Planet Open Knowledge GLAMhack 2020 – an online success
andrea - June 9, 2020 in Hackday, OpenGLAM
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OpenGLAMの原則：文化遺産のオープンアクセスへの道
Shu Higashi (東 修作) - November 12, 2019 in Featured, Open Access, OpenGLAM, Special, オープンデータ
（訳注：この記事はOpen Knowledge本家によるOpenGLAM Principles: ways forward to Open Access for cultural heritage(2019/4/30)を日本語化したもので、OpenGLAMの原則は2019/11月現在改定中です。）
2010年初の初めに、OpenGLAM（ギャラリー、図書館、資料館、博物館）が立ち上げられました。オープンアクセスをサポートする文化施設間の交流とコラボレーションをサポートするネットワークです。OpenGLAMは現在Open Knowledge Internationalとして知られているOpen Knowledge Foundation（OKFN）（訳注：2019/6月現在、再度OKFNに名称復帰しています）のイニシアチブおよびワーキンググループであり、欧州委員会が共同資金提供しています。クリエイティブ・コモンズ、Communia Association、及びGLAM-Wikiコミュニティは最初から仲間でした。
とりわけヨーロッパでは、いくつかの地域OpenGLAMグループが結成されました。ネットワークは、専用ウェブサイトや OpenGLAMのTwitterアカウントといったいくつかのコミュニケーション・チャネルを通じてアウトリーチ活動を行っています。さらには別のOKFNによるイニシアチブ組織（現在は独立）であるPublic Domain Reviewと一緒に働いています。
デジタル文化遺産への自由で開かれたアクセスの背後にある共有された価値を概説するために、ワーキンググループは文化遺産部門におけるオープン機関とは何を意味するのかを定義する目的で、2013年に一組のOpenGLAMの原則を起草しました。
2013年に起草されたOpenGLAMの原則のスクリーンショット
オープンアクセスが文化の部門で広く採用されるようになるにつれて、この領域の利害関係者間でのより強力なコラボレーションの必要性が高まっています。2018年に、クリエイティブ・コモンズ、ウィキメディア財団、そしてOpen Knowledge Internationalにつながっている人々のグループが、OpenGLAMネットワークの活性化と次のステップについて考えるためのイニシアチブをとりました。クリエイティブ・コモンズはこの分野で基本的な仕事をしています。文化遺産機関がその標準的なライセンスを通してそしてクリエイティブ・コモンズ認定制度のようなトレーニングを提供することでコンテンツの公表を手助けします。最初のステップは、投稿者の公募を通じて、@OpenGLAMのTwitterアカウントで新たな命を吹き込むことであり、OpenGLAMの原則について「温度チェック」調査を実施することでした。ここでは、いくつかの結論と次のステップについて説明します。こちらで調査の完全な分析にアクセスしてコメントすることができます。
私たちはまた、回答者がGLAM機関とどのような関係にあるのかについても知りたかったのです。調査では図書館員が最も多く（27％）、博物館の専門家（11％）、学者およびコミュニティの主催者、すなわちWikimedians in Residence（23％）がそれに続きます。わずかに7％が文書館に属し、続いて8％の人がGLAM組織の顧問または外部コンサルタントとして働いていました。複数の役割を果たしていたり、複数の機能を持つ機関で働いていると回答したのは21%でした。
私たちは、原則があまり知られていないことを発見しました。回答者のほぼ半数（45％）は、調査を受ける前にはこれに気付いていませんでした。そして、参加者にこの原則が自分たちの仕事に役立つと考えているかどうかを述べるよう依頼したところ、大多数から積極的な回答(72%)が得られたたものの、25％が「多分」と考え、ごくわずかな割合(3%)だけが役に立つとは思えない、という回答でした。
役に立たないと考えた人々のうち、たいていの批判は公的組織からのサポートの欠如、文化遺産機関とのコミュニケーションやつながりの欠如、そしてそれらのためのサポート構造の不在、といったものでした。とある回答者の要約のように、
Original post 2019/4/30 OpenGLAM Principles: ways forward to Open Access for cultural heritage / Open Knowledge Foundation, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
OpenGLAMとは?
2010年初の初めに、OpenGLAM（ギャラリー、図書館、資料館、博物館）が立ち上げられました。オープンアクセスをサポートする文化施設間の交流とコラボレーションをサポートするネットワークです。OpenGLAMは現在Open Knowledge Internationalとして知られているOpen Knowledge Foundation（OKFN）（訳注：2019/6月現在、再度OKFNに名称復帰しています）のイニシアチブおよびワーキンググループであり、欧州委員会が共同資金提供しています。クリエイティブ・コモンズ、Communia Association、及びGLAM-Wikiコミュニティは最初から仲間でした。
とりわけヨーロッパでは、いくつかの地域OpenGLAMグループが結成されました。ネットワークは、専用ウェブサイトや OpenGLAMのTwitterアカウントといったいくつかのコミュニケーション・チャネルを通じてアウトリーチ活動を行っています。さらには別のOKFNによるイニシアチブ組織（現在は独立）であるPublic Domain Reviewと一緒に働いています。
デジタル文化遺産への自由で開かれたアクセスの背後にある共有された価値を概説するために、ワーキンググループは文化遺産部門におけるオープン機関とは何を意味するのかを定義する目的で、2013年に一組のOpenGLAMの原則を起草しました。
2013年に起草されたOpenGLAMの原則のスクリーンショット
オープンアクセスが文化の部門で広く採用されるようになるにつれて、この領域の利害関係者間でのより強力なコラボレーションの必要性が高まっています。2018年に、クリエイティブ・コモンズ、ウィキメディア財団、そしてOpen Knowledge Internationalにつながっている人々のグループが、OpenGLAMネットワークの活性化と次のステップについて考えるためのイニシアチブをとりました。クリエイティブ・コモンズはこの分野で基本的な仕事をしています。文化遺産機関がその標準的なライセンスを通してそしてクリエイティブ・コモンズ認定制度のようなトレーニングを提供することでコンテンツの公表を手助けします。最初のステップは、投稿者の公募を通じて、@OpenGLAMのTwitterアカウントで新たな命を吹き込むことであり、OpenGLAMの原則について「温度チェック」調査を実施することでした。ここでは、いくつかの結論と次のステップについて説明します。こちらで調査の完全な分析にアクセスしてコメントすることができます。
