EVA
and the MINERVA
Network in Israel are organizing the second
conference on the Digitisation of Cultural
Heritage supported by Ministry
of Science and Technology and the Jewish
Agency for Israel that focuses on the
digitisation of cultural and scientific
content. The Conference builds on the first
Jerusalem Conference, held at the Israel
Museum in Jerusalem, and the two previous
(EVA) Symposia at Harvard (2002) and the
Jewish Museum London (2003) to promote Israel-North
America-Europe cooperation in Culture &
Technology.
The conference will take place Tuesday
29th and Wednesday 30th of November
2005 and will include hands-on
workshops; poster presentations and sessions.
What is the conference about?
Israel is a center of excellence in areas
related to digitized information. The country
leads worldwide in the share of telecommunications
in the GNP; it has one of highest rates
of broadband access by its citizens; its
eGovernment program is exemplar. Israel
is the leading country in terms of citation
impact of Computer Sciences publications
and continues to attract substantial investments
for its IT industry. However, Israel does
not yet have a comprehensive policy and
agenda for the digitisation of science and
cultural heritage content although recognizes
that the preservation and increased access
to our cultural heritage through digitisation
can lead also to substantial economic benefits.
The European Union Member States and the
European Commission have been developing
a concerted action for digitisation programmes
over the last three years. Its purpose is
the development of digital content industries
in a sustainable knowledge society and is
based on the cultural and scientific knowledge
resources that form the collective and evolving
memory of their diverse societies.
The areas identified by the European community
that are enhanced by cultural digitisation
include:
• Support for cultural diversity
• Education and content industries
• Accessible and sustainable heritage
• The great variety and richness of digitized
resources
The challenges faced by these agendas include:
• The fragmentation of different approaches
• Obsolescence
• A lack of simple and common access for
citizens
• Intellectual property rights
• A lack of synergies between cultural and
new technologies programmes
• Limited institutional investment and commitment
The goal of the conference is to advance
the establishment of an agenda for the digitisation
of cultural heritage and science in Israel.
It will seek to map the activities taking
place in Israel and to identify emerging
issues and opportunities. It will create
an opportunity to meet and integrate with
the leading programs of the European Commission
and other international frameworks.
Target Audience
The conference welcomes professionals, practitioners
and researchers in the areas related to
the digitisation of science and cultural
heritage resources. These include professionals
from archives, libraries, museums, and cultural
heritage activities, science Web site managers,
practitioners in digitisation projects in
music, video and cinema, technological practitioners
in the areas of knowledge management, IPR
professionals from cultural institutions,
databases and library systems, virtual reality
and other related fields. Decision makers
engaged in local and national digitisation
programs from foundations, ministries and
local authorities and e-government.
