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By Karin Hafner - October 2001
From the beginning of March until the end of June of this year, The Cultural Service Centre Austria (CSC), the National Node for Austria, organized six major information events for interested parties from museums, libraries, archives and other cultural heritage institutions. The organization of these successful events was possible due to close collaboration with the bm:bwk - Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur (the federal ministry for education, science and culture), which grants national support to the Austrian Cultivate Node. Karin Hafner of CSC Austria talks about who presented at the events and how they were received.
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The first of the Austrian Cultivate events for 2001 took place on 5 March in Graz, where the office of CSC Austria is located. It was a Regional Information Day entitled EU-funding for cultural heritage projects in the 5th Framework Programme and Culture 2000/Regionaler Informationstag: EU-Foerderungen für Kulturprojekte im 5. Rahmenprogramm und Kultur 2000.
The organization of the event was carried out by CSC Austria in their role as the national commission for Cultivate-EU, together with the government of the Federal State of Styria (Landesamtsdirektion, EU-Koordinationsstelle) and APS-European Programmes for Technologies and Training.
The aim of the event was to raise awareness of EU-projects (5th Framework Programme of the EU and Culture 2000) among people from memory institutions and to point out the advantages and possibilities of the integration of modern ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) in the field of cultural heritage. The program was diversified. It started, after an opening by Gerhard Weilinger from the government of the Federal State of Styria, with lectures from representatives of the Austrian national government (Rudolf Novak from the Bundeskanzleramt and Liselotte Haschke from the bm:bwk) on issues of the Culture 2000 programme. Afterwards, examples of successful Austrian EU-project submissions in the field of digital cultural heritage were presented by Erich Prem from BIT (Bureau for International Research and Technology Cooperation), which is the Austrian centre offering services to participants in European and international programmes, actions and initiatives for co-operation in research, technological development and demonstration (RTD).
Later Walter Koch, president of CSC Austria, spoke about the accompanying measure, Cultivate, and Key Action III of Digicult (IST Programme). Barbara Haselsteiner from APS-European Programmes for Technologies and Training informed the audience about the APS´ services for proposers of EU projects. Gerda Koch from AIT-Applied Information Techniques Research Ltd finally presented the REGNET Project (Cultural Heritage in REGional NETworks), another example of a successful Austrian EU-RTD-project in the cultural heritage field.
Over 100 people attended the event and the wide spectrum of themes related to EU cultural heritage projects formed a good start for the season of events.
The next event to take place was a specialized Seminar on the Digitisation of Audio Materials (Seminar: Digitalisierung von Audiomaterialien) in Vienna, on 3 May, aimed at non-specialists. The event was organised by CSC Austria along with the Austrian Mediathek of the Technical Museum of Vienna (Technisches Museum Wien mit Oesterreichischer Mediathek) and the Phonogram Archive of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Phonogrammarchiv der Oesterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften).
Walter Koch from CSC Austria opened the seminar with his lecture on Digitisation projects for the IST Programme of the European Union. Rainer Hubert from the Oesterreichische Mediathek contributed more general information on digitisation of audio material and Dietrich Schueller from the Phonogrammarchiv der Oesterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften spoke about long-term disposability of audio materials (from cylinders and shellac discs over vinyl discs, tapes and cassettes to CDs and CD-ROMs). His lecture was followed by contributions from Franz Lechleitner and Nadja Wallaszkovits (both from the Phonogrammarchiv) relating to the extraction of signals of mechanical (cylinders, shellac discs and LPs) and magnetic sound storage mediums (audiotapes). Dietrich Schueller (Phonogrammarchiv) and Christophe Kummer (Noa Audio Solutions) explained Matters of digital resolution and formats (e.g. the BWF-Broadcast Wav File and the currently so popular mp3, a shrunken down type of audio file). Albrecht Haefner from the German broadcast station Suedwestrundfunk Baden-Baden discussed mass storage of audio data, which is possible through the use of very small storage cartridges that can save huge masses of data. His contribution was followed by a lecture from Michael Risnyovsky and D. Schueller (both from the Phonogrammarchiv) on interim solutions for the storage of audio data, like CD-ROMs, R-Dat and DLT-tapes.
Later on in the day the importance of Metadata and ontology for the documentation of audio-visual material was discussed in a further contribution from Walter Koch (CSC Austria) along with R. Hubert (Oesterreichische Mediathek) and A. Haefner (Suedwestrundfunk Baden-Baden).
Richard Goll from the Austrian broadcast station ORF reported on the ORF audio archive and the solutions applied there. He also explained three different types of archiving: offline, near line (mass storage with cache) and online. Finally the representatives from the Oesterreichische Mediathek and Noa Audio Solutions presented the digitisation project of the Oesterreichische Mediathek and demonstrated their developments.
