Europeana has established itself as a trusted source of digitized European cultural heritage content by aggregating material from over 1500 memory institutions. This strategic plan outlines Europeana's goal to further expand and improve its collection by increasing the diversity of content, extending its network of content providers and aggregators, and enhancing the quality of metadata over the next five years.
3. “Digitisation and online accessibility are essential ways
to highlight cultural and scientific heritage, to inspire
the creation of new content and to encourage new
online services to emerge. They help to democratise
access and to develop the information society and the
knowledge-based economy.”
European Council of Ministers on the launch of the Europeana prototype, Brussels, 20 November 2008
Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015 3
4. Foreword Introduction
Europeana has achieved recognition as Europe’s heritage of political, scientific,
the digital showcase for the inestimable economic, artistic and religious culture
riches of Europe’s cultural and scientific shapes our perspective and informs
heritage. Access to this cultural heritage our understanding. Recorded in books
stimulates creativity, the rootstock of and documents, paintings and objects,
innovation and growth. Embedded in the broadcasts and films, it is held in trust
learning and research infrastructure, by Europe’s libraries, museums and
Europeana will become the trusted archives.
source of Europe’s collective memory,
celebrating our cultural diversity and Throughout history, progress is the result
Dr Elisabeth Niggemann, providing a space in which we can Jill Cousins, of the reworking and reinterpretation
Chair of the Europeana Foundation Board reflect on our European identity. Executive Director of Europeana of ideas drawn from our cultural and
scientific heritage. These we use to
generate new knowledge and to innovate.
Europeana has in a short time established
This process is accelerating, its impact
itself as a catalyst for change. It is
widening as increasing amounts of our
playing a pivotal role in forwarding the
shared cultural and scientific heritage
debate about the public domain, orphan
are digitised. The promise of a ubiquitous,
works and copyright harmonisation in
universal and open library is now within
Europe. It has facilitated innovative
reach.
collaboration and knowledge transfer
throughout the memory institutions of
Europe. The result is a new spirit of Europeana is a record of Europe’s
collaborative enterprise that is creating a journey. Through it, people can discover
sustainable European information space. text, image and audiovisual material,
regardless of the country or institution it
I commend this Strategic Plan as a is held in. All that Europe has considered
clear-sighted assessment of the route worthy of keeping, of understanding, of
Europeana must take in order to fulfil its studying - a vast resource of organised
potential. and trustworthy knowledge - has the
potential to become accessible through
Europeana.
4 Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015
5. “Europeana is the EU’s most visible We are achieving our objective as an
aggregator, and aim to give access to
In this strategic plan we outline our
approach to these challenges and to
expression of our digital heritage. In all of Europe’s digitised cultural heritage
by 2025. However, to remain successful
creating value for the stakeholders and
users. Over the next five years, Europeana
less than three years, in the future we need now to move from will focus on four strategic tracks:
a centralised role to a more distributed
Europeana has established itself model. Europeana will take its place � aggregate content to build the open
in a wider European information space, trusted source of European heritage
as a reference point for European collaborating with other aggregators of � facilitate knowledge transfer, innovation
content. From the users’ perspective, and advocacy in the cultural heritage
culture on the Internet. It reflects Europeana’s content will be readily sector
accessible in the places they frequent � distribute their heritage to users
the ambition of Europe’s cultural online - social networks, educational wherever they are, whenever they want it
sites and cultural spaces.
institutions to make our common � engage users in new ways of
participating in their cultural heritage
and diverse cultural heritage more Our ambition is to provide new forms of
access to culture, to inspire creativity
widely accessible to all.” and stimulate social and economic
growth. To achieve this, Europeana and
its stakeholders grapple with major
Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission challenges. Primary among these are
responsible for the Digital Agenda, 13 October 2010 the intellectual property barriers to
digitisation. Europeana will become
outmoded if it is not renewed through
access to 20th and 21st century material.
