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The views expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views

of MDG-F Programme Culture for Development or implementing agencies.

Digitization of the Cultural Heritage


by Aida Vei

What is the Cultural Heritage (CH)?


Term heritage refers to the study of human activity not only through the recovery of remains, as is the case with archeology, but also through tradition, art and cultural evidences, narratives, etc.1 Definition of the CH has been transformed from the one adopted in the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 19722 where CH encompasses monuments, groups of buildings and sites with historical, aesthetic, archaeological, scientific, ethnological or anthropological value to a definition where CH includes every outstanding demonstration of human coexistence with the land as well as human interactions, cultural coexistence, spirituality and creative expression3.

Digitization of the CH
Digitization, in its simplest form, represents conversion of the information from an analogue to a digital form. In recent years, the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the area of CH has become increasingly important. It all started when development of information technologies and computer graphics from the 1960s onwards started to impact many unrelated disciplines, including archeology, archival science, library and information science and museology. When World Wide Web (WWW) was established in 1990s, it completely changed the way in which CH is and could be presented. Internet was the media channel that enabled distribution of information to the unexpected limits. Digitization of cultural heritage refers to the dynamic and evolving interdisciplinary domain that encompasses philosophical, social, cultural, economic and managerial aspects and consequences of management of cultural heritage in the technological environment.4 Although each conversion from analogue to digital form means loss of data, digitization offers many benefits: Digitized CH can be viewed regardless of the physical location and time

Roussou, M. (2000). Virtual Heritage: From the Research Lab to the Broad Public. VAST2000 Euroconference. BAR International Series 1075, page 91-100. Arezzo, Italy: Oxford, Archaeopress. 2 Text of the Convention is available at http://whc.unesco.org/archive/convention-en.pdf accessed on 18 May 2010 3 Global Strategy for a Balanced, Representative and Credible World Heritage List http://whc.unesco.org/en/globalstrategy accessed on 18 May 2010 4 European Curriculum Reflections on Library and Information Science Education, http://www.library.utt.ro/LIS_Bologna.pdf accessed on 18 May 2010
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The views expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MDG-F Programme Culture for Development or implementing agencies.

Dissemination of information/knowledge is almost unlimited Searching is performed more rapidly and comprehensively Increases use of collections and facilitates learning about CH in a way that would be impossible in a physical world (examination of the fragile manuscripts, exploring architectural sites trough space and time, manipulating digital objects) Preserves CH by allowing research without physical access and handling

EU Policy Framework
Since the European Commission presented initiative i2010 - A European Information Society for growth and employment5 in 2005, as an EU policy framework for the information society and media, all previous projects and initiatives related to digitization of CH got the right direction and were placed into the larger picture for digitization, online accessibility and digital preservation of Europes collective memory6. Digitization was specifically emphasized in the third objective of the i2010 initiative An Information Society that is inclusive, provides high quality public services and promotes quality of life with the concrete policy measure that will insure that all citizens benefit from Europe's lead in ICT. Thus, digitization is perceived as an important mean of ensuring greater access to Europes diverse and multilingual heritage. It also has a major role in making CH available for the future generations and protecting it from the inevitable vanishing. This initiative played an important role in ensuring that digitization efforts coming from Member states are not fragmented and exclusive to those states with easier access to costly ICT technologies necessary for this process. Based on the experiences of the i2010 initiative, set of new challenges for a New Digital Agenda was defined including Using ICT to improve the quality of life of EU citizens by unlocking the storehouses of Europes cultural heritage and bringing it online.7 One of the most important projects supporting i2010 initiative is MINERVA EC MInisterial NEtwoRk for Valorising Activities in digitisation, eContentplus Supporting the European Digital Library8. The general objectives of the network are: Improve accessibility to and visibility of European digital cultural resources;

Text of the communication is available at http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/docs/communications/com_229_i2010_3 10505_fv_en.pdf accessed on 18 May 2010 6 The strategy is now coming to an end and is going to be followed by a new initiative the Digital Agenda in 2010. More information can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/index_en.htm accessed on 25 May 2010 7 Europes Digital Competitiveness Report - Main achievements of the i2010 strategy 2005-2009 http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/key_documents/index_en.htm#EDCR accessed on May 25 2010 8 http://www.minervaeurope.org/
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The views expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MDG-F Programme Culture for Development or implementing agencies.