OpenGLAMの原則に関する調査
調査はソーシャルメディアを通じて、主に@OpenGLAMアカウントを通じて公表し、調査を希望する特定の人々に連絡を取りました。合計109件の回答がありました。参加者の大部分はヨーロッパ（30％）とオセアニア（25％）に属し、北アメリカ（19％）とラテン＆中米（19％）がそれに続きました。アジアや中東からの回答は非常に少なく、アフリカからの回答はありませんでした。私たちのアウトリーチ戦略の欠陥はさておき、これは原則の問題を示す側面の1つとも言えます：それらは英語でしか利用できず、それ故に参加へのさらなる障壁を追加しています。
私たちはまた、回答者がGLAM機関とどのような関係にあるのかについても知りたかったのです。調査では図書館員が最も多く（27％）、博物館の専門家（11％）、学者およびコミュニティの主催者、すなわちWikimedians in Residence（23％）がそれに続きます。わずかに7％が文書館に属し、続いて8％の人がGLAM組織の顧問または外部コンサルタントとして働いていました。複数の役割を果たしていたり、複数の機能を持つ機関で働いていると回答したのは21%でした。
私たちは、原則があまり知られていないことを発見しました。回答者のほぼ半数（45％）は、調査を受ける前にはこれに気付いていませんでした。そして、参加者にこの原則が自分たちの仕事に役立つと考えているかどうかを述べるよう依頼したところ、大多数から積極的な回答(72%)が得られたたものの、25％が「多分」と考え、ごくわずかな割合(3%)だけが役に立つとは思えない、という回答でした。
役に立たないと考えた人々のうち、たいていの批判は公的組織からのサポートの欠如、文化遺産機関とのコミュニケーションやつながりの欠如、そしてそれらのためのサポート構造の不在、といったものでした。とある回答者の要約のように、
「オープンデータなどは文化の分野では関係のない組織です。それらには関連組織によるサポートが必要です。より良い構造とネットワークを構築するために、私たちには議論するためのガイドラインと価値が必要です。」これを有用だと考えた人々のうち、ほとんどは自分の仕事のためのガイドとして利用するためのフレームワークと値のセットを持つことの有用性を示しました。しかしながら現在の版では、原則はほとんどあるいは全くガイダンスを提供していないようです。 提供されている例の範囲が限られていることに加えて、データの公開に主な焦点が当てられていること、オープンアクセスと、疎外されたグループや先住民コミュニティなどの他の関係者の利益と権利との間にある緊張関係に関する認識の欠如、文化遺産に関するより広範で世界的な視点の不在が、今後の見直しの中で対処される必要がある関心事項として知らされました。ある回答者はこう述べています：
「個人的、文化的または社会的制約を伴う情報は、伝統的な知識のように単に『公表』されるべきではありません。私たちには文化的知識の複雑さについてある程度の認識が必要です。」調査の参加者はまた、原則を更新する必要があると考えたかどうか、また必要である場合はどのように変えたら良いのかを尋ねられました。回答者は、原則を実際に適用する方法について、より多くのガイダンスを見たいと述べました。彼らは、オープンアクセスに関わっているより多様な機関のより良い例を望むでしょう。参加者はまた、原則のメンテナンスを説明できるより良い構造を設定する必要性を表明しました。価値とのつながりやより広い有用な宣言が欠如している点もまた、原則の弱点として現れました。別の回答者は次のように言っています：
「人権の観点により重点を置く必要があります。文化遺産へのアクセスは、いくつかの人権憲章および宣言に明記されている権利です。」このOpenGLAM 原則に関する短時間での評価以外にも、自分たちに自問する必要があります。そのより広い機能と有用性とは何でしょうか？私たちは文化遺産機関がそのコレクションにオープンアクセスポリシーを適用するために、より良い指導を必要としていることを知っています。 この声明の裏付けとなる権利声明の正確性についての Europeanaが委託したレポート、およびAndrea WallaceとDouglas McCarthyが作成したGLAMオープンアクセスポリシーと実践、といった調査を含む証拠は増えていて、文化遺産機関をまたぐオープンアクセスポリシーの適用における格差を示しています。そしてCC認定制度などのより多くの訓練や、より良いアドボカシーやツールが適時に設定できる一方で、推奨事項と宣言は、組織機関の内部でまたは連携して活動しているアドボケイトにとって有用な要素となる可能性があります。 Open Access Directoryによって管理されているOpen Access をサポートする宣言のリストは 、学術コミュニケーションおよび科学データのOpen Access出版に重点を置いており、特に伝統的な知識、先住民の権利、またはデジタル化とオープンアクセスリリースに関するその他の問題のある側面、といったあたりの関心事項のいくつかを含む文化遺産に取り組む原則または宣言における明らかなギャップを示しています。 私たちは、オープンアクセスのためのより良いガイドラインをめぐり、文化遺産セクターとより幅広い会話をするために集まることを願っています。この幅広い会話の一環として、私たちは現在草案を作成しており、支持者や実務家と毎月電話をしています。可能な限り多くの人々を巻き込むために、私たちは年間を通じてより多くのフォローアップ戦略を持つ予定です。 会話への参加に興味があるなら、OpenGLAMメーリングリストを通して 連絡を取るか、そこで発表される毎月のオープンコミュニティコールに参加するか、またはCreative CommonsのSlackの＃cc-openglamチャンネルに参加してください。 こちらでOpenGLAM Principlesサーベイの広範なレポートを読んだりコメントしたりすることができます。 原文(OpenGLAM Principles: ways forward to Open Access for cultural heritage より)：
Original post 2019/4/30 OpenGLAM Principles: ways forward to Open Access for cultural heritage / Open Knowledge Foundation, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
OpenGLAMの原則
Shu Higashi (東 修作) - November 12, 2019 in Featured, OpenGLAM, Special, オープンデータ
（訳注：この記事はOpen Knowledge本家による2013年の記事を日本語化したもので、この原則は2019/11月現在改定中です）
v.1.0.