Launched as a proof of concept in 2008, To ensure such access, more concerted
with 2 million objects from 27 EU efforts are needed at a European level
countries, Europeana spent 2009 and to deal with orphan works and rights
2010 creating an operational service and harmonisation. Secondly, it is vital that
ingesting a critical mass of data from the digitisation of Europe’s cultural and
some 1500 providers across Europe. intellectual record is accelerated. Thirdly,
Together with content partners and aided long-term funding needs to be secured
by Europe’s leading research universities, for both Europeana and the ecosystem of
we now have a strong and vibrant network content providers and aggregators that
of museums, archives and libraries. supplies its lifeblood.
Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015 5
6. Creating value
Europeana has gained recognition for Business Model � Value proposition surveys Results
the value it creates through content Europeana has used the Business Model A set of specific value propositions The process resulted in the following value
aggregation, technology transfer, Canvas developed by Osterwalder and were developed for each of the propositions Europeana could offer:
knowledge sharing and policy Pigneur to sharpen our focus on our identified stakeholder groups. These
most important stakeholders: users, were rated and commented on in an The users valued
development. This strategic plan builds
policymakers and market players. European online consultation with various groups. • Trusted source
on our experience and looks to the future. content providers and aggregators These groups included our User Test • Ease of use
It reflects our plans for development represent our main partner group. Panel, the Council of Content Providers • Reuse
as a service over the next five years and Aggregators, the Member States • In my workflow
so that we keep creating value for our Process Expert Group and market players.
stakeholders. We worked with these stakeholder groups The content providers and aggregators valued
in a five-month process, from planning “The proposition is what makes the • Visibility
and preparation to research and writing. organisation distinct; it serves to • Services
Our consultation programme comprised resolve customer problems and meet • Revenue
two elements: customer needs.” (Business Model
Innovation Cultural Heritage, DEN The policy makers valued
Foundation/Kennisland, 2010) • Inclusion
• Leadership
users � Workshops • Education
activities value relationship
proposition Five workshops were held with expert • Economic growth
partners stakeholders representatives from each stakeholder
?
community to translate the resulting The market valued
value propositions into specific activities. • Straightforward route to content
providers resources channels policy Nearly 70 people from the Europeana • Access to the network
network were involved in 30 hours of • Premium services
passionate discussion. This was followed • Brand association
by a thorough analysis and synthesis of
the results. The consultation also provided us with
costs benefits expert predictions about our working
market environment in 2011-2015. Social trends,
evolving customer needs and changing
economic and political factors were
Business Model Canvas developed by Osterwalder and Pigneur identified. These will determine the direction
Europeana takes in order to continue
delivering stakeholder value.
6 Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015
7. “Europeana will be of
tremendous value for culture
and education worldwide.
Stakeholders, public and
private, will be smart to
work together to make this a
success.”
Peter Kaufman, Intelligent Television
Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015 7
8. A changing landscape � Trends
“The calls for publicly-funded
digitisation to be openly accessible “Personalisation and participation are
are becoming louder. Public domain “Technological access barriers to increasingly required. Geo-location
works should remain in the public the internet continue to decrease, services, augmented reality and
domain after digitisation.” with costs falling and data speed gaming highlight these trends, offering
increasing.” the user inspiration and participation.”
“Mobile devices such as phones and
tablet computers are increasingly “There is an increased
powerful and popular with the
end-user. Portable devices provide
understanding that access to “Aggregation on a national level seems
seamless access to information on culture is the foundation of a to be the most efficient and sustainable
way to aggregate and deliver
the web.”
creative economy.” information.“
“Cultural institutions need to radically
change their working practices to
“Sharing information is the norm. “There is a growth in platforms and remain relevant in the 21st century.”
Data is reused and re-purposed to applications vs websites and portals.
create new and enriched services and People spend more time on platforms
resources.” such as Google or Facebook.”
“Engagement with culture inspires
people’s creativity and personal
enrichment.”
