Building infrastructures for archives in a digital world. APEx project, 26.06.2013-28.06.2013.

Reviewed by Kathrin Pindl

Published on H-Soz-u-Kult (August, 2013)

Digital humanities combine traditional JORDELL (Stockholm) mentioned the ever-grow‐ methodologies from historical and social science ing importance of open data issues, while JEN‐ with computational tools. As a hybrid feld of re‐ NIFER EDMOND (Dublin) energetically referred to search, they provide certain chances and chal‐ how crucial weighing up chances and risks is, es‐ lenges for the archival community, too. “Building pecially for smaller archives, when it comes to infrastructures for archives in a digital world”, making policy choices for their digital future. thus, belongs to the core issues of a project called Session 1.1 continued to broach strategic is‐ Archives Portal Europe Network of Excellence, sues for archives in a digital environment. funded within the EU´s ICT Policy Support Pro‐ ICARUS-president THOMAS AIGNER (St. Pölten) il‐ gramme. lustrated the signifcance of sharing experience, In order to discuss sufcient frameworks and expertise, resources and knowledge beyond bor‐ enhance international collaboration, the APEx ders. He suggested to rethink traditional ap‐ consortium, currently consisting of 28 national ar‐ proaches as well as to fnally overcome inter-insti‐ chives and the International Center for Archival tutional limits of all kinds. Furthermore, DANIEL Research (ICARUS), has organized a major confer‐ JELLER (Wien), BORIS BLAZINIC () and ence and gathered experts and scholars from HERBERT WURSTER (Passau) dealt with general more than 13 European and overseas countries at principles, strategies and techniques for archives Trinity College, Dublin. to ensure usability as well as preservation of cul‐ After a pre-conference primer by Wim van tural heritage in the future. Wurster emphasized Dongen (Amsterdam) explaining the institutional on the importance of keeping up coherence be‐ goals of APEx to a wider audience plus a few tween various types of new media, the "original" opening words by Frances McGee (National Ar‐ sources and information from established fnding chives of Ireland, IE), Martin Berendse (Nationaal aids. Archief, NL) and Jimmy Deenihan T.D. (Minister Consequently, in session 1.2, JULIA FALLON for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, IE), three in‐ (The Hague) presented the Europeana Licensing troduction speeches tried to shed some light on Framework enabling standardized, free and open the future of archives in a digital world. sharing of metadata. It ofers integrated access to DANIEL PITTI (Charlottesville) stressed the in‐ more than 25 million books, flms, paintings, mu‐ tellectual, professional and political signifcance seum objects and archival documents from about of new technological opportunities for humanities 2,200 content providers. Using the example of scholars. Concentrating on archivists, BJÖRN monasterium.net, WALTER SCHOLGER showcased some challenges for archives regarding the provi‐ H-Net Reviews sion and usage of digital respectively digitized re‐ Speck see a necessity for re-conceptualization of sources. Then MARTIN FRIES () pointed on the relationship between archivists, researchers data protection issues and described how the and archives. are dealing with sensitive In the next session, LAURA GOULD and GUIN‐ personal data. In the same context, DOROTA EVERE BARLOW (both Edinburgh) talked about DRZEWIECKA and KATARZYNA PEPLOWSKA how social media has helped the Lothian Health (both Torun) summarized Polish state law on Services Archive not only to build new audiences, open access and depicted how archives could en‐ but also lasting partnerships with other archives, sure that digitization projects do not violate indi‐ organizations and individuals. Later on, DOREEN vidual rights guaranteed. KELIMES (Speyer) presented an accurate over‐ The next panel, session 1.3, was dedicated to view on Web 2.0 activities of several Baltic ar‐ interdisciplinary cooperation. JANE STEVENSON chives, while ALEXANDER SCHATEK (Wiener (Manchester) advanced the view that the expan‐ Neustadt) discussed crowd-sourcing and volun‐ sion of open data was an inevitable fact. There‐ teer work as a huge grassroots potential for pro‐ fore, archives needed to do whatever possible to cessing archival data which must not be neglect‐ make sure that their resources remain on the ed. Afterwards, PETER MOSER (Bern) suggested forefront of scholarship and innovation. More the virtual nature of his Archives of Rural History concretely, EDDY PUT (Brussels) advocated the fu‐ as an alternative to the costly establishment of ture necessity of a thesaurus of documentary traditional archives. As another example, TOM forms, thus creatively unlocking traditional fnd‐ COBBAERT (Antwerpen) introduced the ing aids for digital use. As practical examples for ArchiefWiki as an initiative by the Dutch-Flemish successful interdisciplinary collaboration, CON‐ online community Archief 2.0 which tries to bring STANZA GIANNACCINI (Pisa) as well as DAMIANA together information on Dutch archival terminol‐ LUZZI (Florence)) and IRENE PEDRETTI (Rome) ogy in history and present as well as standards presented their current project: http:// and archival laws. www.burckhardtsource.org respectively an ontol‐ Session 1.6 was devoted to archival content in ogy for the Historical Archives of the Pontifcal didactic practice. In her authoritative keynote Gregorian University. speech, ANTONELLA AMBROSIO (Naples) empha‐ Session 1.4 turned perspectives, now focusing sized that archives are indeed able to promote on the actual users of archivistic content. Accord‐ virtual learning communities, because they con‐ ing to STEFANO VITALI (Bologna), the user profle cretely contribute to the shared European and in‐ has fundamentally changed and became more di‐ ternational science community by ofering digi‐ verse as most archives have gradually been open‐ tized documents and data online. In a very con‐ ing up for the digital future. In order to meet cise manner, HRVOJE STANCIC together with ARI‐ those new user types´ expectations, STEPHANE AN RAJH and ANA STANKOVIC (all Zagreb) then GIERTS (Brussels) and STEPHEN HENNICKE benchmarked the educational content on the web‐ (Berlin) suggested ways to improve accessibility sites of various international archives and devel‐ and communication – archives should try to ft oped a vision of the future development of educa‐ their users´ information needs by analyzing en‐ tional activities in the archival online environ‐ quiry patterns. Instead, PETRA LINKS (Amster‐ ment. Consequently, KATHRIN PINDL (Regens‐ dam) and RETO SPECK (London) highlighted the burg) presented the results of an online survey importance of inter-mediation. They perceive ar‐ she had conducted among the didactic partners of chivists in the role of multiplicators. Links and Regensburg´s Spitalarchiv under the aspects of

