OpenCulture

My theme today is ‘rising to the Digital Challenge in Difficult Times’.

Many of you will know that this is one of my favourite themes - because I think that some aspects of the new Digital environment offer us an unprecedented opportunity to do something new. To become something new. To win a new place in the hearts and minds of a society that is disaffected with the politics and economics of short-termism and instant gratification. To establish a new contract with punters that is based on meaning and validity in a turbulent world. (more…)

As the cuts to Arts funding chunter ever onward, some new motifs are emerging. ‘Where is the leadership?’ people cry. ‘When will the Minister intervene?’. But even as we enter the darkest hour for museums, some new aspects of this landscape are becoming clear. (more…)

It’s a simple question. How much would it cost to Digitise everything in Europe’s museums, archives and libraries? Answering it turned out to be one of the biggest challenges the Collections Trust has ever faced. (more…)

I was fortunate to be invited by the Natural History Museum’s Collections Committee to join them for their awayday last week. Part of the Museum’s larger strategic development, the aim of the session was to devise a new Collections Strategy and to connect it to the broader Science Strategy. (more…)

Having signed off our huge research project on the Costs of Digitising Europe’s Cultural Heritage (of which more in a forthcoming post), I found myself today heading over to the British Standards Institute for a meeting of the Steering Group for the new standard for Environmental Management, which we are co-sponsoring with MLA and the National Archives. (more…)