注：これは、OpenGLAMワーキンググループと一緒に起草したOpenGLAMの原則の第4版です。私たちはこれをコミュニティの努力としてとりまとめたいので、OpenGLAMメーリングリストにフィードバックをお願いします！
ギャラリー、図書館、資料館、美術館は人類の知識の進歩を支えるうえで基本的な役割を果たしています。それらは私たちの文化遺産の管理人であり、そのコレクションの中には人類の記録があります。
インターネットは、文化遺産機関に未だかつて無いほど世界中の視聴者を巻き込み、以前よりもそのコレクションを発見しやすくしたりつなげる機会を提供し、ユーザーが世界の遺産保存機関の富を享受するだけでなく、貢献し、参加し、共有することも可能にします。
私たちは、自分たちのコレクションやメタデータを公開するための手順を進める文化機関が、こうした機会から恩恵を享受するだろうと信じています。
私たちがデジタルコンテンツやデータが「オープン」であると言う場合には、以下のように要約されるオープンの定義に準拠していることを意味します：
記述例については以下を参照： 4.データを公開するときは、機械可読でオープンなファイル形式を使用してください。
Original post OpenGLAM Principles / Open Knowledge Foundation, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
「せいぜい作者のクレジット表記をしたり派生作品も原作品と同じ条件で利用可能にする程度で、誰でも自由に利用・再利用・再配布することができる場合、そのデータやコンテンツはオープンであるといえます。」コレクションをオープンにする最初のステップは、オープンなライセンスを適用することですが、それはストーリーの始まりにすぎません。文化遺産機関がアクセス、技術革新そしてデジタル・スカラーシップのためにインターネットの可能性を最大限に引き出すには、コラボレーションや新しい形態のユーザー参加に対するオープンネスが不可欠です。 OpenGLAM機関はこれらの原則を擁護しています：
- Creative Commons Zero 権利放棄などの適切な法的ツールを使用して、アーティファクト（メタデータ）に関するデジタル情報をパブリックドメインに公表します。
- これにより、データの再利用が最大限に促進され、また、Europeanaやアメリカ・デジタル公共図書館などのメジャーな文化データアグリゲーターとのコンプライアンスも確保する一方で、リソースをより見つけやすくなります。
- 著作権の保護期間が満了になった作品（パブリックドメイン）のデジタル表現を新しい権利を追加しないことによってパブリックドメインに保管します。
- 著作権が失効した作品（パブリックドメイン作品）のデジタルコピーおよび表現は、クリエイティブ・コモンズのパブリック・ドメイン・マークなどの適切な法的ツールを使用して明示的にマークする必要があります。これにより、コンテンツの再利用が最大限に促進されます。
記述例については以下を参照： 4.データを公開するときは、機械可読でオープンなファイル形式を使用してください。
- 機械可読なフォーマットとは、コンピュータプログラムによってデータを抽出することができるものです。
- 情報がクローズなファイル形式で公開されていると、その中にエンコードされている情報を再利用する際の大きな障害となり、その情報を利用したい人に必要なソフトウェアの購入を強いることになります。
- データの構造と可能な用途は、たとえばデータのブログやWebページなどで十分に文書化しておくべきです。
- あなたが提供するオープンデータ、コンテンツ、およびサービスを明確に文書化して、他の人があなたが利用可能にしたものを容易に再利用、構築、および改善できるようにします。
- データを公開する際には、データについての利害関係者からの質問に回答し、データを最大限に活用してもらうために積極的にサポートしてください。
- あなたの視聴者にあなたのコレクションからアイテムをキュレーションしたり収集する機会を与えてください。アムステルダム国立美術館のRijksstudioは、この種の取り組みの好例です。
- 可能であれば、クラウドソーシングのアプリケーションを活用して、ユーザーがあなたのメタデータを充実させたり、改善することを検討してください。
Original post OpenGLAM Principles / Open Knowledge Foundation, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Panoptikum: exploring new ways to categorize a collection of various unusual and unique objects
Oleg Lavrovsky - May 9, 2019 in Open Data Day, open data day 2019, Open GLAM, OpenGLAM
This blog has been reposted from https://blog.datalets.ch/054.
For the past two and a half years, the artist Jürg Straumann has been working on a digital retrospective of his life’s work, spanning over four decades of visual art. The latest stage of this project involved creating an interactive way to browse this unique and very personalized database. During our workshop on Open Data Day, March 3 – while Rufus Pollock’s book The Open Revolution was passed around the room, I introduced a gathering of collectors and art experts to Open Knowledge and OpenGLAM. We discussed the question of how new channels and terms like Creative Commons support both the artwork and the artist in a digital economy. And we got lots of great feedback for our project together, which you can read about in this post.
Together with Rebekka Gerber, an art historian who works at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, we reviewed various systems used for advanced web galleries and museum websites, such as:
Et voilà! A powerful search interface in the hands of one of our first beta-testers. When you see it – and I hope pretty soon at least a partial collection will be available online – you’ll notice a ton of options. Three screen-fulls of various filters and settings to delight the art collector, exploring the collection of nearly 7’000 images with carefully nuanced features.
If you’ve been reading this blog, you can imagine that it is a collection that could also delight a Data Scientist. If there is interest, I am happy to separately open source the API generator that was made in this project. And our goal is to get this API out there in the hands of fellow artists and remixers. For now, you can check out the code in app.py.
The open source project is available at github.com/loleg/panoptikum, and we are going to continue working on future developments in this repository. The content is not yet available to the public, since we are still working out the copyright conditions and practical questions. Nevertheless, we wish to share some insight into this project with more people through workshops, exhibitions and this blog.
