A Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage
The European Cloud for Heritage OpEn Science (ECHOES) project, of which the Europeana Initiative is a proud partner, aims to develop the Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage. This Cloud will provide a digital infrastructure for heritage professionals, scientists and researchers to access advanced digitisation tools and services for conservation and preservation. It is funded under the Horizon Europe programme of the European Union, and run by an expert consortium of 51 European partners.
The data space and the Collaborative Cloud
Although distinct, the common European data space for cultural heritage and the Collaborative Cloud complement each other. The data space is the main entry point for educators, creatives, citizens and other data spaces to access and reuse cultural heritage data from institutions across Europe. The Cloud, meanwhile, is a collaborative workspace for heritage professionals to access data, tools and services to advance heritage science. We can think of the data space as the ‘factory floor’, where data and tools are refined, deployed and delivered to audiences, while the Cloud serves as the ‘innovation lab,’ driving groundbreaking research and development.
At the Europeana Initiative, we are excited to be part of the ECHOES consortium, which is leading the development of the Cloud. We see enormous possibilities for the two to strengthen and support each other in areas which range from metadata enrichment, capacity building and advancing common policy goals to driving innovation in shared areas of interest, such as 3D.
Metadata enrichment
One of the key principles of the data space is interoperability. Supported by strong data governance and frameworks established by the Europeana Initiative, this interoperability will facilitate seamless data exchange between the data space and the Cloud. Data available in the data space can flow securely into the Cloud, enabling researchers and scientists to process, analyse and enrich it using advanced Cloud-based tools and services; and the improvements made to the data through these tools can be fed back into the data space.
One of the currently open Cloud funding calls, Innovative Tools for Advanced Data Enrichment (open until January 2025), focuses on advancing data enrichment. This unlocks a number of innovative and exciting possibilities.
Imagine a wealth of historic photos of the Ljubljana Old Town are made available in the data space. Thanks to interoperable frameworks and principles like FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), this data is seamlessly integrated into the Cloud, and enriched through Cloud tools. For example, an AI-powered tool could automatically detect geolocation data from photographs of buildings in the Ljubljana Old Town data corpus in the data space and add this as metadata for anyone accessing the photographs. This would support research into the heritage of Ljubljana Old Town, but could also be used to power interactive tourism applications, serve as educational material in classrooms, enhance gaming experience, fuel virtual worlds and, in general, unlock creative reuse in innovative ways.
And the benefits will be reciprocal. Applications, research outputs and enriched metadata generated in the Cloud will be made accessible through the data space, reaching an audience that includes the established Europeana network as well as non-professional groups such as Europe's citizens and culture enthusiasts.
Capacity building
For over a decade, Europeana has provided various training opportunities, from events and webinars to resources which help professionals build their skills for digital transformation. With the launch of the data space, these capacity-building efforts have scaled up, for example through the Europeana Academy, a dedicated training platform offering both self-paced and instructor-led courses on diverse topics, from digital storytelling to copyright. This platform currently features Europeana’s own training resources, but in the future will incorporate, as much as possible, training materials developed within the data space. Additionally, the Academy will provide a home for relevant training for other institutions, creating a comprehensive and inclusive learning ecosystem.
Imagine a cultural heritage professional who wants to share their institution’s data in the data space but is unsure how to navigate licensing and copyright issues. Through the Europeana Academy, they can acquire hands-on, practical skills in a supportive, interactive environment.
The Europeana Foundation is leading capacity building in the ECHOES project, and through our work, training models already developed within the data space will be tailored to meet the specific needs of heritage scientists using the Cloud. This illustrates how frameworks and services that have been tested, scaled up, and refined in the data space can be adapted to serve the Cloud’s ambitions and its specialised audiences.
Advancing common policy goals
The European Commission Recommendation of 2021 on a common European data space for cultural heritage sets bold targets for 2030, calling on EU Member States to digitise in 3D all monuments and sites deemed at risk, and 50% of the most physically visited. The Europeana Initiative and the data space are already supporting Member States and their heritage institutions to meet these goals. This includes reinforcing the sense of collective purpose and offering opportunities for 3D upskilling through campaigns such as Twin it! 3D for Europe’s culture.
The Cloud can support in achieving these goals by enabling the documentation and virtual preservation of cultural heritage, including endangered sites, and facilitating the creation of models for future study and immersive interaction.
By rallying around a shared goal and tackling collective challenges the data space and the Cloud can advance the common mission of (digitally) preserving Europe’s cultural heritage.
Innovation
The connection between the data space and the Cloud will facilitate cultural heritage innovation, particularly in areas like 3D. As a concrete example, let’s think about a Professor - Roberta - who is both a Preservation Architect and a University Professor whose research focuses on the Palatine Hill in Rome – one of the most ancient and historically rich areas of the city, home to remnants of imperial palaces and temples.
Roberta uses the resources made available through the data space in both her teaching and research. Roberta needs large datasets, often messy or incomplete, to fuel new discoveries. Through the data space, she has gained access to a 3D model reconstruction of the Palatine Hill, along with photographs, historical documents, and curated stories that deepen the contextual understanding of the site. And through the Cloud, she integrates all this material into a dynamic, evolving digital representation of the Palatine Hill. The Cloud’s tools allow her to continuously update this representation with new data, creating a living, digital replica of the ancient site.
Roberta is now working with what is known as a Digital Twin, which is much more than a mere carbon copy of ‘real-world’ Palatine Hill. It encapsulates complex information about the heritage object, and documentation that is dynamically updated with data. This Digital Twin is a breakthrough in heritage research, encapsulating the full richness of the Palatine Hill in an interactive model. This opens doors for use in research, education, tourism, and even urban planning. Like in a movie, a Digital Twin contains information on the actors, the director, the music and any other related information such as the opinion of critics or related awards
Roberta can also access collaborative platforms in the Cloud to work with peers across Europe on similar topics. Together, they share findings, datasets, and ideas, collectively advancing the field. Additionally, Roberta contributes his own research findings and lesson materials back to the data space, enriching the resource pool for other educators and researchers.
Find out more
Join the event 'Toward the Cultural Heritage Cloud' on 12 and 13 December in Brussels and online to learn more about the work of ECHOES! And to hear the follow the latest news from the data space on Europeana Pro.