Support the development of the European Digital Library for accessing cultural resources; Contribute to increasing interoperability between existing networks; Promote the use of digital cultural resources by business and citizens; Reinforce the European position in the global market competition; Facilitate exploitation of cultural digital resources, providing clear rules for their use and re-use, respecting and protecting the creators rights.

The main outcome of the project has been production of numerous respectable guidelines for digitization and presentation of the CH, which are divided into the following areas, each of which reflects a stage in the life-cycle of a digitization project: Digitization Project Planning Selecting Source Material for Digitization Preparation for Digitization Handling of Originals The Digitization Process Preservation of the Digital Master Material Meta-data Publication IPR and Copyright Managing Digital Projects

These guidelines are based on the experience collected from many digitization projects throughout Europe and worldwide. They are constantly updated and edited and a source of valuable knowledge and inspiration for all practitioners and theoreticians.

I2010 initiative is followed by A Digital Agenda for Europe.9 Major points related to
the CH content are: Create digital single market se Europeans can access cultural and commercial content across borders Promote and protect cultural diversity by using digital media as a distribution channel Strengthen EUROPEANA Financing large-scale digitization projects and translation of the content Include private partners provided they allow a general accessibility of Europe's common cultural heritage online.

Europe's Digital Agenda, http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/digital-agenda/index_en.htm

The views expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MDG-F Programme Culture for Development or implementing agencies.

Best EU Practices
PULMAN Network 10 The PULMAN Network of Excellence has the mission to stimulate and promote sharing of policies and practices for the digital era, in public libraries and cultural organizations which operate at local and regional level. It is strategically placed and strives to stimulate and promote best practice in the digital services and practices of public libraries and cultural organizations at the local and regional level throughout Europe and neighbouring countries. Membership in the Network includes 37 countries with representation from 26 European countries plus new 11 members from the extension project, including countries bordering the European Union. The European Heritage Network11 The European Heritage Network is a permanent information system bringing together governmental services in charge of heritage protection within the Council of Europe. The European heritage Network focuses on CH, particularly on architectural and on archaeological heritage in the context of: The European Cultural Convention (1954) The Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe (1985) The European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (1992) The European Landscape Convention (2000)

Widely accessible (to conservation professionals, heritage managers, research workers, members of associations, young people, etc), the Network exists to encourage and facilitate the setting-up of projects and partnerships. It is an international catalyst for initiatives and an ideal meeting place for the heritage family and a number of professions and persons active in this sphere who are looking for ways to improve their co-operation. EUROPEANA EUROPEANA is a Thematic Network funded by the European Commission under the eContentplus program, as part of the i2010 policy12. The idea for the creation of virtual European library was developed from the i2010 strategic goal to make Europe's cultural and scientific resources available for all. Although we can find recommendation for cooperation between public and private sector to create new
http://www.pulmanweb.org/ http://www.european-heritage.net/sdx/herein/ 12 http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/digital_libraries/index_en.htm accessed on 25 May 2010
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The views expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MDG-F Programme Culture for Development or implementing agencies.