More on all that in future posts. In the meantime, I’ll let Jürg share more background on the project in his own words. Subscribe to our GitHub repository to be notified of progress – and stay tuned!
The image above is a style transfer from Der Raub der Deianira durch den Zentauren Nessus by Jürg Straumann (nach Damià Campeny, 2012) to La muse by Pablo Picasso (1935)
Wahnsinnig viel Züg, es isch e wahri Freud! (Swiss German, approx. translation: So much stuff, a true delight!)
Oleg’s story
Over my years as web developer I have worked on several collaborations with artists like Didier Mouron/Don Harper or Roland Zoss/Rene Rios, and on various ‘code+art’ projects like Portrait Domain with the #GLAMhack and demoscene community. I’m drawn to this kind of project both from a personal interest in art and it’s many incarnations, as well as from the fascinating opportunity to get to know the artist and their work. When Jürg approached me with his request, I quickly recognized that this was a person who was engaged at the intersection of traditional and digital media, who explores the possibilites of networked and remixed art, who is meticulous, scientific, excited by the possibilities andcommitted to the archiving and preservation of work in the digital commons. I was very impressed with the ongoing efforts to digitize his life works on a large scale, and jumped in to help bring it to an audience. During this same time, I’ve been working on implementing the Frictionless Data standards in various projects. Since he gave me complete freedom to propose the solution, the first thing I did was to use Data Package Pipelines to implement a converter for the catalogue, which was in Microsoft Excel format as shown in the screenshot below. In this process we identified various data issues, slightly improved the schema, and created a reliable conversion process which connected the dataset to the image collection. The automatic verifications in this process started helping to accelerate the digitization efforts.
Together with Rebekka Gerber, an art historian who works at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, we reviewed various systems used for advanced web galleries and museum websites, such as:
- Europeana – europeana.eu – via glam.opendata.ch
- Omeka S / Classic – showcase – via openglam.org
- Collective Access – showcase
- TMS Suite – emuseum.ch
- Wagtail / Django – RCA Now / Museum Arnhem
csvapi project by Open Data Team, is an instant JSON API. Like their csvapi, ours works directly from the CSV files, which are first referenced from the Data Package generated by our pipeline using the Python Data Package library. Based on this API, I wrote a simple frontend using the Twitter Bootstrap framework I’m used to hacking on for short term projects.
Et voilà! A powerful search interface in the hands of one of our first beta-testers. When you see it – and I hope pretty soon at least a partial collection will be available online – you’ll notice a ton of options. Three screen-fulls of various filters and settings to delight the art collector, exploring the collection of nearly 7’000 images with carefully nuanced features.
If you’ve been reading this blog, you can imagine that it is a collection that could also delight a Data Scientist. If there is interest, I am happy to separately open source the API generator that was made in this project. And our goal is to get this API out there in the hands of fellow artists and remixers. For now, you can check out the code in app.py.
The open source project is available at github.com/loleg/panoptikum, and we are going to continue working on future developments in this repository. The content is not yet available to the public, since we are still working out the copyright conditions and practical questions. Nevertheless, we wish to share some insight into this project with more people through workshops, exhibitions and this blog.
More on all that in future posts. In the meantime, I’ll let Jürg share more background on the project in his own words. Subscribe to our GitHub repository to be notified of progress – and stay tuned!
Wenn Kunst vergrabe isch und vergässe gaht, isch es es Problem für alli Aghörige, e furchtbari Belastig für d Nachkomme. (When art is buried and is lost, it is a problem for all involved, a terrible weight for the next generation.)
Story
(This is the story of the project written by Jürg and translated with DeepL‘s help. You can read the German original at the bottom of this page.) In a good 40 years of work as a visual artist (in the conventional media of drawing, printmaking and painting), over 6,600 smaller and larger works have accumulated in my collection. In retrospect, these prove to be unusually diverse, but with sporadically recurring elements, somehow connected by a personal “sound”. Very early on I tried to systematize the spontaneous development of sculpture in different directions. This is the basic idea of the project PANOPTIKUM (since 2000), whereby the categorizations of the whole uncontrolled growth are only the basis for further artistic works – which should, ironically, dissolve the whole again. In the middle of 2016, with the help of numerous experts, I began to compile a catalogue of my works, i.e. to scan or photograph my works and then to index them in a differentiated way in an Excel spreadsheet. In 2018, Oleg Lavrovsky agreed to make the collected data accessible as desired, i.e. after entering the search terms, to display the respective images numerically and optically on the screen by means of a filter function. This is a prerequisite for the fact that in the coming years it will be possible to continue working with the image material in a variety of creative ways. Our project takes the form of an application, which can also be reviewed and further developed by other people (Open Source). The copyright and publication rights for all content remain with me, the created app can be freely used as a structure for other projects. In the longer term, general accessibility via the Internet is planned. At the moment, however, all content should only be available to individual interested parties. After the completion of this basic work, whereby the directory is to be supplemented about every six months, the task now is to concretize own artistic projects: digital graphics and an interactive work as well as possibly videos are pending. For this I am dependent on expert support, the search for interested persons continues. Commissioned works as well as forms of egalitarian cooperation are possible. In addition, the image material may also be made available for independent projects of third parties. The starting point and pivotal point of the PANOPTIKUM project is in any case the question of what can be done with a catalogued visual work. A wide variety of sub-projects can be created over an unlimited period of time (artistically, art historically, statistically, literarily, musically, didactically, psychologically, parodistically… depending on the point of view and interests of the participants). The central idea is to make a visual work accessible in an unusual and entertaining way. To capture additional public benefit through revision. Potential goals include:- Unusual: the very differentiated formal and content-related recording of one’s own work, which becomes the basis for further creations (self-reflexiveness and reference to the outside world).
- Entertaining: exploring in a playful way (e.g. searching for the unknown author of this picture pool, memory, domino, competition, etc.) by means of interactive functions, games, VR applications.
- Artistic work: my own works (approx. 6,600 drawings, paintings and prints), which are presented anonymously and with a good pinch of irony and questioned.
