Ad Pollé
Senior UGC Projects Coordinator , Europeana Foundation
Georgia Evans
Senior Editorial Officer , Europeana Foundation
The Europeana Communicators Community is one of the Europeana Network Association's specialist communities. Explore their work plan for 2023.
In 2023, the Communicators Community aspires to foster a welcoming, inclusive community of engaged communicators, who recognise, share and promote the value of (digital) cultural heritage and of the common European data space for cultural heritage. We aim to embrace our multinational and multilingual community, and be transparent in our activities.
Read and download the full Communicators Community work plan below. You can also join the Europeana Communicators Community through the Europeana Network Association.
Carola Carlino
Killian Downing
Nina Janz
Marianna Marcucci
Vaya Papadopoulou
Cristina Roiu
Barbara von Campe
Ad Pollé (Community Manager)
Georgia Evans (Community Advisor)
The Steering Group (SG) has implemented a rotation model for the chair every six months. In the coming year, it is our ambition to expand the Steering Group and we will aim to recruit new members.
Connect: We aim to be a communication hub between community members, communities, the Europeana Network Association, and communicators across the cultural heritage sector.
Support: We contribute to Europeana's shared knowledge by supporting the development and promotion of training resources, tools and activities.
Upskill: We equip and empower our members with digital communications skills and tools.
Inspire: We share examples of digital culture in action, demonstrating the relevance of Europeana and (digital) culture heritage and inspiring people to engage with it.
Foster a welcoming, inclusive community of engaged communicators, who recognise, share and promote the value of (digital) cultural heritage and of the common European data space for cultural heritage. We aim to embrace our multinational and multilingual community, and be transparent in our activities.
Behind every piece of data in the common European data space for cultural heritage stands human inspiration, creativity, action, knowledge. As communicators we want to safeguard and showcase the human aspects, values, misfortunes and emotions behind these ‘data’ by advocating storytelling as an essential part of this data space - and the importance that it is transparent and accessible to all.
In the past years many cultural heritage institutions have been developing so-called participatory approaches, offering citizens the possibility to contribute to the collections by annotating and translating data and by telling their stories, related to objects. Europeana did the same by crowdsourcing projects and by campaigns like World War I, Migration and Sports. As communicators we want to see participatory approaches as an integral part of the design and content of this data space, with cultural heritage institutions ensuring that all their work and projects consider their community. Citizens should be able to recognize the data space as THEIR cultural heritage, THEIR data space and to take ownership. Use and re-use is value.
1. Support our community with resources that they need to be effective communicators (and work to gain an understanding of what these are)
Activities which could contribute to this priority area include:
Conducting an annual survey to ensure we have relevant data and continuity in feedback and a comparable understanding of our community;
Making the results of the survey visible and transparent to our members;
Collaborating with the Europeana Foundation MarComms staff on a webinar series related to communications and digital cultural heritage;
Explore webinars about topics relevant to our community - possible topics suggested by Steering Group members include a workshop on data crafting around digital cultural heritage.
2. Build and foster connections within our community, across ENA communities; with communicators across the cultural heritage sector; and across data spaces(s).
Activities which could contribute to this priority area include:
Develop a structured approach to engaging members on our LinkedIn channel;
Organising informal events for our members to meet and discuss relevant issues (drawing inspiration from the Copyright Community’s Office Hours);
Supporting Councillors and other Basecamp users in the use of this collaboration tool (for example, by maintaining quick start guide and one or more webinars);
Supporting all communities, but especially the newly-formed Climate Action Community, with communications activities;
Promoting the use of #EuropeanaCommunities and inspire the Members Council and Communities to be active on social media.
3. Work to be inclusive to our multinational and multilingual community
Activities which could contribute to this priority area could include:
Carrying out short interviews with community members both in English and in their own languages;
Formulating a plan to translate resources relevant to the Communicators; Community (e.g. the 7 Tips for digital storytelling);
Contribute to and organise multilingual events and editorial;
Working with relevant groups working on inclusion and diversity (for example, Task Forces) to promote discussions about what ‘inclusive language’ means.
4. Reinforce the value of open digital cultural heritage and the European data space for cultural heritage by demonstrating the varied and valuable ways it can be used and shared
Activities which could contribute to this priority area could include:
Working on Pro news posts which encourage and highlight reuse, and proactively reaching out to other organisations to work with them on this;
Reach out to smaller cultural heritage institutions to introduce them to Europeana and showcase their work where they are able to work with Europeana.
5. Run and support activities related to digital storytelling in the cultural heritage sector
Activities which could contribute to this priority area could include:
Promoting and supporting the Digital Storytelling Festival.
The Communicators Community work plan for 2023 contributes to the strategic priorities of the Europeana Network Association in a number of ways:
Collaboration with Europeana Foundation, Europeana Aggregators’ Forum and wider networks by undertaking activities to build and foster connections within our community, across ENA communities, with communicators across the cultural heritage sector and across data spaces(s).
Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) by working towards being inclusive of our multinational and multilingual community.
Supporting capacity building and digital transformation in cultural heritage institutions by developing resources (particularly around digital communication and digital storytelling) which will build capacity and skills in cultural heritage professionals.
Supporting ENA Mechanisms by communicating the benefits of joining the Europeana Network Association and how to get involved.
The Steering Group does not foresee Task Forces being organised in the coming year, but plans to remind members that they can submit proposals for Task Forces.
Bi-monthly newsletter to members
Mailing list to engage members and encourage discussion/interactivity
Pro page with updated newsletter and actions
LinkedIn community
Supporting Europeana’s news and campaigns on social media by tweeting and retweeting.
Monthly virtual meetings for the Steering Group based on this work plan
Reporting to MB/MC every three months using this template
In total EUR 4 000 for:
Travel for a physical meeting (in alignment with, for example, the 2023 conference)
Potential compensation for translating relevant communications documents
Supporting initiatives of community interest
