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the MINERVA project Policy Scenario

• The main aim of MINERVA is to support the
  European framework made up of NRG, Lund
  principles, Lund Action Plan and Presidencies of
  EU in the field of the cultural heritage
  digitisation.
• The members agreed to give the highest visibility
  to the Lund principles in their countries, by
  setting-up national structures in charge of
  disseminating the results of the Minerva project.
• All the member states agreed on the opportunity
  to invest on MINERVA project their own funding
  besides the budget provided by contract.

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the MINERVA project how MINERVA works

• 5 Working Groups at European level
• Publications (guidelines, reports, case
  studies, etc.)
• National Policy Profiles concerning
  digitisation
• National Representative Groups meetings
• Workshops
• Co-operation with other projects
• Harmonising activities
• Enlargement of the network

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the MINERVA project the Working Groups

• To provide political and technical frameworks for
  improving digitisation activities of cultural and
  scientific contents
• To contribute at the definition of a common
  European platform for the harmonisation of
  national initiatives
• Benchmarking framework
• Identification of Good practices and Competence
  centres
• Interoperability, Service Provision and IPR
• Inventories, discovery of digitised content,
  multilingual issues
• Identification of user needs, contents and
  quality framework for common access points (WP5)

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the MINERVA project
BENCHMARKING coordination University of
Helsinki (FL)

• To exchange comparable information between Member
  States on programmes and policies
• To promote the adoption of a benchmarking
  framework as a key tool for co-ordinating and
  harmonising national activities as well as to
  develop measures to show progress and improvement
• short and long term strategies
• to report on the results achieved so far, at the
  next NRG meeting in Corfù (June 2003)
• to set-up methodology, shared data format and
  tool, for collecting data on a continuous base
• to update constantly qualitative and quantitative
  information and to create a common database.

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the MINERVA project GOOD PRACTICES
coordination Riksarkivet (SE)

• to select and to promote good practice examples
  from Member State programmes and projects in
  order to exchange experiences, skills and to
  collect consensus from different communities of
  users.
• short and long term strategies
• first selection presented in Alicante (E), June
  2002
• first MINERVA Handbook on Good Practices to be
  published during 2003, at the moment available in
  a draft version on the Minerva Website

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the MINERVA project INTEROPERABILITYco
ordination The Council for Museums, Archives and
Libraries (UK)

• within the general scope to contribute to the
  development of eventual European Guidelines for
  cultural digitisation
• analyse, identify and evaluate activities on
  metadata, registries and schemes
• promote discussion on standards, conformance
  testing centres, agreed terminologies, common
  metadata scheme, middleware specifications
• examination of related issues, such as IPR

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the MINERVA project INVENTORIES
coordination Ministère de la Culture et de la
Communication (FR)

• To share experiences, to discuss and to
  facilitate implementation of common actions
  concerning
• inventories of past, on-going and planned
  digitisation projects based on national
  observatories
• technical infrastructure for coordinated
  discovery of European digitised cultural and
  scientific content, including a common set of
  metadata for description
• multilingual issues

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the MINERVA project WEB QUALITY
coordination Ministère de la Communauté
Française (BE)

• define quality criteria for the digitised content
  
• encourage the adoption of quality criteria for
  developing cultural and scientific web
  applications
• supporting the initiatives launched by the
  European Commission with the provision of
  national digital content
• encourage training actions in cultural sites, to
  promote knowledge of multicultural issues

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the MINERVA project Network
enlargement

• the instruments
• Membership Agreement to formalise the
  participation of Ministries to the Minerva
  Network
• Co-operation Agreement to formalise the
  participation of interested organisations to the
  Minerva Users Group.

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the MINERVA project MINERVA web site

• www.minervaeurope.org
• whose goals are
• in the short term
• to promote the Lund principles as well as the
  activities and the results of the project
• to promote the projects partners
• to be a gate to other linked initiatives
• in the long term
• to be an essential instrument on web quality,
  digitisation, metadata, long-term preservation,
  accessibility
• minerva_at_beniculturali.it

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the WP5 Quality Framework milestones

• March 2002
• Beginning of the Minerva project
• May 2002 Set up of the Minerva Quality Working
  Group
• February 2003 First Deliverable on quality
• March 2003Index of the Quality Handbook for
  Public Cultural Web Applications
  Recommendations and Guidelines 
• June 2003
• Draft version of the Quality Handbook 
  (Corfu)
• November 2003
• Definitive version of the Quality Handbook 
  (Parma)

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the WP5 Quality Framework results achieved

• An effective European Working Group
• A first Deliverable document on QualitySynthesis
  of all the work of the meetings on quality, but
  also an account of the contributes delivered by
  the different experts of the national working
  groups on Quality
• A definitive Quality Framework, basis of
• the Quality Handbook
• a set of criteria to be used at the difference
  stages of development of a cultural web site,
  i.e.
• for the development of new cultural web sites
• to measure the quality of a project under
  development, in order to improve weak components
• to validate and assess complete projects

