News archive

• Communication on Europe’s cultural heritage at the click of a mouse (08/08/11 )
  On August 11, 2008, The Commission adopted a Communication on Europe’s cultural heritage at the click of a mouse - Progress on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation across the EU. The Communication describes progress towards the creation of the European digital library as well as the actions deployed by Member States to address organisational, financial, technical and legal issues, essential for making cultural material available on the internet. It calls on Member States and stakeholders to step up their efforts to make our common heritage more accessible, and confirms the Commission’s commitment to support this goal through its policy actions and funding programmes..
  
  
• European Commission launches consultation on copyright in the knowledge economy (08/08/11)
  In the middle of July the European Commission published its Green Paper entitled “Copyright in the knowledge economy”.
  The stated purpose of the Green Paper “is to foster a debate on how knowledge for research, science and education can best be disseminated in the online environment. The Green Paper aims to set out a number of issues connected with the role of copyright in the "knowledge economy" and intends to launch a consultation on these issues”.
  
  
• Commission's lobby register: it's time to sign up (08/06/24)
  The European Commission launched its online register of interest representatives. All interest representatives engaged in influencing the policy formulation and decision-making processes of the European institutions are invited to register. When registering, they will be asked to disclose some information to enhance the transparency of the relations between lobbies and the Commission.
  The multilingual register is publicly accessible online and will be fully searchable.
  • The register
  • The European Transparency Initiative
• European Commission launches e-government support service SEMIC.EU (08/06/24)
  Semantic interoperability - or the ability to exchange data across national, sectoral and linguistic boundaries while preserving the meaning of the data - is a major challenge for public administrations everywhere. As a first step towards meeting this challenge, the European Commission has launched the Semantic Interoperability Centre Europe (SEMIC.EU), a single point of reference for semantic interoperability in Europe. It provides a valuable range of services and a collaboration platform for pan-European e-government projects.
  
  
• Statistics on European Efforts and Progress in Digitisation of Culture (08/06/16)
  The latest newsletter of Numeric is online, providing you with information about the progress of this study for the European Commission:  "Statistics on European Efforts and Progress in Digitisation of Culture [.pdf 161kb]". The study has reached an important stage when sample surveys are being undertaken amongst cultural institutions throughout Europe. The results of these surveys will provide a baseline measure of the important work that is being undertaken to digitise Europe's cultural heritage.
  
  
• Directory of European and national rules on Web Applications online (08/05/30)
  The new edition of the Directory of European and National Rules on Web Applications, edited by the Research Staff of the Italian Senate Library, offers an updated panorama of standards and regulations - issued both by the European Union and by each single Member State - related to Web Applications, in the conviction that information on directions and policies currently in act in the various national contexts is a necessary step towards the adoption of uniform and shared qualitative criteria.
  This version includes the 12 new EU Member States. Searching and compiling criteria have not changed; the Directory may also include documents no more in force, if useful to draw the evolution of relevant policies in a country.
  
  
• E-content plus: call for proposals 2008 (08/02/04)
  A new call for proposals will be launched under the eContentplus programme in 2008. The provisional date for publication is March. The provisional deadline for receipt of proposals is 12 June 2008.
  
  
• MINERVA EC WP5 - Collection of good practices on Web user interaction Campaign (07/11/07)
  MINERVA EC WP5 - Quality, Accessibility and Usability, is going to publish a "Handbook on cultural websites user interaction". This handbook will include in the annex examples of good practises.
  All institutions and cultural web professionals are therefore invited to send to MINERVA information on their cultural web applications involving services and initiatives dedicated to user interaction, such as questionnaries, wiki, panel groups, focus groups, personas, contact centres, folksonomies, etc.
  Your information must include: the name of the institution/initiative, the title, a short description of the service, the URL.
  Reporting campaign will close at the end of march 2008.
  Please send all information to: otebac@beniculturali.it (Subject: Collection of good practices on Web user interaction Campaign).
  We will collect all applications and will come back to you before publishing those selected.
  
