Meet the Members Council: Rolf Källman
I often get asked the question, “when will your work be finished?”
In this question lies the assumption that digitising cultural heritage is about converting collections and holdings from A to Z. I don't believe, however, that digitisation is about that at all. I see it as more like riding the wave of the digital shift; to stay relevant and to ensure that heritage information enhanced by digital tools can be used for knowledge building, cultural experiences and sheer joy. So my answer to that question is never.
Since 2011, I’ve lead Digisam, a secretariat assigned by the Swedish government to coordinate the work of digitisation, preservation and the use of digital heritage information at Swedish state funded archives, libraries and museums. The task is clearly cross-domain and comes with the ultimate goal that digital heritage information will be made accessible for citizens to engage with, use and re-use.
For me, that’s also very much what Europeana is about. Europeana makes it possible to have close encounters with cultural and historical objects without having to know which institution or country I must search to find them. It enables us to fit bits and pieces of information together in the way they used to, before we divided and stored them in separate silos. Most of all, it allows us to encounter things in completely new and unexpected ways.
On the way to Norway. Gustaf, Carin, Lilly and a Volvo PV, Swedish National Heritage Board, Flickr Commons, Public Domain.
But Europeana is also the most inspiring and strong network of which I ever been a part. And within the shape of an Association, as a part of a new governance structure, it has the potential to become even stronger. To be able to take part in, use and share our common cultural heritage is a true democratic right, and one with which the democratisation of Europeana is well aligned.
A Foundation and Association built on democratic principles can also effectively address fundamental structural questions that need to be tackled in order to carry out our shared task. The need to modernise copyright laws is, in many ways, perhaps the most important issue we face. But it is not the only one, and shared, cost-effective technical solutions and the common management of best practices and guidelines are also high on my wishlist.
As a councillor, I will strive for meaningful engagement among members of the Association and, together with its members, work for it to be an established platform for influence, transparency and dialogue as Europeana continues to progress. The Association provides a base from which we can reach our common goals and I believe that, together, we could make it even stronger and ensure that it plays a significant role at European as well as national level.
Related to this, one of my main focuses will be to open up and make connections with other Networks for an even more widespread use of heritage information in other sectors. A sustainable Europeana is built upon active members and developed supporting networks in each of the individual Member states. Therefore I hope that I, together with my colleagues in the Members Council, will soon find ourselves engaged in an open, constructive and responsive dialogue with you all about how we can make Europeana an even better-known and widely used platform for our common cultural heritage.
Working with digital heritage is like finding a thread and winding it up to see where it leads. You can be sure that it will lead you out of your own institution, out of your domain and, even, out of your country. After all, digital information is a truly international language that's best spoken and managed in a rich cross-domain and cross-boarder context.
So let’s follow the thread and see where it takes us!