2 H-Net Reviews best practice and evaluation, using statistic meth‐ (Dublin) told the audience about how their insti‐ ods amongst others. Session 1.6 managed to en‐ tutions are facing the challenges of standardiza‐ lighten the present state of the implementation of tion, data security and communication, possibly innovative didactic practice in an archival envi‐ redefning the nature of humanities research. In ronment, thus providing valuable experience for this context, PETER FLEER (Bern) focused on the fellow institutions. tools necessary in order to turn digital informa‐ The second panels dealt with technological tion into actual knowledge. In a very passionate requirements of the archives´ digital future. In contribution, GRACE TOLAND (Dublin) of the Irish session 2.1, DANIEL PITTI (Charlottesville), KARIN Traditional Music Archive shared her results of a BREDENBERG (Stockholm), KERSTIN ARNOLD case study concerning the structure, content and (Berlin) plus MAUD MEDVES (Berlin) discussed potential of the Inishowen Song Project. In the some topical issues on the so-called archival meta‐ course of Toland´s presentation, the audience was data landscape and the establishment of common given the chance to hear and see Irish traditional standards for digital archives. singers from Donegal. “It´s tool time!” has been the motto of session In the following session, HRVOJE STANCIC, 2.2. SUSANNE WAIDMANN (Berlin) and BASTIAAN ARIAN RAJH and EDVIN BURSIC (all Zagreb), GIO‐ VERHOEF (Amsterdam) occupied themselves with VANNI CICCAGLIONI (Pisa), SALVATORE VASSAL‐ digital tools facilitating the search functionalities LO (Rome) as well as ARMIN STRAUBE (Frankfurt and result presentations of the Archives Portal am Main) discussed a few questions of sustaining Europe. They put emphasis on the challenges digital framework for long-term preservation of which a multilingual and multicultural portal pos‐ digital cultural heritage, whereas the speakers in es on its technological backbones. JOCHEN GRAF session 2.5 ofered concrete insights into the mat‐ (Cologne), a software developer specialized in ter of building frameworks for archives on a na‐ metadata standards, XML technologies, JavaScript tional level. VLATKA LEMIC (Zagreb) described in and object-oriented programming, pointed out how far regulations, standards and infrastructure some special features of the Monasterium Collab‐ were just preconditions which had to be upgraded orative Archives and suggested that these could through planning, coordination and managing. be seen as potential content providers for the Ar‐ CHRISTINA WOLF and GERALD MAIER (both chives Portal Europe. EOGHAN O CARRAGAIN Stuttgart) introduced the activities and prospects (Dublin) and LUKE O´SULLIVAN (Swansea) pre‐ of the German Archives Portal and the German sented their open-source project VuFind which is Digital Library, also addressing the defnition of a “a library resource portal designed and developed standard for data delivery based on EAD (Encod‐ for libraries by libraries”. They outlined some of ed Archival Description), an XML standard for en‐ the motivations for incorporating archival collec‐ coding archival fnding aids. ISTVAN KENYERES tions into VuFind, reviewed some of the technical (Budapest), KAROL KRAWCZYK (Warsaw) and and design choices made by Vufnd developers CHEZKIE KASNETT (Jerusalem) enriched the pan‐ and last but not least stressed the relevance of el by explaining their experiences on a national VuFind for fellow cultural institutions. level as well as pointing out approaches and strategies for future networks. For the last ten to twenty years, the working environment of archives has changed fundamen‐ The last session expanded the view onto the tally, “from cardboard boxes to European e-ar‐ international level. MANFRED THALLER, JOCHEN chives”. ZOLTAN SZATUCSEK (Budapest), MARIA GRAF, SEBASTIAN ROSE and ANDRE STREICHER POPKOVACHEVA-TERZIEVA (Sofa) and JOHN COX (all Cologne) talked about the software part of