8 Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015
9. � Customer Needs � Economic Climate � Political Factors
“In my workflow is the mantra of “Geo-political fragmentation and
growing nationalism are countered
many internet users. The scale of the “Tough economic times will mean cuts to by greater recognition of our shared
information available bewilders the cultural heritage provision. There is a need European identity.”
user.”
for new business models to sustain the
management and digitisation costs that “The European Union and its
“Information push and web 2.0 lead put and keep heritage information online.” governments strive for a more unified
internet users to expect information Europe where society is connected
delivery to the channel of their “The creative industry is a growing through culture.”
preference rather than seeking it market taking advantage of the need
actively themselves.” to package and re-purpose online “The countries of Europe want to
information.” support an internet information space
that embraces social inclusion.”
“Information overload calls for more
focus, curation and design. Being able “Open standards such as Open
to identify authoritative, high-quality “Some European governments are
content is all the more vital.” Access and Linked Data will leading the way and openly sharing
stimulate the knowledge economy.” information in the interest of the public
“The end-user is no longer solely an good.”
information consumer but is quickly
“New ideas are born from our cultural
becoming an active creator and heritage. In an online world, lack of
participator.” access to this is a barrier to creativity
and growth.”
Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015 9
11. Strategic Tracks
The following four strategic tracks represent the results of our consultation and
analysis. They are the means by which Europeana will continue to deliver value to
our stakeholder groups in the years 2011-2015. These four strategic tracks -
aggregate, facilitate, distribute and engage - underpin Europeana’s future direction
and business success.
1 Aggregate Build the open trusted source for European
cultural heritage content
� Source content that represents the diversity of our
cultural heritage
� Extend the network of aggregators
� Improve the quality of the metadata
2 Facilitate Support the cultural heritage sector through
knowledge transfer, innovation and advocacy
� Share knowledge among cultural heritage
professionals
� Foster research and development of digital heritage
applications
� Strengthen Europeana’s advocacy role
3 Distribute Make their heritage available to users
wherever they are, whenever they want it
� Upgrade the Europeana portal
� Put content in the users’ workflow
� Develop partnerships to deliver content in new ways
4 Engage Cultivate new ways for users to participate
in their cultural heritage
� Enhance the users’ experience
� Extend our social media programmes and use of
web 2.0 tools
� Broker a new relationship between curators, content
and users Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015 11
12. 1 Aggregate Source content that represents the
diversity of our cultural heritage
“Europeana was the catalyst
Build the open trusted for us to get mobilised to
Europeana provides access to content
source for European cultural that is unparalleled in terms of quality work together across different
heritage content and quantity. The trust that the world has
Europeana is assembling the most
in the names of our content providers
has been built over centuries and cannot
domains and for the first
comprehensive, trustworthy and
authoritative collection of Europe’s
be equalled. The scale and scope of
the content represents a significant
time ever set up a national
cultural and scientific heritage ever
compiled. It is provided to Europeana by
step towards a comprehensive account
of Europe’s cultural and scientific
infrastructure for digital
the institutions that have been entrusted
to preserve, interpret and make available
achievements.
heritage information.”
the heritage that preceding generations That collection will increase as partners’ Rolf Källman, Swedish National Heritage Board,
have valued. existing digitised content is ingested, as
Europeana Open Culture Conference 2010
new partners join the network and as new
Our aim is to accumulate digitised content, digitisation programmes come to fruition.
standardise the data that describes it, In particular, Europeana will make use of
apply linked data techniques to enrich the collection development of providers, Europeana contains a range of formats
it and promote persistent identifiers to while also looking to provide and enrich from all domains. To do this, we will enter
locate it in the long-term. Following our European thematic collections not covered into alliances that include providers of
published Content Strategy, we will extend by other sources. commercial content.
our network of content providers and
encourage the development of aggregators In order that the diversity of Europe We will strive to automate and simplify
that fit the needs of different countries, is reflected, we will seek out content our ingestion process, to make the
domains and users. By doing so we will from under-represented cultures most effective use of resources. We are
increase the level of content to which and countries and aim to stimulate developing tools and systems that put
Europeana is able to provide access. digitisation programmes to make sure more control in the hands of content
that Europeana offers an appropriate providers. By doing so, we can effectively
Furthermore, in order to best serve level of visibility. Users should be able manage the increasing content flow and
the diverse audiences and fulfil their to access the full spectrum of culture, meet the expectations of our providers.