  
• Council Conclusions on scientific information in the digital age: access, dissemination and preservation (07/11/30)
  Conclusions approved on 22-23 November 2007 during the 2832nd COMPETITIVENESS (Internal market, Industry and Research) Council meeting in Brussels.
  The Member States are invited to: reinforce national strategies and structures for access to and dissemination of scientific information; enhance the co-ordination between Member States on access and dissemination policies and practices; ensure the long term preservation of scientific information - including publications and data - and pay due attention to scientific information in national preservation.
  The Commission is invited to: experiment with open access to scientific publications resulting from projects funded by the EU Research Framework Programmes; support experiments and infrastructures with a cross-border added-value for access to and preservation of scientific information; contribute to improved policy co-ordination between Member States and to a constructive debate between stakeholders.
  
  
• Digital Preservation Europe (DPE) announces the Research and Industrial Exchange Programme (DPEX) (07/10/31)
  Digital Preservation Europe, building on the earlier successful work of ERPANET, works to improve coordination, cooperation and consistency in current digital preservation and curation activities to secure the longevity of digital assets and heritage.
  DPE, supported by the European Union with funding under the Sixth Framework Programme, recognises the value of exchange
  programmes as a mechanism to establish cross-institutional synergies.
  Participants in the DPEX programme benefit from contact with the experienced preservation professionals, engagement in environments where preservation challenges are encountered on a daily basis, and/or contact with renowned research labs and industrial partners in the area of digital preservation in Europe. DPEX will allow participants to look beyond their specific professional environment.
  The next application deadline is November 15th 2007. The application process can be completed online.
  
  
• IFLA Brief Survey on the Metadata Decisions for Digital Libraries (07/10/12)
  A task of the IFLA-World Digital Library Working Group on Digital Library Guidelines is to collect your suggestions to be used in preparing a chapter on metadata decisions for the Digital Library Guidelines, The Guidelines will be developed for use by libraries and other cultural institutions around the world. The purpose of this survey is to investigate different issues, levels, and concerns regarding metadata and controlled vocabularies that need to be addressed in the Guidelines.
  Please take 3-5 minutes to answer these questions on the survey available on the Web
  More info about this research project: Marcia Zeng
  
  
• Eurobarometer on culture (07/10/10)
  "A new Europe-wide survey has revealed that two-thirds of Europeans feel that they share elements of a collective culture. Nearly nine out of ten Europeans say that culture, cultural exchanges and intercultural dialogue should have an important place in the EU. These findings emerged from the recent Eurobarometer survey of people's views on culture, which was carried out during the spring. The survey covered 26,000 persons from all over Europe and from all walks of life".
  The European Commission has published the results of its new Eurobarometer survey of people's attitudes to 'culture'. The survey covered 26 000 citizens in the 27 Member States and took place in February and March. These findings were presented at the first European Culture Forum in Lisbon on 26 - 28 September 2007, which brought business, cultural operators and policy makers together to explore the importance of culture.
  
  
• NUMERIC (07/09/17)
  One of Europe's key Information Society policy objectives is to make the content and digitally preserved materials of archives, museums and libraries more widely available. Across Europe these institutions are converting their "analogue" collections into digital form thereby creating new opportunities for all interests to benefit from improved and convenient access to these resources. NUMERIC is a European Commission project that will define the empirical measures for digitisation activities and establish the current investment in digitisation and the progress being made by Europe's cultural institutions.
  We invite you to edit the Consultation Questionnaire edited by Numeric.
  
  
• Towards a European Infrastructure for e-Science Digital Repositories (07/07/27)
  The European Commission has launched a public consultation on e-Science Digital Repositories.
  The consultation forms a key part of the study "Towards a European e-Infrastructure for e-Science Digital Repositories", sponsored by the European Commission. This consultation "seeks input from stakeholders on digital repositories. Responses will help identify needs, priorities and opportunities with regard to digital repositories and an e-infrastructure to support them and their use".
  
  
• Coordinating digitisation in Europe(07/07/16)
  The new "Progress report of the National Representatives Group: coordination mechanisms for digitisation policies and programmes 2006" is online, with the reports of 24 Member States and Observers.
  
  
• Member States' Expert Group on Digitisation and Digital Preservation(07/06/26)
  On 22nd March 2007 the European Commission adopted the Decision setting up the Member States' Expert Group on Digitisation and Digital Preservation, whose goal is to take forward the coordination work of the NRG within the Community's institutional framework.
  