3 H-Net Reviews

Monasterium.net, emphasizing on software sup‐ Jennifer Edmond (CENDARI project, Ireland): port problems for the multilingual project. Learning to say ‘No’: strategic considerations for GEROLD RITTER and JONAS ARNOLD (both archives in the digital world Zurich) presented their “Archives Online” project Session 1.1: Strategic issues for archives in a and its technical architecture, while HENK HARM‐ digital world SEN (Amsterdam) showcased DARIAH, the Digital Thomas Aigner (ICARUS, Austria): Interna‐ Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humani‐ tional cooperation as a precondition for building ties. DARIAH shall develop, maintain and operate infrastructures an infrastructure in order to bring together the state-of-the-art digital arts and humanities activi‐ Daniel Jeller (ICARUS, Austria): The digital ties of its member countries. Finally, ANNA BOHN age: opportunities to ensure access to our cultural and ALEKSANDRA PAWLICZEK (both Berlin) spec‐ heritage ifed how the CENDARI project is building up Boris Blažinic (Institute for quality and hu‐ frameworks to provide access and link data con‐ man resource development, ): How to raise cerning archival holdings of diferent media types visibility: archive’s hidden treasuries relevant for the First World War – in a transna‐ Herbert Wurster (Diocese of Passau, Ger‐ tional, interdisciplinary and multilingual ap‐ many): Persistent-meta-data, the keeping of proach. records and archival science All in all, most participants at the conference Session 1.2: Open data and licensing “Building infrastructures for archives in a digital Julia Fallon (IPR & Policiy Advisor Euro‐ world” perceived the event as an extraordinarily peana): Open data and licensing (legal aspects, productive one. Taking into account the diverse consequences for accessibility, economic aspects, yet high-profle line up of speakers, the Dublin copyright, creative commons etc.) conference provided more than a few opportuni‐ ties for instructive interdisciplinary and intercul‐ Walter Scholger (Centre for Information Mod‐ tural exchange. As a by-product of the conference, elling in the Humanities Graz, Austria): Archives a number of new inter-institutional partnerships and the 'digital turn': challenges, opportunities could be established – a fact that bears witness to and possible solutions to Open Access, provision the sustainable and inspirational efects of the and use of archival resources. APEx conference on the international archival sci‐ Martin Fries (Swiss Federal Archives, Switzer‐ ence community on its path towards the digital land): Everything online? Dealing with data pro‐ future. tection issues Conference Overview: Dorota Drzewiecka, Katarzyna Peplowska Introduction speeches: The future of archives (Nicolaus Copernicus University of Torun, in a digital world Poland): Access to Polish archival material: legal dilemmas Daniel Pitti (Institute for Advanced Technolo‐ gy in the Humanities, University of Virgina, USA): Session 1.3: Linking of data – interdiscipli‐ Strategic issues for archives in a digital world nary cooperation Björn Jordell (Riksarkivet, Sweden): Open Jane Stevenson (Archives Hub, Great Britain): data and its strategic impact on archives A Licence to Thrill: the exciting potential of open data

