In previous posts I have been making references to “EDL Foundation”. Some people have asked me to say a bit more about this, and to explain how it fits in with EDLnet, Europeana and The European Library. So, here we go….
1. EDLnet project is developing a multi-lingual and cross-domain website (a public prototype) that gives access to 2 million digital objects from across Europe: “The digital content will be selected from that which is already digitised and available in Europe’s museums, libraries, archives and audio-visual collections. The prototype aims to have representative content from all four of these cultural heritage domains, and also to have a broad range of content from across Europe.” Source: www.Europeana.eu
2. Last week we held a big conference during which the first prototype of Europeana (as the service is called) was launched. Different to the demo version that was presented last February in Frankfurt, the prototype is not a mock-up but really works.
3. EDLnet project is being governed by EDL – European digital library – Foundation. It brings together the legally-founded associations that represent a wider membership. Key European cultural heritage associations from the four domains. Any organisation that’s a member of one of these ‘umbrella’ groups is automatically affiliated to the Europeana partnership.
4. CENL is one of the members of EDL Foundation and – as I hope you remember - The European Library is owned by CENL. To make this concrete: The European Library is one piece in the bigger Europeana puzzle. But let’s not forget its special role: the Europeana service is being built upon the framework of The European Library. A key piece, yes, this is a more appropiate term.
If you are interested in more details please check EDL Foundation website. Here you can find for instance a complete list of members, criteria of membership, board of participants and statutes.
June 30, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Europeana’s conference (June 2008 The Hague) was titled Users expect the interoperable.
The topic was the focus of keynotes and panel sessions. Speakers addressed contemporary users’ expectations, the technologies that are enabling interoperability, and gave practical examples, particularly in the archive and museum domains.
The main features of the conference for the 160 delegates – archivists, librarians, curators, web developers, technical experts and policy-makers – was a preview of prototype1 of Europeana.
The delegates were asked to give technical and usability feedback, to guide us to prototype2 in September, and on to the public prototype launch on November 20th.
PS: The presentations have been uploaded at http://www.europeana.eu/conference.php?view=Programme
Thanks Jon!