  
• International competence centers for digital curation and preservation activity and expertise [.pdf 516kb](07/05/22)
  DigitalPreservationEurope (DPE) has carried out a state of the art review on international competence centers for digital curation and preservation activity and expertise.
  A list of institutions that completed the survey can be found here:
  http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/competence-centres/list/
  The deadline for inclusion in the report was 13:00 CET on March 23, 2007, but further additions are welcome at:
  http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/competence-centres/
  
  
• Member States Experts Group (07/04/05)
  The European Commission has published on the Commission Digital Libraries website the Decision of setting up the Member States' Expert Group on Digitisation and Digital Preservation.
  
  
• Centres of competence for digitisation and digital preservation(07/04/04)
  As part of the preparation of the work programme, the European Commission organised on 14 November 2006 a workshop on centres of competence for digitisation and digital preservation. The report [.pdf 408 KB] is available for download.
  
  
• CCO Cataloging best practices for the community (07/03/12)
  Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO) is a data content standards initiative for the cultural heritage community. CCO web resources include cataloging examples, training tools and presentations for use by practitioners, excerpts from the CCO print publication, etc. Sponsored by the Visual Resources Association, CCO activities center on educational efforts to promote widespread acceptance of cataloging best practices for the community.
  
  
• Petition for guaranteed public access to publicly-funded research results (07/02/14)
  You may sign this petition to register your support for free and open access to European research and for the recommendations proposed in the EU's 'Study on the Economic and Technical Evolution of the Scientific Publication Markets of Europe'.
  
  
• 2007 Digital Preservation Award - Call for entries (07/01/19)
  The Digital Preservation Coalition has announced the call for entries for the third Digital Preservation Award (worth £5000). This is the eleventh anniversary of the Conservation Awards, sponsored by Sir Paul McCartney, and is the third year to include the prestigious Digital Preservation Award, which recognises the many new initiatives being carried out by museums, libraries, galleries and archives in the challenging field of digital preservation.
  To be eligible for the Digital Preservation Award, a project must demonstrate leadership and advancement in digital preservation which will benefit the UK. It must focus on preserving digital materials (whether "born digital" or digitised copies), rather than on the use of digitisation as a preservation reformatting tool. Only projects that have been completed by 31 March 2007 will be considered for the Award.
  Applicants from overseas are welcomed, providing that the project can demonstrate benefit to the UK. The deadline for applications is 31 March 2007.
  
  
• First FP7 call open (07/01/10)
  On 22 December 2006, the Commission published the first call for proposals under FP7. Among the research objectives addressed by this call are "Digital libraries and technology-enhanced learning" - see work programme 2007-08, Challenge 4, Objective 1.
  Before submitting a proposal, please read the work programme in order to check if your project idea corresponds to the type of research to be funded in 2007-08.
  A short summary and links to all relevant documents can be found here: http://cordis.europa.eu/ist/digicult/fp7_overview.htm
  
  
• MICHAEL: Explore the European digital cultural heritage (06/12/22)
  Through the multilingual MICHAEL service you can find and explore digital collections from museums, archives, libraries and other cultural institutions from across France, Italy and the United Kingdom. Whether you are interested in art or archaeology, family history or planning holidays, the Romans or modern History, MICHAEL can show you what is available. Explore it
  As regards the International Conference, "Museums, libraries and archives online:
  MICHAEL service and other international initiatives", held in Rome last 4-5 December, we inform you that the following documentation is available online:
  • Programme, abstract, PPT presentations and MP3 recordings:
    http://www.minervaeurope.org/events/michael/programme06120405.html
  • Poster session online:
    http://www.minervaeurope.org/events/michael/postersession06120405.html
  • Video online
    http://www.minervaeurope.org/events/michael/video/MICHAEL_EN.html
  • Image Gallery
    http://www.minervaeurope.org/events/michael/imggallery06120405.html
  
  
  
• Italian project wins eLearning Awards (06/12/21)
  A project called "Living in Europe: on highlands and lowlands" from Scuola primaria "Ada Negri" in Lodi Vecchio, Italy has won the Young Digital Planet Award for best use in ICT in the eLearning Awards. The award was presented at a magnificent ceremony at the Round Table Conference in Bruges on 7 December 2006.
  
  
• Digitisation and Online Accessibility of Cultural Material (06/12/20)
  The Council conclusions on the Digitisation and Online Accessibility of Cultural Material, and Digital Preservation were published in the
  Official Journal of the EU C 297, p. 1 of 7 December 2006 (all official languages available).
  
