Taking the long view for digital creativity: Scottish Arts Council joins the Digital Preservation Coalition
The Scottish Arts Council has taken a significant step to securing a lasting legacy from Scotland's digital creativity by joining the Digital Preservation Coalition. In doing so it joins a growing number of strategic bodies and memory institutions taking steps to ensure that digital objects can be accessible to future generation.
'The Scottish Arts Council takes digital preservation seriously', explained Kate Wallace, Senior Research Officer, Scottish Arts Council. 'Preserving a digital legacy for future generations of artists, organisations and the public gives greater access and can inspire learning.'
'The immediate context is a set of projects that we have commissioned with Legacy Trust UK. These are part of the cultural programme of the 2012 Olympics and some of the programme strands will be part of the official Cultural Olympiad. We have been working hard recently on developing and delivering activities for the cultural programmes around the 2012 Olympics and the 2014 Commonwealth Games.'
'Legacy is a critical success factor for this programme,' explained Jaine Lumsden, SAC's 2012 and 2014 development officer. 'We want to be sure that we can deliver an appropriate digital legacy from this programme as part of the wider social, cultural and economic legacy which they need to demonstrate. This programme will be a case study for future programmes.
'The Coalition exists to ensure that our digital memory will be available tomorrow,' explained Richard Ovenden of the Bodleian Library and chair of the DPC. 'Our cultural and scientific creativity is increasingly 'born digital'. While museums, libraries and archives are good at preserving physical objects, there's a serious skills gap and policy gap for long term management of digital objects. By working together, members of the coalition are able to move more quickly to fill these gaps. That way we can protect our investment and provide a digital legacy to future generations.
'We're excited that the Scottish Arts Council has joined the Coalition. It signals their determination to derive maximum impact from emerging technology. Joining the board gives them a significant influence over the development of this core component of the digital economy, and will make their staff more effective.'
Notes:
1.The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) is a not-for profit membership organisation whose primary objective is to raise awareness of the importance of the preservation of digital material and the attendant strategic, cultural and technological issues. Its vision is to make our digital memory accessible tomorrow. For more details, including list of existing members and how to join see: http://www.dpconline.org/
2. The Scottish Arts Council is the lead body for the funding, development and advocacy of the arts in Scotland. It offers a unique national perspective on the arts and their audiences. Its strategic leadership - development, funding and advocacy - is underpinned by specialist knowledge and experience in the management and delivery of the arts at national and international level. For more details see: http://www.scottisharts.org.uk/
3. The functions of the Scottish Arts Council, and Scottish Screen, will shortly be the responsibility of a new body, Creative Scotland. The Scottish Government intends to establish Creative Scotland as a Statutory Non Departmental Public Body (NDPB) through the Public Services Reform Bill, currently undergoing Stage 2 scrutiny by the Scottish Parliament. Subject to Parliament's agreement, the new NDPB will come into being in 2010. Creative Scotland will: encourage and sustain artists and creators of all kinds; ensure that their work is accessible to all; * ensure that as many people as possible can participate in creative activities; extend and increase the wider benefits of arts and culture, including their contribution to the promotion and development of Scotland's unique national culture and its wider place in the international sphere.
4. Legacy Trust UK is an independent charitable trust. It has been established to use funding endowed by the Big Lottery Fund, Arts Council England and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to help create and support projects throughout the United Kingdom that will leave a lasting legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was formally launched on 20 November 2007. More details are available at: http://www.legacytrustuk.org/