Thanks to the highly qualified experts which shared their wisdom at this seminar it was a really instructive event for the 35 participants.
On 17 May CSC Austria and the bm:bwk – Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur (federal ministry for education, science and culture) organized an event for the Presentation of Collections Management and Documentation Systems for Memory Institutions (Sammlungsverwaltungs- und Dokumentationsprogramme für Bibliotheken, Museen, Archive – ein Informationsnachmittag). The event took place in the audience room of the Austrian Minister for Education, Science and Culture and 60 people attended. During the day seven organizations presented their solutions for collections management and documentation in memory institutions.
ADLIB Museum was introduced by Gerda Koch from AIT – Applied Information Techniques Research Ltd.(Graz, Austria). Martin Ueberegger from the company daten unlimited (Schwaz, Austria) brought in the product mbox. Pavla Stancikova from CEIT Ltd. (Bratislava, Slovakia) spoke about Union library catalogues and terminology databases based on CDS/ISIS on Internet. Joerg Herzog from B.O.N.D. Bibliothekssysteme (Boehl-Iggelheim, Germany) presented their product BIBLIOTECA 2000. The audience was also told about the Artefact programme by Jutta Jerlich and Frank Dechmann from CMB Informationslogistik GmbH (Vienna, Austria). Hans Petschar from the Austrian National Library reported on digitisation, indexation and Web presentation of catalogue cards with KatZoom, a programme developed by the Austrian National Library. The afternoon finished with the contribution of Walter Koch (CSC Austria) on the modular documentation system MODOK.
On the following day, 18 May, the First Austrian Metadata Seminar organised by CSC Austria and the bm:bwk took place in Vienna, again in the audience room of the bm:bwk. A number of highly qualified international experts on metadata met together for this specialised seminar, at which 35 people from Austria, Slovakia and Switzerland participated. After the opening speech from the host, Peter Seitz from the bm:bwk, Walter Koch gave an introduction to ontology and metadata and explained the concept of the presentation of an object. Angela Spinazze, Programs Manager for the CIMI Consortium (Computer Interchange of Museum Information), travelled all the way from Chicago to Vienna to speak about CIMI Metadata Projects and Standard Frameworks. She reported on the CHIO and Harmony projects, the Handscape test bed (delivery of museum information to palm devices) and the testing of the SPECTRUM XML DTD. Her contribution was followed by a presentation on the Schemas-project and other European projects in the field of Metadata (e.g. Renardus), given by Michael Day [1]. Michael works for UKOLN and is involved in the Schemas-project which provides a forum for metadata schema designers involved in projects under the IST Programme and national initiatives in Europe.
Information on Metadata from the point of view of a Systems Developer was provided by Bert Degenhart Drenth, the managing director of ADLIB Information Systems. He reported on ADLIB’s involvement with metadata (CIMI Z39.50 testbed, CIMI DC testbed, DC integration in ADLIB programmes) and argued on challenges faced by systems developers, like integrated searching through different data structures.
Mirna Willer from the National and University Library Zagreb reported on Experiences with Dublin Core in Croatia, which included the results of a survey on metadata use in Croatian e-serials. The final item on the agenda was Georg Güntner’s lecture on Distributed cross-domain search based on XML metadata and the IST project COVAX (Contemporary Culture Virtual Archives in XML). Georg works for Salzburg Research and this organization acts as partner in the COVAX project. Between and after the lectures lively discussions evolved.
About a month later, on 21 June, a Digital Heritage Support Actions Concertation Event for DG Information Society, Cultural Heritage Applications unit of the European Commission was hosted by the bm:bwk and organized in collaboration with CSC Austria. 56 people from throughout Europe participated. The objectives of the event were to discuss issues relating to the current IST support actions and to look into emerging trends and future needs of these types of actions.
Peter Seitz from the bm:bwk welcomed the audience. Thomas Boesser from ACit - Advance Concepts for interactive technology GmbH, Germany, who had adopted the function of the rapporteur, gave a thematic introduction and then handed over to Bernard Smith from the European Commission, who presented an Overview of different types of non research initiatives and trends for the 6th Framework Programme of the EU.
Session 1 of the Concertation event was lead by David Fuegi from MDR Partners (United Kingdom) and was entitled “Networks of Excellence / Coordination with national programmes / International cooperation”. In the course of his session he presented the DELOS (C. Peters, Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy), PULMAN (D. Fuegi, MDR Partners, UK), ELSNET (S. Krauwer, ELSNET/UiL OTS, The Netherlands) and DLM-Forum projects.