- Making accessible: multimedia, on various channels: exhibition spaces (also improvised and private), internet, cinema. The target audience is as broad as possible, especially outside the usual art scene.
- Stimulating: the desire to look, the pleasure of pleasurable immersion (flood of images!). On the other hand, thoughts about identity, freedom, openness.
- Useful: sustainability material: ecological aspects in production and presentation. Social sustainability: smaller events, e.g. with the sale of the works at very favourable conditions in favour of “Public Eye” (instead of a rubble dump at the end of life!). Thus discussion about artist’s estates, archiving, economic aspects (art trade). Any visual material for teaching (art history, art mediation)?
- How can my very sensually influenced, conventionally designed images be staged and brought into a visually attractive contrast with the digitally generated elements. For example, by means of split screens, transparencies, animated lettering, infographics, combinations with photo and video material from the “outside world”, whereby my collage books could serve as a bridge.
- Function which continuously (anonymously if desired) records all activities and creations of the users – for example, in the design of virtual exhibition spaces with my pictures.
OpenGLAM Principles: ways forward to Open Access for cultural heritage
scann - April 30, 2019 in Featured, Front Page, OpenGLAM, principles
OpenGLAM? In the early 2010s, OpenGLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums) was set up: a network that supports exchange and collaboration between cultural institutions that support Open Access. OpenGLAM is an initiative and working group of the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN), currently known as Open Knowledge International, and was co-funded by the European Commission. Creative Commons, the Communia Association and the GLAM-Wiki community were […]
Protecting libraries and the vital role they play in local communities
Catherine Stihler - February 27, 2019 in Events, library, Open GLAM, OpenGLAM
This article was originally published in The Scotsman.
With councils across the UK facing major financial pressures, libraries are too often seen as an easy target for cuts.
In 2017, it is estimated that more than 120 libraries closed their doors in England, Wales and Scotland. That figure is likely to have increased last year.
Thousands of jobs have also been lost, with libraries’ existence more reliant on volunteers than ever before.
But closing down a library has to be one of the most short-sighted decisions that public officials can make, with serious consequences for the future of local communities.
There is a widespread misconception that the services offered are out-of-date – a relic of a bygone age before youngsters started carrying smartphones in their pockets with instant access to Wikipedia, and before they started downloading books on their Kindle.
But a recent study by the Carnegie UK Trust found that people aged 15-24 in England are the most likely age group to use libraries. And nearly half of people aged 25 to 34 still visit them, according to the study.
Today, the most successful libraries have remodelled themselves to become fit for the 21st century, and more can follow suit if they receive the right support and advice, and have the backing of governments and councils.
I am encouraged by the Scottish Government’s support for adequate library services across Scotland.
Tomorrow, the tenth EDGE conference held by Edinburgh City Libraries will be held in the capital, where library experts from across the globe will gather to share good practice and discuss future developments.
Everyone attending shares the same belief that libraries offer crucial support to help people help themselves – to support literacy, digital participation, learning, employability, health, culture and leisure.
As a former MEP who founded the European Parliament’s All-Party Library group, I’m delighted to be attending this event in my new role as chief executive of Open Knowledge International.
As experts in opening up knowledge, we help governments, universities, and civil society organisations reach their full potential by providing them with skills and tools to publish, use, and understand data.
Part of our role involves delivering technology solutions which are particularly relevant for libraries.
One of our initiatives is called OpenGLAM, a global network that works to open up content and data held by galleries, libraries, archives and museums.
All over the world, libraries are coming up with new ideas to make them relevant for the modern age.
Take virtual reality as an example, which is arguably the most important innovation since the smartphone. It not only provides a source of fun and entertainment but it has also become a platform to explore science, nature, history, geography and so much more.
You no longer have to pick up a book in a library to learn about the Himalayas, the Great Barrier Reef or the Grand Canyon – you can explore them in virtual reality.
You can learn by time travelling back to a prehistoric age or go forward into the yet undiscovered possibilities of the future.
Virtual technology can also be used to visit places that humans can never travel to other than in the Hollywood world of Ant-Man – deep inside the body to a cellular level for example.
And technology can be used to examine the impact of humankind on our natural world, particularly the consequences of climate change.
I have long championed the importance of coding as part of the education curriculum, especially given that Scotland is home to more than 100,000 digital tech economy jobs.
But while there remains a shortfall in what is delivered in our schools, libraries can fill that gap.
Our world is moulded in code, and libraries offer young people an opportunity to bring ideas to life and build things that will bring joy to millions.
So by embracing the future, they can continue to be an unrivalled place of learning, like they always were for previous generations.
But libraries are much more than just places to learn. They are part of the fabric of a local community.
At the EDGE conference we will hear from Henrik Jochumsen of the University of Copenhagen about the Danish ‘three-function model’ for libraries: as a place, as a space and as relations.
Libraries can serve as a catalyst for change and urban development and build new creative partnerships in towns and cities, which in turn create vibrant, liveable and coherent communities.
We will also hear about the Richland Library in Columbia, South Carolina, which has transformed into a ‘studio’ – meaning a meeting room with four walls can be a computer lab, storytime room, homework centre, book club, stage and theatre, all in one day.
Last year, Liverpool Central Library was named the Bookseller’s Library of the Year in the UK.
Its success, which has resulted in a steady increase in customers, stems from the decision to make the building part of the community, with events where people create art projects, and late-night openings until midnight.
And being part of the community means providing a service to every single member of that community.
While some people in society become ever more marginalised, there is a job to be done to ensure that digital library services are more inclusive to all, including people with disabilities.
And as more people live into old age, libraries can play vital role as a dementia friendly space.
They also provide an important resource for migrant families to develop their reading skills with access to dual language titles.
Public libraries have been at the heart of our communities for decades, and I dearly hope that continues for decades to come.
And with technological advancements, they can become more useful than ever before.
But their success is also dependent on those in a position of power recognising their worth.
Everyone attending shares the same belief that libraries offer crucial support to help people help themselves – to support literacy, digital participation, learning, employability, health, culture and leisure.