  
• Consumer Guides on Digital Rights Management(06/12/14)
  November 2006: INDICARE (INformed DIalogue about Consumer Acceptability of DRM Solutions in Europe) has published its Consumer's Guide to Digital Rights Management in 10 European languages. The aim of the Consumer's Guide is to provide concise, neutral and comprehensible information about what Digital Rights Management is and why it matters to consumers. The Guide tells how to recognise if DRM is applied and informs about its potential effects when using digital content. The Guide also explains the current legal situation and what the legal standing of consumers is today. Its ambition is to respond to questions and concerns consumers facing DRM actually have.
  
  
• Minerva EC poster (06/12/07)
  A poster on MINERVA EC was presented at the poster session of the MICHAEL International Conference
  
  
• FP7 in Motion: Cognitive Systems, Interaction, Robotics, Digital Libraries and Content (06/12/07)
  These information days are dedicated to the research challenges in the first ICT Work Programme of FP7 which fall under the responsibility of the 'Content' Directorate: Cognitive Systems, Interaction, Robotics, Digital Libraries and Content. The event is intended to help participants to understand the work programme, to facilitate sharing of ideas and experiences, and to find partners for project consortia.
  The "Learning and Cultural Heritage" unit will organise some sessions on the research objectives for Digital Libraries and Technology-enhanced Learning.
  Online registration form and draft programme
  
  
• 11th NRG Meeting - Presidency Conclusions (2006-11-27)
  The NRG meetings met in Helsinki, Finland, last 13 October 2006. You can read the conclusions [.pdf 40KB].
  
  
• Culture 2007-2013 and Europe for citizens programmes (2006-11-27)
  Next 11-12 December it will take place in Brussels the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council Meeting. Concerning the proposal for a decision establishing the culture 2007 programme, the Council approved all the amendments passed by the European Parliament at second reading, with the abstention of the Portuguese delegation. The programme will give priority support to three objectives:- promoting transnational mobility of people working in the cultural sector in the EU; encouraging transnational circulation of works of art and cultural products; encouraging intercultural dialogue. The programme will provide for three strands of intervention:
  - direct financial support for cultural actions (multi annual cooperation projects, cooperation measures and special actions);
  - support for bodies active at European level in the field of culture;
  support for analyses, for the collection and dissemination of information and for other activities improving the impact of projects in the field of European cultural cooperation.
  Further information on the new Culture programme can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/culture/eac/culture2007/cult_en.html
  
  
• Towards FP7 (2006-11-23)
  Published on CORDIS website the draft of the "ICT Work Programme 2007-08". Look at the new service for ICT - Information and Communication Technologies
  
  
• eLearning Awards 2006 (2006-10-02)
  European Schoolnet, together with several partners such as Young Digital Planet, Intel, Michael and Oracle invites teachers and schools to submit their ICT projects to the eLearning Awards. The eLearning Awards is Europe's premier competition rewarding excellent use of new technologies by schools. Often the good work at schools is not further known than in the classrooms. The eLeaning Awards give the unique possibility to schools to highlight and share best examples with a wider audience, inspire others and encourage greater school collaboration between schools in Europe.
  The awards include a number of special categories in which attractive prizes can be won. Over ˆ 200,000 have been awarded to schools since it was first organised in 2000. The winners will be invited to a prize-giving ceremony that will take place in Bruge, Belgium in early December 2006.
  The awards are open to all schools in Europe and all entries are showcased in a project gallery.  Projects will be evaluated by educational experts from all over Europe. The deadline is 13 October 2006.
  
  
• i2010 Digital Libraries Initiative (2006-09-08)
  The European Commission adopted on 24 August 2006 a Recommendation on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation (EN PDF file). The Recommendation aims at bringing out the full economic and cultural potential of Europe’s cultural and scientific heritage through the Internet. It is part of the Commission’s strategy for the digitisation, online accessibility and digital preservation of Europe's cultural and scientific heritage as set out in the Commission Communication ‘i2010: digital libraries’. In the Recommendation, the Commission calls on Member States to act in various areas, ranging from copyright issues to the systematic preservation of digital content in order to ensure long term access to the material.
  
  
• eInclusion and eAccessibility (2006-06-27)
  During the Ministerial Conference "ICT for an inclusive society" (Riga, 11-13 June 2006), the Ministers of the European Union (EU) Member States and accession and candidate countries, European Free Trade Area (EFTA) countries and other countries adopted a Declaration on eInclusion, which will provide political guidance for future action.
  