4 H-Net Reviews

Eddy Put ( Belgium, Belgium): Peter Moser (Archives of Rural History, Pleading the case for a fora of archives Switzerland): Virtual archives: a new solution to Constanza Giannaccini (Scuola Normale Supe‐ old problems? riore di Pisa, Italy): Burckhardtsource.org. A se‐ Tom Cobbaert (Archief 2.0, Belgium): mantic archive ArchiefWiki, the collaborative success of indepen‐ Damiana Luzzi (Digital Renaissance Founda‐ dent knowledge sharing tion, Italy), Irene Pedretti (Historical Archives of Session 1.6: Archival content in didactic prac‐ the Pontifcal Gregorian University, Rome, IT): An tice ontology for APUG: problem, method and solution Antonella Ambrosio (UNINA – Università Session 1.4: Users of archivistic content now degli Studi di NapoliFederico II, Italy): Charters and in the future and digital archives in the didactic practice Stefano Vitali (Soprintendenza Archivistica Hrvoje Stancic, Arian Rajh, Ana Stankovic per l’Emilia Romagna, Italy): Archivists and users (Department of Information and Communication in the virtual searching room Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sci‐ Stéphane Gierts (Council of the European ences, University of Zagreb, Croatia): Archival ed‐ Union): Archival access and online archives of the ucation activities in the online environment Council of the European Union – Considering the Artur Dirmeier & Kathrin Pindl (Spitalarchiv user perspective Regensburg, Germany): Spitalarchiv: didactic Stefen Hennicke (Berlin School of Library practice in a digital world and Information Science,Germany): Modelling the Session 2.1: Archival metadata and standards information needs of archival users for digital archives Petra Links (NIOD – Institute for War, Holo‐ Daniel Pitti (Institute for Advanced Technolo‐ caust and Genocide Studies, Netherlands) & Reto gy in the Humanities, University of Virginia, USA): Speck (NIOD, Research Associate at Centre for e- The emerging archival metadata landscape Research, King’s College London, Great Britain): Karin Bredenberg ( of Swe‐ Research infrastructures and archival inter-medi‐ den, Sweden): Record creators: use of EAC-CPF in ation the Archives Portal Europe Session 1.5: Building new partnerships Kerstin Arnold (Technical Coordinator APEx, Laura Gould (Lothian Health Services Ar‐ Federal Archives of Germany,Germany): EAD revi‐ chive, Great Britain) & Guinevere Barlow sion and its efects on the Archives Portal Europe (Carmichael Watson Project, Great Britain): Small Maud Medves (CENDARI project, France): Scale, Big Change – the impact of social media EAG CENDARI: customising EAG for research pur‐ Doreen Kelimes (City Archives Speyer, Ger‐ poses many): The eastern and north-eastern European Session 2.2: Best practice: It’s tool time! archives between digitisation, Web 2.0 and social Susanne Waidmann (Federal Archives of Ger‐ media many, Germany): The Archives Portal Europe: the Alexander Schatek (Topothek, Austria): “Let adventure of presenting multicultural and multi‐ the crowd work”. Creating a Virtual Archive by lingual information on archival material, its cre‐ Local Units ators and their repositories in just one tool Bastiaan Verhoef (APEx, , Netherlands): The backend of the Archives Portal