As a former MEP who founded the European Parliament’s All-Party Library group, I’m delighted to be attending this event in my new role as chief executive of Open Knowledge International.
As experts in opening up knowledge, we help governments, universities, and civil society organisations reach their full potential by providing them with skills and tools to publish, use, and understand data.
Part of our role involves delivering technology solutions which are particularly relevant for libraries.
One of our initiatives is called OpenGLAM, a global network that works to open up content and data held by galleries, libraries, archives and museums.
All over the world, libraries are coming up with new ideas to make them relevant for the modern age.
Take virtual reality as an example, which is arguably the most important innovation since the smartphone. It not only provides a source of fun and entertainment but it has also become a platform to explore science, nature, history, geography and so much more.
You no longer have to pick up a book in a library to learn about the Himalayas, the Great Barrier Reef or the Grand Canyon – you can explore them in virtual reality.
You can learn by time travelling back to a prehistoric age or go forward into the yet undiscovered possibilities of the future.
Virtual technology can also be used to visit places that humans can never travel to other than in the Hollywood world of Ant-Man – deep inside the body to a cellular level for example.
And technology can be used to examine the impact of humankind on our natural world, particularly the consequences of climate change.
I have long championed the importance of coding as part of the education curriculum, especially given that Scotland is home to more than 100,000 digital tech economy jobs.
But while there remains a shortfall in what is delivered in our schools, libraries can fill that gap.
Our world is moulded in code, and libraries offer young people an opportunity to bring ideas to life and build things that will bring joy to millions.
So by embracing the future, they can continue to be an unrivalled place of learning, like they always were for previous generations.
But libraries are much more than just places to learn. They are part of the fabric of a local community.
At the EDGE conference we will hear from Henrik Jochumsen of the University of Copenhagen about the Danish ‘three-function model’ for libraries: as a place, as a space and as relations.
Libraries can serve as a catalyst for change and urban development and build new creative partnerships in towns and cities, which in turn create vibrant, liveable and coherent communities.
We will also hear about the Richland Library in Columbia, South Carolina, which has transformed into a ‘studio’ – meaning a meeting room with four walls can be a computer lab, storytime room, homework centre, book club, stage and theatre, all in one day.
Last year, Liverpool Central Library was named the Bookseller’s Library of the Year in the UK.
Its success, which has resulted in a steady increase in customers, stems from the decision to make the building part of the community, with events where people create art projects, and late-night openings until midnight.
And being part of the community means providing a service to every single member of that community.
While some people in society become ever more marginalised, there is a job to be done to ensure that digital library services are more inclusive to all, including people with disabilities.
And as more people live into old age, libraries can play vital role as a dementia friendly space.
They also provide an important resource for migrant families to develop their reading skills with access to dual language titles.
Public libraries have been at the heart of our communities for decades, and I dearly hope that continues for decades to come.
And with technological advancements, they can become more useful than ever before.
But their success is also dependent on those in a position of power recognising their worth. 
Celebrating the public domain in 2019
Lieke Ploeger - January 29, 2019 in open culture, Open GLAM, OpenGLAM, Policy, Public Domain
2019 is a special year for the public domain, the out-of-copyright material that everyone is free to enjoy, share, and build upon without restriction. Normally, each year on the 1st of January a selection of works (books, films, artworks, musical scores and more) enter the public domain because their copyright expires – which is most commonly 70 years after the creator’s death depending on where in the world you are. This year, for the first time in more than twenty years, new material entered the public domain in the US, namely all works that were published in the year 1923.
Due to complicated legal proceedings, the last new release of public domain material in the US was in 1998, for all works dating from 1922. But from now on, each following year we will expect to see a new batch of material freed of copyright restrictions (so content from the year 1924 will become available from 2020 onwards, content from 1925 in 2021, and so on). This is good news for everyone, since the availability of such open cultural data enables citizens from across the world to enjoy this material, understand their cultural heritage and re-use it to produce new works of art.
The Public Domain Review, an online journal & not-for-profit project dedicated to promoting and celebrating the public domain, curated their Class of 2019: a top pick of artists and writers whose works entered the public domain this year. A full overview of the 2019 release is available here. A great way to celebrate this public domain content in 2019 could be to organise events, workshops or hackathons using this material on Open Data Day, the annual celebration of open data on Saturday 2 March 2019. If you are planning an event, you can add it to the global map via the Open Data Day registration form.
Coinciding with this mass release of public domain works, the Public Domain Manifesto that was been produced within the context of COMMUNIA, the European Thematic Network on the digital public domain, has now been made available via a renewed website at publicdomainmanifesto.org. Describing the public domain material as “raw material from which new knowledge is derived and new cultural works are created”, the manifesto aims to stress the importance of the wealth of the public domain to both citizens and policy-makers, to make sure its legal basis remains strong and everyone will be able to access and reuse the material in the future.
The manifesto describes the key principles that are needed to actively maintain the public domain and the voluntary commons in our society, for example to keep public domain works in the Public Domain by not claiming exclusive rights to technical reproductions of works. It also formulates a number of recommendations to protect the public domain from legal obstacles and assure it can function to the benefit of education, cultural heritage and scientific research in a meaningful way. There are currently over 3.000 signatures of the manifesto, but additional support is important to strengthen the movement: you show your support by signing the Public Domain Manifesto here.
Due to complicated legal proceedings, the last new release of public domain material in the US was in 1998, for all works dating from 1922. But from now on, each following year we will expect to see a new batch of material freed of copyright restrictions (so content from the year 1924 will become available from 2020 onwards, content from 1925 in 2021, and so on). This is good news for everyone, since the availability of such open cultural data enables citizens from across the world to enjoy this material, understand their cultural heritage and re-use it to produce new works of art.
The Public Domain Review, an online journal & not-for-profit project dedicated to promoting and celebrating the public domain, curated their Class of 2019: a top pick of artists and writers whose works entered the public domain this year. A full overview of the 2019 release is available here. A great way to celebrate this public domain content in 2019 could be to organise events, workshops or hackathons using this material on Open Data Day, the annual celebration of open data on Saturday 2 March 2019. If you are planning an event, you can add it to the global map via the Open Data Day registration form.