ways of funding for digitization of cultural material, in many cases it resulted in privatizing digital objects and restricting it. Once digitized, CH became private and often restricted to broad public. Originally known as the European digital library network EDLnet it is a partnership of 100 representatives of heritage and knowledge organizations and IT experts from throughout Europe. They contribute to the Work Packages that are solving the technical and usability issues. Cultural and scientific content available at EUROPEANA is provided by a huge list of partner organizations creating central index of metadata for over 10 million digital objects accessible through a web portal available in all EU languages. The main idea is to use the content, currently available only on the web sites or portals related to the CH, and create services to bring the content to where the users are. This is essential for smaller institutions that lack funding to make their digital collections available. There are several projects and organizations submitting different types of content to EUROPEANA and some of them are CARARE13, SCRAN14, PrestoPRIME15, BHLEurope16, EUROPEANA Regia17, EUROPEANAConnect18, Kultura.hr19 and others. Bosnia and Herzegovina is still not a part of the EUROPEANA project. To become and aggregator for the EUROPEANA, the institution/organization must ensure digital objects created upon specific standards and guidelines. Being a part of such a network insures visibility of CH of a country on European level. Fortunately, National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina has become a member of this project, not to provide the content, but to develop its own strategy for inclusion to EUROPEANA and get valuable information about development and resources of this portal.

CARARE brings together heritage agencies and organisations, archaeological museums and research institutions and specialist digital archives from all over Europe to establish a service that will make digital content for Europe's unique archaeological monuments and historic sites interoperable with Europeana. http://www.carare.eu/ 14 Scran is a charity & online learning resource base with over 360,000 images & media from museums, galleries, archives and the media. It peak serves 1.1 million hits per day. http://www.scran.ac.uk/ 15 PrestoPRIME will research and develop practical solutions for the long-term preservation of digital media objects, programmes and collections, and find ways to increase access by integrating the media archives with European on-line digital libraries in a digital preservation framework. This will result in a range of tools and services, delivered through a networked Competence Centre. http://www.prestoprime.org/ 16 The Biodiversity Heritage Library for Europe, http://www.bhl-europe.eu/ 17 A digital collaborative library of royal manuscripts in Medieval and Renaissance Europe 18 EuropeanaConnect is a Best Practice Network whose overall objective is objective is to deliver core components which are essential for the realisation of Europeana, the European Digital Library as a truly interoperable, multilingual and user-oriented service for all European citizens. 19 The Croatian Cultural Heritage project is a national project for the digitisation of archival, library and museum material. It is intended to encourage the creation of new digital contents, improve its accessibility and visibility, and promote a systematic and even approach to the digitisation of holdings in cultural institutions.
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The views expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MDG-F Programme Culture for Development or implementing agencies.

Digitization of the CH in Bosnia and Herzegovina


Complex administrative structure of Bosnia i Herzegovina with two entities and ten highly autonomous cantons has not proved to be a very fertile field for creation of a national strategy for digitization of cultural and natural heritage. Without Ministry of Culture on a national level, it is going to be very hard to fight the battle for ensuring necessary legal framework for digitization and creating related strategies and action plans. Croatia is a bright example in the region where digitization process has been initiated and supported trough National Digitization Project since 2005. They have recognized importance of inclusion of their national CH in EU frame as a way of protecting their own identity within current globalization processes. Two basic documents are Strategy for the Development of Information Society in BIH 2004 2010 and Action plan for the development of information society in Bosnia and Herzegovina 2004 - 201020. These strategic documents highlight that the transformation of the educational system and inclusion of ICT technologies in education has to become political priority, as it is the foundation of the development of BIH and the process of European integrations. Making information freely available to everyone is a condition for developed society. In the Strategy for the development of Science in BIH, the highest importance is given to overcoming existing informatization gap in BIH. Unfortunately, little has been done in practice as these strategies are too wide and do not cover the problematic of digitization of CH. Even in the new Strategy for the Development of Science in BiH 2010-2015, the importance of overcoming the digital divide is set as one of the priorities, but somehow it does not include digitization of the CH. Legal framework necessary for the development of informatization society includes the following21: Law on Electronic Documents (does not exist) Law on Electronic Signatures22 E-commerce Law (does not exist) Law on Communications23 Law on Electronic Media (does not exist) Law on Standardization24 Law on Copyright and Related Rights25