5 H-Net Reviews

Europe: lessons learned and challenges waiting Armin Straube (German National Library, (provisional) Germany): Frameworks for digital preservation Jochen Graf (University of Cologne, Ger‐ Session 2.5: Best practice: building infrastruc‐ many): Transcription, contextualization and peer tures on a national level review: the ‘Monasterium Collaborative Archives’ Vlatka Lemic (, Croat‐ Eoghan Ó Carragáin (National Library of Ire‐ ia): Archival infrastructure at a national level: in‐ land, Ireland), Luke O'Sullivan (Swansea Univesi‐ troducing interoperability, networking and inte‐ ty Library, Ireland): Archival collections in Vufnd gration in practice Session 2.3: Best practice: from cardboard Christina Wolf, Gerald Maier (State Archives boxes to European e-archives Baden-Württemberg, Germany): Building a Ger‐ Zoltán Szatucsek (National Archives of Hun‐ man archives portal: development of a national gary,Hungary): Search all, fnd more: access to the platform for archival information within the Ger‐ Archival Database Service in Hungary man Digital Library Maria Popkovacheva-Terzieva (Archives State István Kenyeres (Budapest City Archives, Agency of Bulgaria, Bulgaria): Archives State Hungary): Archives Portal Hungary: asolution for Agency: attempts to popularize its digital holdings joint publication of databases and digitized archival materials Peter Fleer (Swiss Federal Archives, Switzer‐ land): Interpretation of digital records Karol Krawczyk (Head Ofce of State Ar‐ chives, Poland): Holdings accessible online: the John Cox (National University of Ireland, Ire‐ Polish experience land): The Abbey Theatre Archive Digitization Project: challenges and opportunities Chezkie Kasnett (The National Library of Is‐ rael, Israel): The historical archive reborn: ap‐ Grace Toland (Irish Traditional Music Ar‐ proach and strategy for the Archive network) chive, Ireland): The Irish Traditional Music Ar‐ chive & The Inishowen Song Project Session 2.6: Best practice: building infrastruc‐ tures on an international level Session 2.4: Best practice: sustaining digital infrastructures in the long run Manfred Thaller, Jochen Graf, Sebastian Rose, Andre Streicher (University of Cologne, Germany): Hrvoje Stancic, Arian Rajh (Department of In‐ Network(s) for Europe’s charters: a proven blue‐ formation and Communication Sciences, Faculty print for an international infrastructure of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia), Edvin Buršic (Financial Agency, Gerold Ritter & Jonas Arnold (Archives On‐ Croatia): Using Archival Information Packages for line, Switzerland): Archives Online: real time production of sustainable archival collections of searched in 13 archives without redundant data digitised records Henk Harmsen (DARIAH-EU): DARIAH: the Giovanni Ciccaglioni (ICUU – Italian Ministry adventure of building an infrastructure for Cultural Heritage and Activities, Italy): Digital Anna Bohn & Aleksandra Pawliczek (CEN‐ cultural heritage and e-infrastructures DARI project, Germany): CENDARI: building up a Salvatore Vassallo (Instituto Centrale per gli research infrastructure on The First World War Archivi, Italy): The Archival Resource Catalogue across borders within the Italian National Archival System

6 H-Net Reviews

If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/

Citation: Kathrin Pindl. Review of Building infrastructures for archives in a digital world. H-Soz-u-Kult, H-Net Reviews. August, 2013.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=39888

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

7