Flavio Tariffi from Atlantis S.p.A. (Italy) led Session 2: “Legal issues / Socioeconomic frame / Business models / Technology transfer”. Flavio presented the TRIS project. L. Goodman (The Institute for New Media Performance Research, UK) introduced RADICAL and G. Stanke (Gesellschaft zur Förderung angewandter Informatik e.V., Germany) lectured on the EVAN project. The LIBECON (D. Fuegi, MDR Partners, UK), CLEF (C. Peters, Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy) and PROACTE (T. Morris, Ecotec Trends and Consulting Ltd., Belgium) projects were also presented during the session.
The 3rd Session was on “Technical cooperation / Infrastructures and testbeds”, the session leader was Seamus Ross (HATII, UK). S. Krause from the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuernberg (Germany) talked about the CHIOS project and E.-M. Melchior from ACit - Advance Concepts for interactive technology GmbH (Germany) presented TEL and VNET5.
“Information and dissemination / Mobility, skills and training” was the topic of the 4th and last session lead by Walter Koch from CSC Austria. During the session the following projects were presented: CULTIVATE (K. Hafner, CSC – Cultural Service Centre Austria), CELIP (S. Ianeva, American Center, Bulgaria), HEREIN (N. Dautier, FEMP, France) and DIFFUSE (M. Bryan, SGML Centre, UK). Thomas Bösser moderated the final debate and wrapped up the event [2].
On the following day the last of the 6 events took place, a National Information Day was given on behalf of the Austrian CULTIVATE Node. This event was also hosted by the bm:bwk and was organized by a collaboration between the bm:bwk and CSC Austria. The topic of the National Information Day for Archives, Libraries and Museums 2001 was “The 6th Framework Programme of the European Union / The national implementation of EU-projects in Austria: results and cognitions”.
After the welcome speech from Peter Seitz (bm:bwk) the first lecture was given by Bernard Smith (Head of Unit, DG Information Society, European Commission). He introduced the 6th Framework Programme and also focused on Cultural Heritage in the 6th FP and pointed out, that the effort for cultural heritage will concentrate on intelligent systems for dynamic access to and preservation of tangible and intangible cultural scientific resources. After his lecture followed a contribution from Bernd Wohlkinger (BIT Bureau for International Research and Technology Cooperation). He presented several Austrian success stories from the 5th Framework Programme which could be used as a basis for the 6th Framework Programme.
After the discussion of the fundamental issues of the 6th Framework Programme representatives from the Austrian main organizations and institutions in the area of libraries, museums and archives expressed their opinions about IST-projects. These representatives were Sigrid Reinitzer, President of VOeB-Vereinigung Oesterreichischer Bibliothekare (association of Austrian librarians); Lorenz Mikoletzky, General Director of the Austrian State Archive; Gerhard Jagschitz, President of AGAVA – Arbeitsgemeinschaft audiovisueller Archive Oesterreichs (working group of the audio-visual archives in Austria); Daniel Wisser from BVOe – Buechereiverband Oesterreichs (library association of Austria); Gerhard Richter, President of the OeGDI – Oesterreichische Gesellschaft für Dokumentation und Information (Austrian organization for documentation and information); Otmar Moritsch from the Technical Museum Vienna and Gerhard K. Wagner, secretary general of the VIW – Verband für Informationswirtschaft in Oesterreich (organization for information industry in Austria). They all shared their rich experience in the area of cultural heritage and presented their reflections and conclusions concerning IST-projects.
In the afternoon two Austrian projects relating to digitisation and networking of cultural heritage were presented. Hans Zotter from the University Library of Graz reported on the digitisation of mediaeval manuscripts at the University Library Graz in his lecture “Electronic Manuscript Library" and the projects ALO, meta-e and books2you were presented by Klaus Miesenberger from i3s3-Informatik fuer Blinde/computer science for blind men, University of Linz.
The rest of the afternoon was devoted to CULTIVATE. After a lecture by Walter Koch (CSC Austria) on “Cultivate a cultural heritage network for the whole of Europe and Russia”, several Cultivate National Nodes were introduced. Karin Hafner (CSC Austria) gave a report on the activities of the Austrian National Node; Pascale van Dinter (STIS – Scientific and Technical Information Service, Belgium) discussed National Node activities in Belgium; Torill Redse (Riksbibliotekjenesten - National Office for Research Documentation, Academic and Special Libraries, Norway) introduced herself as the Norwegian National Node and Maria Sliwinska (University Torun, Poland) reported on the build-up of the Polish National Node activities. A general discussion on CULTIVATE activities concluded the Austrian National Information Day 2001 [3].
The Austrian National Node plans to continue this series of information events in late autumn 2001 and winter 2001/2002 [4].
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Karin
Hafner
CSC Austria
karin.hafner@cscaustria.at
http://www.cscaustria.at/members/hafner/karin.html
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For citation purposes:
Hafner, K. "National Node Column: Austria", Cultivate Interactive, issue
5, 1 October 2001
URL: <http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue5/nodes/>
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