Action plan was adopted on the 69th meeting of the Council of Ministers which was held on 16 November 2004; Text is available at http://www.ecos.ba/Templates/Akcioni_plan_razvoja_ID_u_BiH.pdf2004-2010 accessed on 1 June 2010 21 Ivan Gagi, Pravni i komercijalni aspekti digitalizacije kulturne batine 22 Zakon o elektronskom potpisu (Slubeni glasnik BiH, 91/06); Text is available at http://www.sllist.ba/Aktuelno/ZEP/broj91.htm accessed on 20 May 2010 23 Zakon o komunikacijama (Slubeni glasnik BiH, 31/03); Text is available at http://www.cra.ba/bs/legal/?cid=2428 accessed on 20 May 2010 24 Zakon o standardizaciji (Slubeni glasnik BiH, 19/01); Text is available at http://www.met.gov.ba/propisi/Zakon%20o%20standardizaciji%20BiH_19_01.pdf accessed on 20 May 2010
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The views expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MDG-F Programme Culture for Development or implementing agencies.

Law on Protection of Personal Data26 Act on the Right of Access to Information27 Law on Archival Material28 (exists only for Federation entity)

While waiting for establishment national strategies and legal framework to operate in, many institutions have already started digitization projects, aware of the quantity of work ahead of them and importance of this process. Bright examples are: National and University Library in Bosnia and Herzegovina29 In recent years, this institution digitized the oldest examples textbooks in BIH and several journals that survived the latest war activities were digitized such as Bosanski vjesnik, Bosna, Sarajevski cvjetnik i Neretva. In cooperation with Gazi Husrev Beys Library, digitization of 890 oriental manuscripts was implemented and digital objects now wait for the second phase of the digitization organizing of a digital collection. Another important project is digitization of Jewish periodicals from 1900-1941 which covers sources from ex-Yu region.30 The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina31 This institution is the oldest scientific and cultural institution in the country and is supposed to be the reference for the best practices for digitization and preservation of CH. Legal status of the institution, financing, technical and professional possibilities are preventing it from the development of the strategy for digitization of the heritage material in museums of BIH. - National Museum of BIH has implemented co-operational project with Media Centar of digitization of the oldest scientific journal in BIH Glasnik Zemaljskog muzeja BiH Other important examples are: - Digitization of the film archive of Bosnia and Herzegovina is implemented by the Slovenian production company "Restart". Digitization project in archive of Tuzla with more than 1182 digitalized documents since 2008.32

Zakon o autorskom pravu i srodnim pravima u BiH (Slubeni glasnik BiH, 07/02); Text is available at http://www.ipr.gov.ba/ba/katalog/pregled/zakon-o-autorskom-pravu-i-srodnim-pravima accessed on 20 May 2010 26 Zakon o zatiti linih podataka (Slubeni glasnik BiH, 32/01); Text is available at http://www.fzs.ba/Org/ZakonOZastitiLicnihPodataka.pdf accessed on 20 May 27 Zakon o slobodi pristupa informacijama u Bosni i Hercegovini (Slubeni glasnik BiH, 28/00); Text is available at http://www.ombudsmen.rs.ba/ZOSPI/ZOSPI-RS.pdf accessed on 20 May 28 Zakon o arhivskoj grai Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine (Slubene novine Federacije, 45/02); Text is available at http://www.fbihvlada.gov.ba/bosanski/zakoni/2002/zakoni/50_bos.htm accessed on 20 May 2010 29 http://www.nub.ba/ 30 Ismet Ovina - NUBBiH - potreba i mogunost ukljuivanja u Evropsku Digitalnu biblioteku, DKKBiH 2010 31 http://www.zemaljskimuzej.ba/ 32 More information (only in Bosnian) is available at http://www.arhivtk.com.ba/index_files/Page3158.htm, accessed on 10 June 2010
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The views expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MDG-F Programme Culture for Development or implementing agencies.

Several interdisciplinary digitization projects related to architectural heritage, lead by Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Sarajevo School of Science and Technology Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia i Herzegovina who was awarded with the EC award Europa Nostra in a Category 3: Dedicated Service for its contribution in building sustainable peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina by incorporating CH into the process of reconciliation and rebuilding civic trust despite lack of funding and weak legal system.