Coinciding with this mass release of public domain works, the Public Domain Manifesto that was been produced within the context of COMMUNIA, the European Thematic Network on the digital public domain, has now been made available via a renewed website at publicdomainmanifesto.org. Describing the public domain material as “raw material from which new knowledge is derived and new cultural works are created”, the manifesto aims to stress the importance of the wealth of the public domain to both citizens and policy-makers, to make sure its legal basis remains strong and everyone will be able to access and reuse the material in the future.
The manifesto describes the key principles that are needed to actively maintain the public domain and the voluntary commons in our society, for example to keep public domain works in the Public Domain by not claiming exclusive rights to technical reproductions of works. It also formulates a number of recommendations to protect the public domain from legal obstacles and assure it can function to the benefit of education, cultural heritage and scientific research in a meaningful way. There are currently over 3.000 signatures of the manifesto, but additional support is important to strengthen the movement: you show your support by signing the Public Domain Manifesto here.
Do you use OpenGLAM? Help review shared #OpenGLAM principles for Open Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums
OpenGlam - October 15, 2018 in open culture, Open GLAM, OpenGLAM, Survey
TL;DR: As part of reinvigorating our OpenGLAM (Open Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) community, we’re evaluating the OpenGLAM principles: fill out this survey and get involved.
Several months ago, community members from Wikimedia, Open Knowledge International and Creative Commons reinvigorated the “OpenGLAM” initiative. OpenGLAM is a global network of people and organizations who are working to open up content and data held by Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums. As a community of practice, OpenGLAM incorporates ongoing efforts to disseminate knowledge and culture through policies and practices that encourage broad communities of participation, and integrates them with the needs and activities of professional communities working at GLAM institutions.
One of our first steps was to revitalize the @openglam twitter account, inviting contributors from different parts of the world to showcase and highlight the way in which “OpenGLAM” is being understood in different contexts. So far, the Twitter account has had contributors from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, North America & Europe. Anyone can become a contributor or suggest someone to contribute by signing up through this form. If you want to see the content that has been shared through the account, you can check the oa.glam tag in the Open Access Tracking Project.
Now, as we move forward in planning more activities, we want to check on the continued impact of the Open GLAM Principles. Since their publication in 2013, the Open GLAM principles offered a declaration of intention to build a community of practice which helps GLAMs share their collections with the world
In the last five years, the OpenGLAM community has become more global, adopted more tactics and strategies for integrating openness into institutions. But do the principles reflect this change?
To find out, we’re inviting people to fill in a survey about the utility of the principles. We want to understand from the broader community: Are you aware of the principles? Are they still relevant or useful? Do you use them in your institutional or local practice? What opportunities are there to improve them for the future?
The survey will run until 16th November. Your participation is greatly appreciated! To get involved with the Open GLAM working group, you can join us through openglam@okfn.org
Survey by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images
Are you working in the OpenGLAM arena? Tweet about it!
OpenGlam - July 19, 2018 in open culture, Open GLAM, OpenGLAM
Starting today, community members from Open Knowledge International, Wikimedia Foundation, and Creative Commons, will be facilitating a rotating curation of the @openglam twitter account to highlight and reflect on the impact of “OpenGLAM” (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) in their respective contexts.
OpenGLAM is a global network of people and organizations who are working to open up content and data held by Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums. As a community of practice, it incorporates ongoing efforts to disseminate knowledge and culture through policies and practices that encourage broad communities of participation, and integrates them with the needs and activities of professional communities working at GLAM institutions.
GLAMs are powerful institutions for sharing knowledge with the world. Especially on the internet, building a practice of sharing knowledge requires adopting practices that open collections using open licensing, tools, and infrastructures. To do this work, leaders around the world have to converse, run projects, and support institutions in thinking about the larger potential of sharing their knowledge with the world. We want to use the OpenGLAM Twitter account to highlight the great work that people from different regions, linguistic communities, time zones and contexts are doing to advance openness in GLAMs.
Our approach is simple: contributors will be added to the @openglam account through Tweetdeck and will get a chance to curate the conversation coming from that Twitter account for 2 weeks. You can read the instructions for participants here. If you want to contribute, please sign up on this Google form!
Our first curator is going to be @samuelguebo, a Wikimedia community member who has been leading partnerships with libraries in Côte d’Ivoire and will be attending Wikimania 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa this week. Do you have an upcoming event or activity that you think will spark a conversation? Contact us to become the next curator!
Curating the @openglam account is part of a broader conversation that organizations like OKI, WMF and CC are having about growing the impact of the “big open”. We hope that this curated Twitter will open up conversations about what brings us together as practitioners and enthusiasts for Open GLAM. There has been massive change in the cultural heritage sector and open communities in the past few years – the Open GLAM community is brought together by a set of principles that may need to evolve to meet these changing contexts.
We hope to hear from you soon! If you want to get involved with the GLAM at Creative Commons and beyond, please consider joining the Creative Commons Slack group.
OpenGLAM is a global network of people and organizations who are working to open up content and data held by Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums. As a community of practice, it incorporates ongoing efforts to disseminate knowledge and culture through policies and practices that encourage broad communities of participation, and integrates them with the needs and activities of professional communities working at GLAM institutions.
GLAMs are powerful institutions for sharing knowledge with the world. Especially on the internet, building a practice of sharing knowledge requires adopting practices that open collections using open licensing, tools, and infrastructures. To do this work, leaders around the world have to converse, run projects, and support institutions in thinking about the larger potential of sharing their knowledge with the world. We want to use the OpenGLAM Twitter account to highlight the great work that people from different regions, linguistic communities, time zones and contexts are doing to advance openness in GLAMs.
Our approach is simple: contributors will be added to the @openglam account through Tweetdeck and will get a chance to curate the conversation coming from that Twitter account for 2 weeks. You can read the instructions for participants here. If you want to contribute, please sign up on this Google form!
