Governance of Europeana Cloud services

As outlined elsewhere in this blog, Europeana Cloud is a technical infrastructure that offers storage and services to aggregators (and eventually data providers) within the Europeana ecosystem.

Given that Europeana Cloud is conceived as for the common good of the cultural heritage sector, it is essential that a sound business plan and transparent governance model are in place. Within the project, a Governance Task Force, involving some 10 project partners, is examining design principles, legal structures and the administrative options of the business organisation for managing these ‘Europeana Cloud Services’.

Observing the principles of the Commons created by the Network and adopted by Europeana in its values, the Task Force feels the new cloud infrastructure should derive its success (and therefore its sustainability) from its full commitment to the cultural heritage sector. To provide a distinction from large commercial services such as Amazon and Google, the outcomes of Europeana Cloud must be specifically designed for the cultural heritage sector.

Consequently, the governance model of the corporation operating the new cloud services must allow for the active involvement of cultural heritage institutions across Europe, in particular organisations operating in the field of aggregating and providing cultural heritage data. Also, the new cloud services must be truly embedded in the Europeana ecosystem, linking the outcomes of related projects such as LoCloud and reinforcing other activities of the Europeana Foundation.

The Task Force is currently debating whether the corporation managing the new cloud services should be an independent legal entity, or a business unit within the Europeana Foundation. It is considering the pros and cons of various legal structures (e.g. association, foundation, cooperative and private limited company). Transparency is an essential design principle, since open procedures and clarity about rules, regulations and decisions are key to the public cultural heritage sector.

By the end of November 2015, the Task Force will present recommendations for an effective governance model which will serve the needs as well as the nature of the cultural heritage sector.