range of needs, we will collaborate with from court composers to street music, Partnerships with selected providers of in-
aggregators and other content providers and from ancient worlds to modern times. copyright material will integrate published,
in the sustainable development of an We will also strive to rectify the lack born-digital, contemporary content with
effective European information network. of audiovisual and 20th/21st century complementary heritage content. Similarly,
content, thereby ensuring that as new types of cultural heritage content
develop – for example, 3D visualisations
– we shall endeavour to ensure they are
included in Europeana.
12 Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015
13. Extend the network of aggregators from collaborations between the elements of change will benefit not only Europeana but
this complex information ecosystem. also our providers, who will be able to use
The museums, libraries, archives and the enriched data to upgrade services to
audiovisual collections of Europe number Improve the quality of the metadata their own users.
in the thousands. The effective way to
bring their content together for users has Europeana holds descriptive metadata Multilingual access to Europeana’s content
proved to be primarily through national rather than digitised objects. Improvements is known to be a priority for users. In
Expected
and domain aggregators, which then to this data offer better search results association with experienced partners in
content growth
channel content into Europeana. to users and increase the research the field, including Humboldt University and over the next five
opportunities that are enabled by Google, we are investigating solutions for years
Europeana. We are developing guidelines, the forthcoming releases of Europeana.
Europeana will work to extend the
aggregation model because of the tools and training to help content providers
synergies and economies of scale it improve and standardise data quality and 2011
2010 2012
the validity of persistent identifiers. We
provides. We will partner with countries
or content domains, providing support in are enforcing the clear attribution of rights
14.000.000
objects
16.000.000
objects 21.000.000
information so that users know how they objects
the shape of source code, services and
expertise. We will continue to adapt the can legitimately use the content.
model in accordance with the needs of
the country or sector. The web works on the basis of things being
found; scholarship functions on traceable
Europeana’s primary forum for refining and reference. These require that the cultural
extending the aggregator model is the Council heritage sector ensures the persistency of
2013 2014 2015
28.000.000 30.000.000
of Content Providers and Aggregators. It its digital heritage in the same way that
represents the voice of the content providers it has preserved and made accessible 26.000.000 objects
at the Europeana Foundation Board level and our physical and intellectual heritage. objects
objects
acts as a grassroots enabler, information Agreement must be reached on the use
sharer and champion of Europeana’s of persistent identifiers so that links are
aggregation strategy out into national and not broken, users are not alienated and
domain networks. scholarship can proceed on the basis of
secure citation.
We are working with our partners, including
national initiatives and aggregators of all
types, to shape a sustainable European
The full potential of interoperability will be
unlocked by the implementation in 2011 of
A national aggregation
information space that is responsive to the Europeana Data Model [EDM], a new initative in every EU
the changing needs of the widest range
of users. The requirements of the higher
way of structuring data. EDM will enable
the use of Semantic Web technology, member state:
education research community, the creative support Linked Open Data, maintain more
professional and the expert amateur, for domain-specific rich information and this is Europeana’s aim
example, have overlapping but distinct
needs. The challenge – and the opportunity –
allow digital objects from providers to be
shown alongside authoritative and curated
by 2015
is to develop a suite of appropriate services information from other domains. The Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015 13
14. 2 Facilitate Share knowledge among cultural
heritage professionals
“The cultural sector is
Support the cultural heritage going through an enormous
Europeana has a strong record of
sector through knowledge promoting knowledge transfer through transition. We have to make
transfer, innovation and its working groups, conferences and
advocacy dissemination activities. Our outputs and
deliverables, in the form of tools, services
sure that it reaps benefits
Europeana has brokered a new consensus
in the digital heritage domain and forged
and publications, are widely used and
referenced. We will continue to build on
from technological advances.
