Visit our site: the digitisation of culture

Virtually all cultural institutions in the Netherlands - not just traditional guardians of cultural heritage and libraries, but also broadcasting associations and art institutions - now have their own websites and are working hard on digitisation and creating digital access to museum collections, old films and television programmes and a host of other material. There are any number of publications which say something about the status of the digitisation of culture, but to date there has been no systematic overview of what kind of digital material the various cultural sectors (cultural heritage, the arts, libraries and public broadcasting) offer. This extensive English summary of a Dutch publication details a study of the digitisation of cultural sources and the use of that digitised material. The exploratory study ensues from the Culture and ICT (Cultuur en ICT) programme within the Culture and Media Directorate of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCenW) and was carried out by Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) in collaboration with the Social and Cultural Planning Office of the Netherlands (SCP). The study focussed on the digitisation of information in four cultural sectors: cultural heritage, the arts, libraries and public broadcasting. It brings together quantitative and qualitative data to provide an overview of available information on both the supply of and demand for digital material. In addition to this description and broad analysis of supply and demand, the study looks at the relationship between the various disciplines, the relationship with the field of education and the participation of Dutch institutions in international projects. This study also looks at what gaps in knowledge exist in the field of Culture and ICT and can serve as a reference point to clarify what research is still needed for further policy development