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the WP5 Quality Framework 1st
goal the Quality Handbook

• References
• April 2001 - The Lund principles
• December 2001 - The Brussels Quality Framework
• November 2002 - The Greek WG5 questionnaire
• January 2003 - The Italian WG5 draft document 1
• February 2003 - The first Deliverable on quality
  of WP5
• March 2003 - Index of the  Quality Handbook for
  Public Cultural Web Applications

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the WP5 Quality Framework next steps

• June 2003
• Presentation of the Handbook draft at the Kerkira
  NRG meeting
• November 2003
• Published in the form of a Handbook in the
  Minerva Editorial Line
• November 2003
• Final approval and adoption at the Parma NRG
  meeting
• Dissemination and e-learning programme

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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality
Handbook

• Quality Criteria for Public Cultural Web
  Applications
• a new approach on quality
• beyond the user-defined Web

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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook table
of contents

• RATIONALE
• INTRODUCTION
• Definitions, Principles and basic Recommendations
• Basic Quality Criteria for Web Applications
• Specific Quality Criteria for Public Cultural Web
  Applications
• ANNEXES
• Validation methods
• International rules on public web

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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook
contents

• Chapter 1
• Definitions, principles and Recommendations
• The complex issues coming from the crossing of
  the cultural world with the Web revolution needs
• Synthetic and efficient definitions classes,
  notions and subjects
• General principles, acting like basic premises in
  every Web project
• Policies and strategies Recommendations on to be
  followed during the Web projects

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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook
contents

• Definitions
• Public Cultural Entity (PCE)
• PCE identity
• PCE categories
• PCE goals
• Public Cultural Web Application (PCWA)
• PCWA goals
• PCWA Users
• PCWA Users needs
• PCWA Users routes

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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook
contents

• Definitions
• Public Cultural Entity (PCE)
• An institution, organisation or project of public
  interest whose mission is to produce, preserve,
  safeguard, valorise and diffuse culture in any
  sector (archives, libraries, mobile and immobile
  heritage, archaeological, artistic,
  architectural, historical, demo-ethnological,
  anthropological).
• Public Cultural Web Application (PCWA)
• Every Web application whose services and contents
  concern cultural heritage in all its sectors, and
  which provides cultural information and promotion
  and/or offers educational and scientific
  services.
• PCWA Users
• Everyone, professional or non professional, who
  uses in a systematic, casual, incidental or
  finalised way a PCWA, satisfying different needs
  depending on his cultural profile, his aspiration
  to a personal growth or his incidental
  curiosity.

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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook
contents
The 8 PCE CATEGORIES

1. Archives
2. Libraries
3. Monuments / Sites / Parks /Reserves
4. Museums
5. Conservation departments
6. Research/training institutes
7. Exhibitions
8. Temporary projects

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the WP5 Quality Framework
PCE GOALS
USERS NEEDS
Basic Quality Criteria
PUBLIC CULTURAL WEB APPLICATION
PCWA GOALS
Specific Quality Criteria
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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook
contents

• Principles
• a PCE should provide to
• Promote the widest diffusion of culture
• Share the whole community of cultural entities
• Use innovative channel of communications
  effectiveness
• Adopt a suitable use of web applications
• Conceive quality as a process with the agreement
  between PCE and Users goals

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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook
contents

• Recommendations policies and strategies
• Networks and thematic access points
• PCWA quality validation
• PCE coordination between internal and external
  information flow
• PCE communication channels coordination
• PCWA process management project, development and
  financial management
• IPR and privacy control for PCWA contents
• Long-term preservation of PCWA contents

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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook
contents

• Chapter 2
• Basic Quality Criteria for Web Applications
• The quality criteria framework is composed by two
  main groups basic and specific criteria.
• The basic framework, a synthesis built according
  to the widely accepted criteria on web quality,
  is composed by two parts
• Accessibility and Usability
• The two macro-criteria should act together, one
  depending from the other.

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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook
contents

• ACCESIBILITY issues
• The conceptual and practical issues concerning
  Accessibility are presented and explained.
• Accessibility must be a primary goal for a PCE
  openining the access to cultural contents to the
  widest number of users, indipendently from their
  age, ability, techinical equipment, health.