a working partnership. The international
associations concerned with all aspects of
this achievement, seeking new platforms
and methods to develop and reinforce
This means finding new
heritage have formed a strategic alliance
at the executive level in the Europeana
digital competencies throughout the
cultural heritage sector.
business models for the
Foundation. The Europeana group of
projects has created operating networks Our goal is to stimulate new
creative industries, and
of content providers across the cultural,
scientific and information domains. The
developments, foster new partnerships
and achieve economies of scale in the
expanding the traditional role
domains and providers now have an
ongoing forum – the Council of Content
cultural heritage sector. We will promote
dialogue and collaboration between
of cultural institutions to the
Providers and Aggregators – in which
their diverse professional practices can
librarians, curators, archivists and the
creative industries, to work together digital world.”
achieve common ground in order to best on areas of common interest in the
serve users in the digital environment. Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture,
digital environment, such as usability,
multilinguality, Intellectual Property Multilingualism and Youth, 21st April, 2010
Europeana will continue to be a driver for Rights, business models, technology,
change, promoting knowledge transfer semantic web, data standards and
and helping build professional skills enrichment. guidelines, standards, and positioning
around online access to digital content. papers on policy issues. We will continue
We will nurture innovation in the cultural The Council of Content Providers and to organise international plenary
heritage sector by making our code open Aggregators provides a professional conferences as well as workshops
source, for example. We will take a strong forum that allows us to take this to in member states to ensure a broad
advocacy role, promoting policies and a new level. It provides a platform to distribution of information.
business models that favour opening up develop training programmes, working
access to cultural heritage content. groups and awareness-raising services Foster research and development of
that will strengthen professional capacity digital heritage applications
Europeana is the facilitator and the in the network and encourage new
guarantor of equal participation; the real membership. We are speeding up the development
value is created by the network that of tools and service innovation by
develops, disseminates and embeds the We will develop our online publishing providing our codebase as open source
14 Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015 new skills, applications and policies. programme to disseminate best practice through Europeana Labs, where we
15. encourage creative reuse and refinement applications, the importance of persistent
by a process of peer review. Europeana identifiers, the need for better data, the
will provide incubator and test-bed removal of barriers to access, increased
environments to support creative user participation and the responsible
innovation in the cultural heritage sector reuse of content.
and beyond. The reuse of Europeana’s
code also enables new digital aggregation Dominant themes in the medium-term
initiatives to make substantial savings on centre on the public domain and orphan
development costs. works. Europeana is mounting a robust
defence of the public domain, the
Once applications are developed to beta knowledge base on which creativity and
stage, Europeana promotes innovation in learning depend. The publication of the
application development by providing a Europeana Public Domain Charter, the
public showcase where Europeana and adoption of the Public Domain Mark in
its projects share prototypes and enable association with Creative Commons, and
testing and feedback from users. the development of the Use Guidelines for
Public Domain Works are important steps
In the coming years we will continue our in raising awareness among policymakers,
extensive dissemination of these results content providers and end-users.
to the technical partners of the projects
in the Europeana group and to newly Orphan works are of particular concern
formed aggregators, so that use and to Europeana, because the portal focuses
development of the code is taken up in attention on the existence of the 20th
each domain and in each country. century black hole. The most recorded
century is sparsely documented
on Europeana, and the most popular
Strengthen Europeana’s advocacy audiovisual content is the most scarce.
role Europeana will continue to press for
solutions to the problems caused by
Europeana plays an advocacy role both orphan works, which cannot be digitised
within the cultural heritage sector and to and made publicly accessible. We will
the wider world of policy-makers, funders work with the European Commission,
and ultimately end-users. Our overall aim with policymakers in Member States and
is to open up access to online cultural with partners to support research into
heritage because of the social and solutions such as collective licensing and
economic benefits it stimulates. registries of rights.
