PROJECT N° 5

MULTIMEDIA ACCESS TO WORLD CULTURAL HERITAGE

Progress Report - April 1996

The Pilot Project n° 5 has not yet completed its starting phase, based on the gathering and transmission to the Project Coordinator of the most relevant international proposals and ideas. However, as a result of a preliminary survey, three project areas have been identified.

The first area which can be defined as institutional framing, will encompass all projects setting the methodological, legal and regulatory bases required for the access to the World Cultural Heritage : copyrights, global directory, intercultural and interlinguistic exchange instruments.

In this area, an activity programme involving leading national institutions (ICCD - Italia, Inventaire Général - France ; RCHME -UK ; CHIN - Canada ; Getty Fundation - USA ; and MDA-UK) has been launched.

The second area which can be defined as research and development, will include all projects methodologically dealing with aspects related to inter-user operations of databases linked to telecommunications networks, as well as with visual and friendly interfaces regarding different categories of users.

To this effect we are working to explore the possibility of including into this area some features of the various R&D programmes going on in the G7 Countries and especially in the European Union (Fourth Framework Programme).

The third area which can be defined as application and testing, will be made up of projects which are market-oriented and based on the fruition of cultural heritage. This area will include projects aiming at producing advanced cultural applications by using the present technological resources in key sectors (education, entertainment, cultural tourism, disadvantaged users etc.).

In this area an assessment of musea initiatives and mixed entrepreneurial groups' projects is in projects.

The creation of a WWW Home Page on the Internet will provide all Countries an instruments enabling them to :

- promote the Pilot Project and its developments ;

- complete the first stage by gathering ideas and proposals on the above-mentioned project areas ;

- encourage exchange among Countries having differently organised musea structures.

At the end of the first phase an adjustment of the objectives and the envisaged activities may prove to be necessary.