  
• eContentPlus programme (2006-06-12)
  PThe European Commission is preparing a Call for Proposals under the eContentPlus programme. An Information Day is being held in Luxembourg on Wednesday 28 June for this second call for proposals of eContentplus. The Work Programme includes - between others - calls for targeted projects for digital libraries and a thematic network on cultural content under the  "digital libraries (cultural and scientific/scholarly content)" action.
  Subject to the completion of all the necessary procedures, it is intended to launch the call in July 2006. The provisional deadline for receipt of proposals will be 19 October 2006.
  The details about the Information Day together with the draft Work Programme 2006 and call for proposals can be found at http://europa.eu.int/econtentplus.
  
  
• Multilingualism and Thesaurus (2006-06-05)
  Published the Final Plan for using and disseminating knowledge and raise public participation and awareness Report on inventories and multilingualism issues: Multilingualism and Thesaurus, edited by the MINERVA Plus Working Group 3 Inventories, discovery of digitised content, multilingualism issues Working group.
  Multilingualism and thesaurus Subgroup.
  This document was created for cultural institutions to emphasize the importance of multilingualism, and to provide them information and tools for establishing multilingual access to their collections.
  There are two versions available: a longer one to be consulted on the web [pdf 817 kb], and a printed one [pdf 272 kb], more sinthetic.
  
  
• Published the Arabic version of the Quality Principles for cultural Web sites: a handbook (2006-04-11)
  MEDCULT project is based on the results achieved by the MINERVA project, with particular regard to the activies concerning the Quality of Cultural Websites.
  Final aim of MEDCULT is to improve the quality of cultural and educational Websites in the Mediterranean countries. This aim will be pursued by providing a methodology and by establishing a support network, where organisations from the cultural and educational sectors of the Mediterranean countries can find information, advice and tools to improve the quality of their Websites.
  Up to now, the most important result achieved is the translation of the MINERVA Handbook on Quality Principles for cultural Web sites, agreed by Egypt, Jourdan and Morocco.
  
  
• On 1st February 2006 the European Commission adopted a White Paper on a European Communication Policy (2006-04-11)
  The White Paper is a call for action on how we can close the gap between the EU and its citizens. Communication on Europe is a matter of democracy.
  The White Paper proposes five areas where joint action should be taken: defining common principles to guide communication activities on European issues; empowering citizens; working with the media and new technologies; understanding European public opinion; doing the job together.
  The Commission invites to have comments on the suggestions and send new ideas on the matter.
  
  
• Building a European digital library: a challenge in the culture wars (2006-03-16)
  In her overview of work on the development of the European Library, Susanne Bjrner quotes Horst Forster's vision of a true European digital library and the requirements put forward in December's TheEuropeanLibrary newsletter:
  "To build a true European digital library, four major factors are needed, according to Horst Forster, of the EU's Directorate General (DG) for Information Society and Media: cooperation, digitization, standards, and multilingual search. At a December workshop, Forster essentially drew the blueprint for the builders of the European digital library-at least for any builders hoping to get funding from the European Union. Noting that he viewed The European Library as "an embryo" of a European digital library, he called for more cooperation between museums, archives, libraries, and other holders of digital material. Also badly needed? Digitization of many more resources; agreement on common standards; and a solution to the problem of multilingual search (TheEuropeanLibrary.org Newsletter, December 2005)."
  
  
• Research reveals significant gaps in digital R&D programmes of national libraries of European Union New Member States (2006-01-19)
  The vision is a shared European heritage network. The aim of the European Commission Information Society Technologies Programme is to ensure better access to resources by fostering European partnerships and increasing the participation of new member states in EU research activities. A recent survey of new member states under TEL-ME-MOR looked at how well the new member states national libraries are achieving or can achieve this goal. The resulting report is aimed at the European and national policy-makers, library specialists, and the managers of the EU research networks in cultural heritage (e.g. MINERVA). The survey revealed what makes it difficult or impossible for National Libraries to be actively involved in research and development programmes. The result is that only 4 of the 10 libraries surveyed had significant amounts of digitised content. The report of the "Questionnaire for Analysis of Research Activities and Needs of National Libraries of the New EU Member States" can be downloaded here. It gives considerable detail on the state of research and digitisation of resources in the national libraries of the New Member States. The report was commended by CENL (Conference of European National Librarians). TEL-ME-MOR supports the 10 national libraries from the New Member States, that are partners in the project, in becoming full members of The European Library , an initiative established under the aegis of the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL), providing unified access to the electronic resources of the main European National Libraries as well as to other library services.
  
