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In Culture in an Open Society (2018), the Minister of Education, Culture, and Science presented her cultural policy. She emphasised that heritage is important for society to engage in dialogue about the past, present, and future, both at a local level (village or city) and at a national level (the Netherlands in Europe). The underlying principle is that culture, and therefore heritage, belongs to everyone and should be accessible to all. It is essential for heritage to reach the broad public in all its diversity (for everyone). At the same time, it is crucial that this broad public can use heritage for cultural and creative expressions (by everyone). In 2019, the Digital Heritage Intensification was launched in this context, for which the Ministry allocated an additional €12.4 million.
To assess the impact of this Intensification, a baseline measurement was conducted in 2019. In the autumn of 2021, Dialogic, together with Pleiade Management & Consultancy, conducted the first assessment and mapped the availability, accessibility, findability, and usage of digital heritage. This involved online surveys among heritage organisations (604 responses) and the general public (1,518 responses). Interviews were also conducted with individuals from the heritage sector, education, science, and the creative industry (26 persons).
On Friday, 21st January 2022, the report was presented at the New Year's event of the Digital Heritage Network. The report can be found here.
We conclude that there is a lot of digital heritage available, and the level of digitalisation (the percentage of collections available digitally) is increasing at a national level. Among the heritage organisations that responded to the online survey, 30% indicated that over half of their collections are digitally available. 3% even stated that their collections are entirely digital. More than half (57%) mentioned that a quarter or less of their collection has been made digitally available, and 14% do not offer their collection digitally at all. The level of digitalisation is strongly correlated with the size of the organisation.
We also observe a significant use of digital heritage. The policy objective of reaching 90% of all Dutch people digitally with heritage is achieved for those interested in heritage (90%) and slightly exceeds the current reach among all Dutch people (87%). It is challenging to determine whether the policy goal of 30% participatory use is being met, as it is not entirely clear what qualifies as active and/or participative use. Based on the survey of the general public, it seems that the goal has not yet been achieved (12%), although it is close among young adults (26%). Furthermore, a substantial majority (71%) of the public using digital heritage experiences an effect, suggesting more than just passive usage.
Finally, we stress the importance of addressing barriers to digitalisation and how the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science can continue to address these even after the Intensification concludes. Key focus points for the policy include:
- (Structural) financing of digitalisation efforts.
- Involvement of smaller heritage organisations.
- Coordination between (smaller) heritage organisations and market players (if the need arises).
- Sustainable storage and accessibility of born-digital heritage.
- Balance between quantitative dissemination of heritage as data and qualitative accessibility for (especially) the general public.
- Clearer definition of active and/or participative use and focus on the effects of efforts on availability, accessibility, and findability that do not directly result in a quantitative increase in (participative) usage.
Want to learn more? Ask Max Kemman or download the report here.
Image: L.H. Hofland, collection The Utrecht Archives