The European Commission's Reflection Group ("Comité des Sages") on digitisation is seeking views on how best to foster the online presence of cultural heritage. Contributions will feed into the recommendations the Group will submit to the Commission before the end of the year on how best to speed up the digitisation, online accessibility and preservation of cultural works across Europe in the digital age, looking in particular at the issue of public-private partnerships for digitisation in Europe. The consultation will run until 30 September 2010.
The Group invites all interested parties to give their views on key issues of digitisation including:
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Potential sources of funding for digitisation and for developing Europeana, Europe's digital library (see here);
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Acceptable exploitation models for content digitised with public funding;
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Conditions that could govern public-private partnerships for digitisation;
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How to bring more copyrighted material online; and
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How to ensure cross–border access to digitised resources.
Next steps
The Reflection Group will analyse the responses to this consultation and the views raised in other fora, including a follow-up hearing scheduled to take place in Brussels on 28 October 2010. At the end of 2010 the Group will come forward with a set of recommendations.
Background
The Group, established in April 2010, is part of the European Commission's broader strategy to help the cultural sector make the transition towards the digital age. This is to ensure that Europe's rich cultural heritage and diverse cultural content is preserved and made accessible to all on the internet, including finding new effective business models.
The Group consists of Maurice Lévy (CEO of Publicis), Elisabeth Niggemann (Director General of the German National Library) and Jacques De Decker (writer) and reports to Commission Vice President for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes and Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou (see IP/10/456).
More information
Further information on the public consultation and the online questionaire to submit contributions are available at: http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=comitedessages&lang=en