E pluribus unum. Digitising the Cultural Heritage within a federal structure.

1
E pluribus unum. Digitising the Cultural
Heritage within a federal structure.

• Manfred Thaller
• University at Cologne
• Knowledge by Networking
• Berlin, June 21st / 22nd 2007

2
A fundamental change ...
Describing something has always been cheaper
than reproducing it.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

3
A fundamental change ...
Today reproducing is much cheaper than
describing, however.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

4
... changes fundamental assumptions.
Digitising in the cultural heritage domain
started in the eighties as advanced activity,
implemented by specialist centres, dedicated to
the digitisation of a few exalted examples.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

5
... changes fundamental assumptions.
We are discussing today the systematic
conversion of the complete content of Europes
libraries, archives and museums.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

6
Some constancy?
If even the digitisation of exalted examples
requires specialist centres, a more global
approach requires centres of excellence, national
- or maybe continental?

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

7

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

8
http//www.scottishdocuments.com

• Probably the largest European Cultural heritage
  resource.
• Complete coverage of a region (Scotland).
• More than 5 million lower upper range manuscript
  pages.
• Self funding.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

9
http//www.scottishdocuments.com

• Probably the largest European Cultural heritage
  resource.
• Complete coverage of a region (Scotland).
• More than 5 million lower upper range manuscript
  pages.
• Self funding.
• And not started by any of the strategic
  initiatives of JISC.
• Nor best practice.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

10
Thesis
Digitisation of the cultural heritage in 2007 is
not the exception, but the rule.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

11
Germany
Has projects with extremely high access rates and
great international impact.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

12

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

13
Germany
Has projects which systematically provide access
to whole classes of resources.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

14

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

15
Germany
Has the first project world wide, which attempts
to apply digitization by scanning automats to
early modern prints. (Munich digitisation
centre first speaker after coffee break.)

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

16
Germany
Has since 2001 the project which offers world
wide the highest number of high resolution
medieval codices without access restrictions,
which has been copied as starting platform for a
systematic national digitisation effort in
Switzerland.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

17

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

18
Germany
Is one of the first countries with a policy by
the National Research Council (DFG), which is not
only proclaiming the complete digitization of the
holdings of her libraries as a strategic goal,
but actually intends to pay for a substantial
part of it. (Next speaker.)

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

19
Germany
Is depicted by its national press as having
almost no activities in cultural heritage
digitization whatsoever ... ... and has
politicians which apologize, while opening
conferences on digitization, for Germany being a
developing country in this area.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

20
Why?
1. Due to a lack of a clear national
responsibility for a information policy on
cultural heritage digitisation, that information
policy is implemented by individual libraries,
archives and museums.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

21
Why?
2. These institutions have an institutional
interest in emphasising their profile by claiming
to be the only (or almost only) German
institution implementing such projects.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

22
Solutions
Make digitisation the exclusive task of one or a
very few national centres, charging them with
making their resources visible.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

23
However
No real discernible differences in the quality of
the resources created, or the cost effectiveness
achieved, of the ca. top 40 of Germanys
digitisation projects (by institution), as the
basic technologies are in the meantime trivial
in a computer science meaning and ...

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

24
... recapitualed thesis
Digitisation of the cultural heritage in 2007 is
not the exception, but the rule.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

25
Consequence
If you declare the digitisation of cultural
heritage material to be the domain of a few
centres of competence, you are effectively
saying, that the majority of the memory
institutions shall remain incompetent in one the
fundamental information techniques of the time.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

26
Thesis
A memory institution which is able to digitize
the segment of the cultural heritage it is
responsible for, is not especially qualified for
the challenges of 2007 ...

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

27
Thesis
... but a memory institution which is not able to
digitize the segment of the cultural heritage it
is responsible for, is significantly unqualified
for its mission.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

28
Corollary
A German national policy for digitisation cannot
consist in disqualifying the majority of the
memory institutions. It has instead to encourage
them to increase their qualification and provide
a strong infrastructure in which their inborn
institutional egotism is countered, to promote
the sum of the parts together.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

29
Vision
A highly effective national infrastructure, which
virtually combines individual offerings. It
makes no rule, which is not absolutely required,
but makes following those, which are, self
rewarding.

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007

30
Thank you for your attention!

• Manfred Thaller Knowledge by Networking,
  Berlin, June 21st 2007