Our first curator is going to be @samuelguebo, a Wikimedia community member who has been leading partnerships with libraries in Côte d’Ivoire and will be attending Wikimania 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa this week. Do you have an upcoming event or activity that you think will spark a conversation? Contact us to become the next curator!
Curating the @openglam account is part of a broader conversation that organizations like OKI, WMF and CC are having about growing the impact of the “big open”. We hope that this curated Twitter will open up conversations about what brings us together as practitioners and enthusiasts for Open GLAM. There has been massive change in the cultural heritage sector and open communities in the past few years – the Open GLAM community is brought together by a set of principles that may need to evolve to meet these changing contexts.
We hope to hear from you soon! If you want to get involved with the GLAM at Creative Commons and beyond, please consider joining the Creative Commons Slack group.
Remix public domain artworks: join the GIF IT UP 2017 competition
Open Knowledge Foundation - October 11, 2017 in open culture, Open GLAM, OpenGLAM, public domain review
This blogpost has been adapted from the press release by Europeana.
Open Knowledge International has for many years advocated for the importance of open cultural data, which enables citizens from across the world to enjoy this material, understand their cultural heritage and re-use this material to produce new works of art. Some examples of this work include the OpenGLAM initiative that promotes free and open access to digital cultural heritage held by Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums, and The Public Domain Review, an online journal and not-for-profit project dedicated to promoting and celebrating the public domain in all its abundance and variety. Another great initiative encouraging the reuse of openly licensed cultural data is the GIF IT UP competition, which is open for contributions this month.
From 1-31 October, all GIFmakers, history nuts, cultural heritage enthusiasts and lovers of the internet are invited to take part in the fourth annual GIF IT UP competition. The competition encourages people to create new, fun and unique artworks from digitized cultural heritage material. A GIF is an image, video or text that has been digitally manipulated to become animated. Throughout the month, they can create and submit their own, using copyright-free digital video, images or text from Europeana Collections, Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), Trove, or DigitalNZ.
All entries help promote public domain and openly licensed collections to a wider audience, and increase the reuse of material from these four international digital libraries, including Europeana Collections. The contest is supported by GIPHY, the world’s largest library of animated GIFs.
The 2017 competition will have a special focus on first-time GIF-makers and introduce them to openly licensed content. A GIF-making workshop, providing tools and tutorials to help visitors create their first artworks, will be held on 14-15 October in cooperation with THE ARTS+, the creative business festival at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
One of this year’s contributions, via GIPHY
The jury, made up of representatives from GIPHY, DailyArt and Public Domain Review, will be awarding one grand prize winner with an Electric Object – a digital photo frame especially for GIFs – sponsored by GIPHY. Prizes of online gift cards will go to three runners-up as well as winners in a first-time GIF-makers category. Special prizes will be allocated in thematic categories: transport, holidays, animals and Christmas cards.
People are also invited to take part in the People’s Choice Award and vote on the competition website for their favourite GIF, which will receive a Giphoscope. All eligible entries will be showcased on the GIPHY channel dedicated to the competition, and promoted on social media with the hashtag #GIFITUP2017.
GIF IT UP started in 2014 as an initiative by the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and DigitalNZ, and has since become a cultural highlight. 368 entries from 33 countries are featured on the GIF IT UP Tumblr. In 2016, the grand prize was awarded to ‘The State Caterpillar’, created by Kristen Carter and Jeff Gill from Los Angeles, California, using source material from the National Library of France via Europeana. Nono Burling, who got awarded the 2016 People’s Choice Award for ‘Butterflies’, said: “I adore animated GIFs made from historic materials and have for many years. The first contest in 2014 inspired me to make them myself, and every year I try to improve my skills.”
Results of the 2017 competition will be announced in November on the GIF IT UP website and related social media.
From 1-31 October, all GIFmakers, history nuts, cultural heritage enthusiasts and lovers of the internet are invited to take part in the fourth annual GIF IT UP competition. The competition encourages people to create new, fun and unique artworks from digitized cultural heritage material. A GIF is an image, video or text that has been digitally manipulated to become animated. Throughout the month, they can create and submit their own, using copyright-free digital video, images or text from Europeana Collections, Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), Trove, or DigitalNZ.
All entries help promote public domain and openly licensed collections to a wider audience, and increase the reuse of material from these four international digital libraries, including Europeana Collections. The contest is supported by GIPHY, the world’s largest library of animated GIFs.
The 2017 competition will have a special focus on first-time GIF-makers and introduce them to openly licensed content. A GIF-making workshop, providing tools and tutorials to help visitors create their first artworks, will be held on 14-15 October in cooperation with THE ARTS+, the creative business festival at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
One of this year’s contributions, via GIPHY
The jury, made up of representatives from GIPHY, DailyArt and Public Domain Review, will be awarding one grand prize winner with an Electric Object – a digital photo frame especially for GIFs – sponsored by GIPHY. Prizes of online gift cards will go to three runners-up as well as winners in a first-time GIF-makers category. Special prizes will be allocated in thematic categories: transport, holidays, animals and Christmas cards.
People are also invited to take part in the People’s Choice Award and vote on the competition website for their favourite GIF, which will receive a Giphoscope. All eligible entries will be showcased on the GIPHY channel dedicated to the competition, and promoted on social media with the hashtag #GIFITUP2017.
GIF IT UP started in 2014 as an initiative by the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and DigitalNZ, and has since become a cultural highlight. 368 entries from 33 countries are featured on the GIF IT UP Tumblr. In 2016, the grand prize was awarded to ‘The State Caterpillar’, created by Kristen Carter and Jeff Gill from Los Angeles, California, using source material from the National Library of France via Europeana. Nono Burling, who got awarded the 2016 People’s Choice Award for ‘Butterflies’, said: “I adore animated GIFs made from historic materials and have for many years. The first contest in 2014 inspired me to make them myself, and every year I try to improve my skills.”
Results of the 2017 competition will be announced in November on the GIF IT UP website and related social media.