  
• eAccessibility of public sector services in the European Union (2005-12-20)
  The report eAccessibility of public sector services in the European Union was commissioned as part of the UK's presidency of the EU. It revealed that few member states know how well they are doing in the accessibility field: of the 25, only six felt able to estimate the proportion of their web sites meeting 'A' requirements, but all six were found to have overestimated.
  
  
• MEDCULT Project Kick-off (2005-12-12)
  Last 12 December the kick-off meeting of the MedCult Project took place in Rome. The project MEDCULT aims at improving the quality of the cultural websites through the dissemination across the Arabic mother tongue countries of the MINERVA guidelines and tools. This goal will be pursued by providing a methodology and by establishing a stable support network, where organisations from the cultural sector can find information, advice and tools to improve the quality of their websites. These actions are fundamental to improve the awareness of the importance of assuring reliability, transparency, and accessibility to an even wider public of the cultural and ducational contents provided through the web, in order to contribute to information literacy and capacity building.
  
  
• Dynamic Action Plan for the EU co-ordination of digitisation of cultural and scientific content (2005-11-14)
  The eEurope 2002 Action Plan recommended the creation of a co-ordination mechanism for digitisation programmes across Member States. In 2001, representatives and experts from Member States met under the Swedish Presidency, supported by the European Commission, and agreed the Lund Principles that established priorities to add value to digitisation activities in ways that would be sustainable over time. The accompanying Lund Action Plan recommended actions to support progress for the period until 2005. The Lund Action Plan is being implemented by a group of National Representatives (NRG) and successive Presidencies, and benefits from several projects and research networks, including the highly successful. Minerva2 and Digicult3 projects. As many of the barriers identified within Lund continue to exist, one of the Council's priorities for the 2005-2006 Work Plan is to proceed with coordination through an updated action plan as a follow up on the Lund actions4. On 14 November 2005, the Council reaffirmed the validity of the Lund Principles, and recognised digitisation of cultural and scientific heritage to be of strategic importance.
  
  
• Guide to Intellectual Property Rights and Other Legal Issues (2005-11-11)
  Rights issues are prevalent within pretty much anything to do with digital content, from its formation, reproduction, adaptation, negotiation, dissemination and repackaging. In order to limit risks of infringement and take advantage of the benefits that the digital environment presents, it is essential that museums, libraries and archives familiarize themselves with copyright and other issues, as well as train staff in good practice procedures. Minerva publishes the draft of the Guide to Intellectual Property Rights and Other Legal Issues, Version 1.0, edited by Naomi Korn. Send your comments before the end of November.
  
  
• Tessa Jowell keynote speech to the Creative Economy conference, London 2005 (2005-10-12)
  The Minister mentioned the Dynamic Action plan saying: "there is a prescription for progress, that was clearly set out in the Lisbon Strategy. We need to start putting more emphasis on growth and jobs. And take concrete steps to ensure that Europe is the most attractive place for businesses to work and invest in". Read the speech for more details.
  
  
• Commission unveils plans for European digital libraries (2005-10-04)
  The European Commission today unveiled its strategy to make Europe's written and audiovisual heritage available on the Internet. Turning Europe's historic and cultural heritage into digital content will make it usable for European citizens for their studies, work or leisure and will give innovators, artists and entrepreneurs the raw material that they need. The Commission proposes a concerted drive by EU Member States to digitise, preserve, and make this heritage available to all. It presents a first set of actions at European level and invites comments on a series of issues in an online consultation (deadline for replies 20 January 2006). The replies will feed into a proposal for a Recommendation on digitisation and digital preservation, to be presented in June 2006. (EU Press Releases, 30 September 2005)
  
  
• Culture 2000: new call launched by EU (2005-08-05)
  Recently the European Commission launched a new call to transnational projects and European networks looking for funding under the Culture 2000 grants scheme. The Culture 2000 programme contributes to the promotion of a cultural area common to the European peoples. Projects aiming at the preservation, restoration, interpretation and/or presentation of cultural heritage are fully eligible for Culture 2000 subsidies. The total budget for projects supported under this call for proposals is approximately EUR 28 million. The funding requested for annual projects must range from EUR 50,000 to EUR 150,000 and may not exceed 50% of the project's total eligible budget. Funding requested for multi-annual projects must be above EUR 50,000 but not more than EUR 300,000 per year and may not exceed 60% of the total eligible budget. The annual projects must be supported by partners from at least three countries of the European Union, the multi-annual projects should be composed of partners from at least five E.U. countries. Applications must be sent to the European Commission not later than 17 October 2005 for annual projects and 28 October for the multi-annual projects.
  