2. Basic Quality Criteria for WA
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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook
contents

• USABILITY issues
• Contents criteria
• Consistency, Currency, Accuracy, Content
  responsibility, Advertising policy, Objectivity,
  Content organization evidence, Content membership
  evidence
• Application evidence criteria
• Application mission evidence, Application
  responsibility, Maintenance strategy evidence,
  Technical strategy evidence
• Navigation criteria
• Link evidence, Link soundness, Link coverage,
  Backtracking soundness, Context evidence, Media
  control soundness, Media control evidence
• Query/Search usability
• Appropriateness of query/search forms
• Completeness of query/search results
• Possibility to bookmark/save query/search results
• Presentation criteria
• Scannability, Similarity, Proximity,
  Consistency, Minimalism

2. Basic Quality Criteria for WA
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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook
contents

• Chapter 3 - Specific Quality Criteria for Public
  Cultural Web Applications (PCWA)
• Contents
• Premises
• PCWA goals / quality criteria crossing table
• PCWA goals definitions
• PCE categories and the Web
• PCWA goals / quality criteria cards

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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook
contents

• Chapter 3
• Specific Quality Criteria for Public Cultural
  Web Applications (PCWA)
• Besides the respect of basic quality criteria,
  the specificity of Public Cultural Web
  Applications require specific quality criteria.
• Those criteria may change according to each PCWA
  goals.
• Each of the 12 PCWA goals must descend from the
  agreement between PCE goals and users needs.

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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook
contents

• Chapter 3
• Specific Quality Criteria for Public Cultural
  Web Applications (PCWA)
• For each of the 12 PCWA goals are defined and
  commented the proper quality criteria, both for
  PCWA content and for its technical
  characteristics, intended as valid for all PCE
  categories.
• When necessary, the criteria will be better
  clarified according to the specificity of each
  PCE category

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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook
contents

• Presenting PCE identity
• PCE activity transparency
• PCWA mission transparency
• Promotion of PCWA role in thematic networks
• Presenting legal rules and standards
• Diffusing cultural contents
• Promoting cultural tourism
• Educational services
• Scientific research services
• Services for culture-related professional
• Reservation and e-commerce services
• Promotion of thematic communities

The 12 PCWA GOALS
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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook
contents
The 11 specific CRITERIA

• Contents
• Completeness
• Comprehensiveness
• Conciseness
• Richness of information
• Multilinguism
• Appropriateness of language
• Authority / Responsibility
• Uniqueness
• Content organisation
• Appropriateness of grouping
• Appropriateness of nesting
• Appropriateness of splitting

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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Handbook
contents
The PCE categories and the Web

• Each PCE category will be treated on a special
  scheme
• the PCE category and the web
• the PCE category and its usual Web Application
  goals
• the PCE category and its users
• the PCE category Web application and the usual
  digitisation strategies

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the WP5 Quality Framework PCWA goals/quality
criteria crossing table
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the WP5 Quality Framework Quality Criteria
cards
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the long-term preservation Handbook
Recommendation

• the UE Council Resolution of 25 June 2002 on
  digital preservation notes that memory
  institutions such as archives, libraries and
  museums have a central role to play for a
  preservation policy of digital informations
• one of the main goals of Public Cultural Entities
  should be to contribute to turn upside down the
  anti-historical tendency of cyber-world
• the PCE should be in the front line in
  disseminating guidelines and best practices for
  long-term preservation of Web contents

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the long-term preservation Quality Handbook
Recommendation

• in our Handbook about digital contents creation
  and management we want to incorporate in the Web
  Quality notion the necessity for Web developers
  of a
• long-term preservation
• policy

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the long-term preservation Quality Handbook
Recommendation

• A preservation policy regards organisational
  aspects and technological strategies, planned
  together.
• The Quality Handbook points up with emphasis the
  importance of such issues in its
• Principle 4
• Adopt a suitable use of web applications
• Recommedations 3-7
• Coordination between internal and external
  information flow
• Communication channels coordination
• PCWA process management project, development and
  financial management (technical and
  organisational)
• IPR and privacy control for Application contents
• Long-term preservation strategy for Application
  contents

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the long-term preservation Quality Handbook
Recommendation

• 1. A organisational preservation policy for
  archiving Web Application materials should
  provide
• a primary role for the Producer/Creator among the
  stakeholders
• a strategy that preserve the hypertextual
  relationships among materials original or due to
  further modifications/interactions
• A strategy that considers the original
  distinction between public and private contents
  (i.e. Internet and Intranet applications)
• a strategy for valutation/selection
• a strategy that preserve somehow the interaction
  between application and users (logfiles, email,
  forum, blogs, newsgroups, etc)

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the long-term preservation Quality Handbook
Recommendation

• 2. A technical preservation policy for archiving
  Web Application materials should provide
• A strategy considering web applications as
  composed by many media and formats, generated by
  many producers who create, update, rename, move
  and delete daily web contents, sometimes with the
  intervention of remote users
• A strategy that provides the creation, currency
  and conservation of proper finding/browsing/search
  ing aids
• A strategy that forecastes and plans the
  consequences of hardware/software obsolescence

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• The Kerkira ERPANET Training Seminar conclusions
  will be the basis for the Minerva Quality
  Handbook Recommendation on preservation policy.
• THANK YOU !
• pfeliciati_at_archivi.beniculturali.it