We actively advocate across a range
of topics that contribute to sustainable Ian Davis, Talis,
access, including open business models, Europeana Open Culture
improved access through Linked Data Conference, 2010 Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015 15
16. 3 Distribute Upgrade the Europeana portal
Europeana.eu will continue to be the
“Europeana offers teachers
Make their heritage available flagship for new content and services. and students the opportunity
It is becoming established as the
to users wherever they are, trusted and comprehensive resource for to source quality digital
whenever they want it authoritative cultural heritage content
We are building a strong brand that is
from across Europe. We will continue our
Search Engine Optimisation programme.
learning objects that will
associated with the destination site,
Europeana.eu. We will continue to develop
We will also optimise our social media
activities, which drive an increasingly
enhance teaching and learning.
the portal in line with our users’ evolving
needs and expectations, but in addition,
large percentage of traffic to Europeana.
These resources will increase
we will develop initiatives to make the
content as findable, understandable and
We will deliver personalisation and
services to send alerts directly to users.
teachers’ confidence in using
reusable as possible. Enabling discovery
and reuse of Europeana’s content is the
We will develop multilingual access, new
ways of viewing the content and create
online material and allow
essence of our business model. an enhanced mobile interface. The search
experience will be improved with intuitive
students to represent their
Recent technological changes mean that
users no longer go to content; rather,
search and visualisation techniques and
more cross-linking between different knowledge in a format that is
applications deliver content direct to the
user, and the chosen device is mobile. We
content types. There will be more
opportunities for customisation, so that a meaningful to them within the
must ensure that our content is available
where our target users congregate, among
teacher, for instance, can use Europeana
results on smartboards. context of what is required in
the resources that they habitually use.
the 21st century.”
APIs and widgets will make our Put content in the users’ workflow
heritage available in cultural and social Donal O’Mahony,
networking places, among college Partners in our network are customising eLearning Awards 2010 winner for “History Matters” blog
resources and on information sites. We the Europeana Open Search API in order
will partner with public and private to embed content in their own resources.
players, for example in the learning and APIs, widgets and other web services will
travel sectors, to interpret and re- be the primary mechanisms for putting resources beyond our portal - to new
purpose the content for their audiences. content in places that users frequent, generations of mobile devices, for
including social networks, educational example.
Promoting distribution through sites and cultural spaces.
applications and partnerships makes These services and applications are
Europeana scalable: we can grow usage Competitions and hackathons will be held a means of refining Europeana’s
through the multiplier effect that these to develop applications and interfaces vast content down to a specific and
offer without increasing costs. that extend the use of Europeana’s manageable subset, relevant to specific
16 Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015
17. audiences. By using these services,
school history blogs, cultural tourism
services, learning resource sites, local
history groups and so on can integrate
Europeana’s content with their own.
Develop partnerships to deliver
content in new ways
We will partner with players in the
public and private sector who are able to
integrate Europeana content into services
targeted to specific user groups. Our
initial focus is on provision of services
to education and we will continue
to work with partners like European
Schoolnet to develop ways of integrating
heritage content into multimedia learning
resources.
We will also develop relationships in
the tourism sector to create services for
cultural explorers and travellers. We aim
to work with organisations that have a
remit for culture on a pan-European level,
such as the European Capitals of Culture
programme and the Council of Europe’s
Directorate of Culture and Cultural
and Natural Heritage, the coordinating
body for European Heritage Day. Our
collaborations aim to relate our physical
and virtual cultural heritage and increase
awareness.
Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015 17
18. 4 Engage Enhance the user experience “Europeana is really
Cultivate new ways for We will continue to refine and improve fascinating, wonderful project,
the usability of our site and our services.
users to participate in their We will build on our programme of excellent - so i am a little bit
cultural heritage research into the present and emerging
needs of existing and target users. We proud of “my” Europe!”
