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In Culture in an open society (2018), the Minister of Education, Culture and Science presented her cultural policy. She highlighted the importance of heritage in society's ongoing 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 crucial for heritage to reach the broad public in all its diversity (for everyone), while also enabling this diverse public to utilise heritage for cultural and creative expressions (by everyone). Within this context, the Digital Heritage Intensification commenced in 2019, with the ministry allocating an additional €12.4 million in funding.
To assess the impact of this Intensification, a baseline study was conducted in 2019. In autumn 2021, Dialogic, together with Pleiade Management & Consultancy, carried out the first evaluation and mapped out the availability, accessibility, searchability, and usage of digital heritage. This involved online surveys distributed to heritage organisations (604 responses) and the general public (1,518 responses). Additionally, interviews were conducted with stakeholders in the heritage sector and users from education, science, and the creative industries (26 individuals).
On Friday, 21st January 2022, the report was presented at the New Year event of the Digital Heritage Network. The report can be found here.
We conclude that there is a large amount of digital heritage available, with the digitisation rate (the percentage of collections that are digitally accessible) increasing at the national level. 30% of responding heritage organisations report that over half of their collections are digitally accessible, with 3% indicating that their collections are entirely digital. More than half (57%) mention that a quarter or less of their collection is digitally available, while 14% do not offer their collection digitally at all. The digitisation rate is significantly linked to the size of the organisation.
We also observe significant use of digital heritage. The policy objective of reaching 90% of all Dutch people digitally with heritage is achieved for individuals interested in heritage (90%) and slightly surpasses the current coverage among all Dutch people (87%). It is challenging to determine if the policy goal of 30% participatory use is achieved, as it is not entirely clear what constitutes active and/or participatory use. According to the general public survey, the goal does not appear to be met (12%), although it is close among young adults (26%). Moreover, a substantial majority (71%) of those using digital heritage report an impact, suggesting more than just passive use.
In conclusion, it is vital to address barriers to digitisation and how the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science can continue to support this beyond the Intensification period. Key policy considerations include:
- (Structural) funding for digitisation efforts.
- Involvement of smaller heritage organisations.
- Coordination between (smaller) heritage organisations and commercial entities (if needed).
- Sustainable storage and accessibility of born-digital heritage.
- Balance between the quantitative release of heritage as data and qualitative access for the general public in particular.
- Further clarification of active and/or participatory use and consideration of the effects of efforts on availability, accessibility, and searchability that do not directly result in a quantitative increase in (participatory) usage.