  
  
• The MINERVA Project through the words of Mme Viviane Reding in Luxembourg (2005-07-13)
  Durig the "International Conference on future coordination of digitisation" organised in Luxembourg last 21 June 2005 within the Luxembourg Presidency, Mme Viviane Reding, Commissioner for the Information Society and Media at the European Commission cited many times in her speech the MINERVA project, as excellent example of European co-ordination of digitisation of cultural heritage programmes and politices.
  
  
  
• Survey on audiovisual archives in Europe launched (2005-07-04)
  A survey to identify problems and priorities in audiovisual archives in Europe was recently launched by TAPE, an initiative for training for audiovisual preservation in Europe. The results of the survey, that is supported by the Netherlands National Commission for UNESCO, aims at promoting preservation of audiovisual collections and for developing training activities The questionnaire is available on TAPE's website as a PDF file and web form in eight languages (English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish). Responses should be submitted by 1 August 2005. Responses will be treated confidentially and in the survey that will be published organizations will not be named. All organizations that respond will receive a printed copy of the final publication.
  
  
  
• Guidelines for Encoding Bibliographic Citation Information in Dublin Core Metadata (2005-07-01)
  The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Citation Working Group has produced this document which provide guidelines for capturing bibliographic citation information within a Dublin Core description. It focuses on bibliographic citations for journal articles, but it also considers other genre. It deals primarily with bibliographic citations for a resource within its own metadata, but some guidelines for describing references to other resources are also indicated. Some other issues that arise when describing a bibliographic resource using Dublin Core metadata are also discussed.
  
  
  
• EPOCH Survey on usability evaluation for Cultural Heritage applications (2005-06-20)
  This survey is carried on in the context of the EPOCH project. The survey focuses on usability - a fundamental factor for the overall quality of an interactive application. The questionnaire aims at to investigating the current usage of usability evaluation methods, identifying the most common approaches and practices currently adopted by cultural institutions in the development of digital applications. The projects attempts to identify some critical requirements for CH evaluation methods, by understanding the needs and expectations of the various stakeholders involved in the evaluation activities of CH applications (e.g., application analysts, domain experts, project managers, information architects, interface designers, end users). In particular, the projects wants to explore the characteristics that should be provided by an evaluation method in order to be accepted and effectively used in CH projects.
  
  
• Agenore
  Last 26-28 May the International Seminar on the European Culture Portal: AGENORE,  was held in Assisi.
  The objective of the seminar was to progress on the discussion about improving on line accessibility and reinforcing visibility of cultural content and activities of each Member States, contributing to the promotion of the European culture.
  The final document produced, some papers and a demonstration are available on line.
  
  
• Accessibility of museum, library and archive websites: the MLA audit
  MLA has launched a new report revealing that the sector's compliance with web accessibility standards is above the national average.  The level of compliance with the basic accessibility guidelines, WAI Level A, is over twice that found by the UK Disability Rights Commission in an audit undertaken last year.
  Accessibility of museum, library and archive websites: the MLA audit is available to download from http://www.mla.gov.uk/information/publications/00pubs.asp. It is based on a representative sample of 300 museum, library and archive websites in England and a comparison of 25 international museum websites. The policy context for the audit was set by the Disability Discrimination Act, which covers websites, and the e-government 2005 policy which requires that public sector websites meet specified web accessibility guidelines.
  
  
• Jerusalem Declaration
  Last 11-12 Octoner in the occasion of the Jerusalem Conference on the Digitisation of Cultural Heritage the  Jerusalem Declaration was adopteds. This document seeks to establish the framework for a cultural heritage digitisation agenda. It clearly states its debt to the work that has been carried through the NRG and MINERVA in the last three years in Europe.