We will enhance the user experience, will create and share tools that help
creating a richer and more intuitive people make the most of the site. Europeana.eu Facebook page friend
service that maximises the users’
participation and interaction and We will provide users with more
increases usage of the content. We context to support and interpret the
will build on the loyalty of our users content that we offer. We will involve a contributor to multiple conversation
and attract new users, developing them in the creation of new virtual networks, rather than as the centre of a
our dialogue with them and fostering exhibitions that show how our pan- dominant discourse.
communities of interest that generate European, cross-domain content creates
their own conversations. new juxtapositions and opens up new We will continue our programme of
interpretations. supporting local events for end-users
Our network comprises the archivists, run by our partners with Europeana
curators and librarians who are entrusted Greater participation in the site will participation. These will focus on topics
with the care of Europe’s collections. They increase user interest and loyalty. such as our virtual exhibitions, building on
show a growing interest in pioneering new Storytelling, guest blogging, surveys, our successful Art Nouveau roadshows in
methods of access and encouraging the quizzes, reviews, commentaries and Belgium, Latvia and Poland.
use of their content in untried situations. new ways to deliver feedback and foster
We will cooperate in the development dialogue all offer ways to engage users in We will inaugurate partnerships with the
of new relationships between these the development of the site. public and private sector to promote the
custodians, their content and the crowd. creative reuse of content and bring about
new juxtapositions and relationships. We
User Generated Content [UGC] is another Extend our use of web 2.0 tools and will run competitions and provide spaces
aspect of this re-evaluation. Expertise social media programmes and resources for remixing, sampling
and information about our cultural and mashups. We will foster creative
heritage exist outside the heritage We will develop relationships with special communities around new practices.
institutions; artefacts and written sources interest groups that focus on topics that
in private hands complement those Europeana can illustrate and illuminate.
held in public collections. In the digital We will create online conversations
environment, these resources can take around new content, functions and
their place alongside the traditional features – the social objects that catalyse
offerings of the institution. exchange. We will position Europeana as
18 Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015
19. Broker a new relationship between
curators, content and users
We will devote increasing resources to
initiatives that bring out the value of the
contribution that users can make. We
will continue to work with Wikipedia to
develop opportunities for collaboration.
Wilkipedia’s model of user involvement,
multilingual content, range of cultural
and scientific coverage and extensive
interpretation offers strengths that are
complementary to Europeana’s.
We are working with partners that
specialise in User Generated Content,
such as the Great War Archive from
the University of Oxford, on models that
allow Europeana to bring in user content
without compromising our authoritative
positioning and with appropriate levels of
mediation. The Great War Archive initiative
is being developed by a series of
We are working with national and local partnerships with other theatres
hosts to extend the Great War Archive of conflict in WW1. The first set of
into Europe. The first expression of this the Archive’s content can be found
is our partnership with the Deutsche on Europeana. One story concerns
Nationalbibliothek to run roadshows RAF man Bernard Darley who was
involving local communities in Germany commended for putting out a fierce
in digitising their First World War fire in a workshop containing petrol
documentation such as family letters, tanks. At his side throughout was a
pictures and memorabilia for inclusion in German prisoner of war, Otto Arndt.
Europeana. The two became friends and Otto
made a matchbox from a shell-casing
as a memento which he inscribed and
presented to his friend. This story
shows the human side of the war -
in this case an unlikely friendship
between normal people caught up in
a war not of their making.
Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015 19
20. Resources Budget Europeana 2011-2015
Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
INCOME (thousands)
� Operating Income 4.923 4.978 4.856 5.261 5.504
* Long term subsidy European Commission - - - 4.661 4.894
* Subsidy from projects 4.061 4.336 4.241 480 488
* Subsidy Ministries to support projects &
857 637 610 110 112
overhead
* Other Income 5 5 5 10 10
Total operating income 4.923 4.978 4.856 5.261 5.504
COSTS (thousands)
� General operating costs 437 259 282 626 657
* Personnel staff costs 202 212 223 234 246
* Costs for housing 71 75 78 202 212
* Operating costs 164 172 181 190 199
* Covering overhead costs out of projects - 200- 200- - -
� Europeana Operational Services - - - 4.035 4.237
* Personnel costs - - - 2.004 2.104
* IT costs - - - 576 605
* Subcontracting - - - 410 431
* Marketing & Communication - - - 748 785
* Travel costs - - - 128 134
* Other material costs - - - 169 177
� Direct project costs 4.486 4.719 4.574 600 610
* Personnel project costs 2.566 2.948 2.819 510 515
* IT costs 472 611 648 - -
* Subcontracting 405 195 162 30 32
* Marketing & Communication 338 445 455 - -
* Travel costs 335 300 270 60 63
* Other material costs 240 20 20 - -
* Overhead costs 130 200 200 - -
Total costs 4.923 4.978 4.856 5.261 5.504
20 Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015 Result 0 0 0 0 0
21. Cost allocation
Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Total budget 4.923.000 4.977.900 4.855.800 5.260.900 5.503.900 The percentage of budget allocated
to ‘Aggregation’ will decrease in the
period 2011-2015 to allow a more even
in % 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
distribution of activities across the 4
Aggregate 43% 35% 28% 22% 17% tracks. This decrease will be realised
Distribute 22% 23% 23% 27% 30% through the better use of the network and
increased efficiencies at Europeana and
Facilitate 15% 18% 20% 21% 21%
the Partners.
Engage 19% 23% 29% 30% 32%
track 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Aggregate 2.112.400 1.752.000 1.379.000 1.152.500 951.500
Distribute 1.103.100 1.149.800 1.110.300 1.425.800 1.668.300
Facilitate 760.700 917.300 976.600 1.086.400 1.134.600
Engage 946.800 1.158.800 1.389.900 1.596.200 1.749.500
2,5
budget allocation in millions
2
Engage
Distribute
1,5
Facilitate
1
Aggregate
0.5
0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015 21
22. External: External benefits are those Indirect: Indirect benefits are benefits Direct: Direct benefits refer to the benefits
Cost-Benefits that can be classified as positive that, through market transactions, are for Europeana and its participating
consequences (externalities) of the transmitted to consumers and producers investors and partner institutions. Direct
Some of the most important benefits of actions of Europeana. Although hard to in other markets. By making the material benefits include the following:
Europeana are considered economically quantify, these effects are at the heart of accessible outside the cultural sector
intangible. These include the contribution Europeana’s existence and are judged to and by the development of new business � Increased visibility of the content of
to a European society connected through be an important contribution to the Digital models and public-private partnerships participating institutions, creating
culture, the fostering of social inclusion Agenda of the European Union and an Europeana can play an important role in relevance and direct economic returns
and the furthering of a collective, pan- underpinning of the knowledge economy. reaping these indirect benefits. Expected from use of online content and physical
European understanding. Other benefits These include but are not limited to: benefits in this area include: footfall
are potentially easier to quantify, such � Decreased cost of providing access
as the economic return of increased � The strengthening of a shared European � Time savings by researchers through the adoption of the open source
visibility of our shared heritage, the cost culture � Creation of new businesses in areas code developed by Europeana, such as
reductions realised by developing and � The promotion and enabling of diversity such as tourism the portal and ingestion tools
sharing open source code and the value � The increase of social inclusion � Creation of new jobs in the creative � Cost savings through standardisation of
that access to culture can contribute to � The improvement of multimedia literacy industries metadata
the educational sector and the creative � Cost savings in the educational market � Cost savings through knowledge
industries. All are deemed of high importance and transfer
Europeana has a unique competitive
Key metrics are being developed to better advantage to be successful in developing
track and measure some of these effects these opportunities.
over the course of the coming years. In
order to give an indication of the areas
where positive returns on investment
are to be expected we use the (social)
cost-benefits classification guidelines
developed by OECD of direct, indirect and
external returns of investment1.
16 total
14
visits in millions
12
10
8
referring websites
6
search engines
4
direct traffic
1
OECD (2007) OECD principles and guidelines for access
to research data from public resources
2
0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
22 Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015
23. “Creativity is the driving force
of economic growth.”
Richard Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class, Basic Books, 2002
Europeana Strategic Plan 2011 - 2015 23