Ways Ahead
Cultural resources consist of infrastructure, space, skills and narratives. In order to enable self-identification process of any locality (region, city, village) and to redefine the cultural offer of that place, it is necessary to be aware of the cultural infrastructure (museums, theatres, galleries, archives, libraries and other cultural facilities), urban spaces (such as monuments, squares, religious buildings, industrial zones and different types of neighbourhoods) and skills (crafts, fashion, design), but what is most important is to know how to best tell the stories (narratives, legends, ceremonies, social rituals, carnivals, feasts and other) to citys inhabitants and visitors. Digitization is the most efficient and effective way to allow access not just to cultural heritage but to the storied behind it. The stories that could be told offer education and entertainment that we expect from the culture. Telling new stories from old material has never been more easy and popular. Luckily, in Bosnia and Herzegovina we are witnessing the emergence of experts and teams that are using information technology to preserve, protect and promote cultural heritage. However, based on the EU recommendations from e-Europe 2005 program, Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to take serious approach in the area of digitization of the CH. Lacking the overall national strategy and legal framework for this process, we are deemed to stay far behind current European trends and make our CH, which is integral part of European and World Heritage, invisible for the public and unpreserved for generations to come. At this point, Bosnia and Herzegovina could take advantage of not being the first in this field and use numerous examples of good practices and recommendations that exist worldwide. Through the implementation of projects, digitization process can open new employment opportunities for young professionals. Co-operation with public sector, that has to be in charge of cultural heritage, could provide necessary funding. Digitalized cultural content will inevitably lead to the democratization of access to cultural amenities and the development of information society. The steps to be taken (based on the examples from the region and EU) are following:

The views expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MDG-F Programme Culture for Development or implementing agencies.

Definition of the basic standards for digitization of CH, and the selection of appropriate equipment and practices that will enable the digitization process in the framework of existing, and planned, legal and strategic framework for the digitization of CH and strategic documents for coordination of digitization of CH in Europe Improve co-operation within existing cultural and educational institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and region Improve the resources, institutional capacity, sharing knowledge and experiences Raise the awareness about the importance of application of digitization and ICT usage in all areas of CH Define measures to ensure long term protection and utilization of digitized and other digital content and prevent its misuse Increase the accessibility of CH through digitization, according to current and pre-defined rules of use Support creation of new, high quality and easily available digital content, improve its accessibility and visibility, and promote systemic and balanced approach to digitization of cultural institutions in accordance with known principles and priorities defined at the national level, and according to established norms and standards Create new services and communication channels based on digitalized content.

The road in front of us is wide and clear. It is going to be long, but very exiting process!

About Author: Aida Vei graduated at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Sarajevo and received master diploma (cum laude) from the programme Cultural Projects for Development at the University of Torino and International Labour Organisation. In 2007-2008 she conducted the policy research in Bosnia and Herzegovina that resulted with the Policy Study and Policy Brief on the topic The Role of Civil Society Organisations in the European Integrations Process in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a free lance consultant Aida is conducting trainings on project cycle management, organisational management, strategic planning, participation of civil society organisations in the policy development, and related topics. Aida is member of several cultural, environmental and democratisation nongovernmental organisations. Since 2000 she is in the management team of Association for Democratic Initiatives, NGO with expertise in capacity building programs and network development. Aida is currently National Policy Mentor for

The views expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MDG-F Programme Culture for Development or implementing agencies.

the UNDP Strategic Planning and Policy Development (SPPD) programme and essay writer for MDG-F Culture and Development. About the MDG-F Programme: The Programme Culture for Development is a three-year programme funded by the Spanish Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund which is being implemented in partnership of three UN Agencies: UNDP, UNICEF and UNESCO, in cooperation with the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH, Ministry of Culture and Sports of FBiH, Ministry of Education and Culture of RS, as well as other institutions working in the area of education and culture. The Programme started in January 2009.

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