Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 17, No. 153.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
www.princeton.edu/humanist/
Submit to: humanist@princeton.edu
[1] From: "Sarah J. Segura" <sarah@ninch.org> (11)
Subject: new publications on cultural heritage
[2] From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk> (53)
Subject: cultural heritage initiatives
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2003 09:11:59 +0100
From: "Sarah J. Segura" <sarah@ninch.org>
Subject: new publications on cultural heritage
NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
News on Networking Cultural Heritage Resources
from across the Community
July 15, 2003
Two new publications have been issued by DigiCULT, an initiative
established in Europe to provide a regular technology watch for cultural
and scientific heritage. They are:
New Technologies for the Cultural and Scientific Heritage Sector
http://www.digicult.info/downloads/twr2003_01_low.pdf
and Towards a Semantic Web for Heritage Resources.
http://www.digicult.info/downloads/ti3_high.pdf
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2003 09:12:35 +0100
From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: cultural heritage initiatives
Many here will be interested in the recently published report from the
U.S., Diane M. Zorich, A Survey of Digital Cultural Heritage Initiatives
and their Sustainability Concerns (Council on Library and Information
Resources, June 2003), available at
http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub118/contents.html. The following is
from the Preface:
>Nearly every organization whose mission includes promoting access to
>information is well aware of the value of digital collections. To cultural
>organizations and funders alike, the prospect of making collections
>available to new and distant audiences is compelling. Digital technology
>is finding its way into cultural organizations, and it offers great
>promise for enhancing access. However, digitization efforts, despite
>everyone's good intentions, rise and fall on the waves of external funding.
>
>New organizations have been created to promote and manage a growing number
>of digital initiatives. Some traditional organizations have added projects
>to accommodate the digital agenda, but they often treat these projects as
>special initiatives, rather than long-term programs that will require an
>ongoing commitment of funding, staffing, and time. The economic downturn
>has increased the vulnerability of many digital programs, especially those
>run by very small organizations that lack the human or financial resource
>cushion to sustain "add-on" programs.
and this from the Summary:
>The findings outlined throughout this report identify concerns about the
>current status and tenuous state of many digital cultural initiatives.
>These findings, in concert with the recommendations proposed, offer a
>blueprint for those exploring appropriate strategies to support and
>strengthen digital cultural initiatives. The number and diversity of
>issues that affect DCHIs and jeopardize their future warrant a coordinated
>and consensus-driven approach to the problem.
It would seem that "short-term" and "short-sighted" are in this context
uncomfortably synonymous. Indeed, in this context the irony of how the term
"initiative" is used becomes obvious: "That which initiates, begins, or
originates; the first step in some process or enterprise; hence the act, or
action, of initiating or taking the first step or lead; beginning,
commencement, origination" (OED). And this leads to a story.
Once, a fair time ago, when one did this sort of thing as a matter of
course and without any peril, I picked up a hitchhiker, and while driving
asked him and got asked the usual sorts of questions. He said, explaining
what he did, "I start communes." He then described a few he'd started
before moving on to new initiatives. It wasn't until some time
later, after I had dropped him off, that I realized I hadn't asked him why
he didn't stick around to see what happened. I wondered. It wasn't until
some months later, when I visited the commune Morning Star, then deep into
the latter stages of its decay, that I realized why a commune initiator
could find it easy to move on. When brownie-points are given for starting
new things, what are the rewards for seeing to their long-term sustainability?
Yours,
WM
Dr Willard McCarty | Senior Lecturer | Centre for Computing in the
Humanities | King's College London | Strand | London WC2R 2LS || +44 (0)20
7848-2784 fax: -2980 || willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk
www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/wlm/
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