Argument

The consortium of the EU-funded project APEx – Archives Portal Europe Network of Excellence – consisting of 28 national archives and ICARUS, is organising a conference to discuss the major challenges archives face on their path into the digital world. It aims at debating the major questions in respective professional fields by evaluating the broad scope of methods and approaches and by gathering experiences and perspectives from related projects conducive to obtaining new insights and visions regarding the further development of the Archives Portal Europe. Additionally, a series of workshops will provide practical knowledge in order to fulfill the preconditions of becoming participants of online platforms and portals.

Panels

• Basic aspects

These panels will discuss the fundamental aspects of providing archival content via digital platforms.

• • Strategic issues, introduction: inspiring keynotes on archives in a digital world
  • Open data and licencing: legal aspects, consequences for accessibility, economic aspects, copyright, creative commons etc
  • New business models: online services, cooperation with companies such as genealogical service providers etc
  • Linking of data – interdisciplinary cooperation: cooperation between archives and other cultural institutions
  • Standards/metadata: lectures departing from different perspectives: possibilities/difficulties; wider international and local context; practical implementation; use and development of ontologies/epistemologies etc

• Best practice

These panels will bring together already existing practical experiences across Europe and America in order to provide an overview on the practical implementation of many aspects discussed in the first panel.

• • Best practice I: building infrastructures on a national level (national portals, platforms etc)
  • Best practice II: building infrastructures on an international level
  • Best practice III: sustaining digital infrastructures in the long run
  • Best practice IV: from cardboard boxes to European e-archives (case studies of several archives’ path into the internet, especially into the Archives Portal Europe: difficulties, possibilities, obstacles, opportunities, problems, solutions, goals, visions etc)
  • Best practice V: tools (APE-tools, AtOM)
  • Best practice VI: international cooperation as a precondition for building infrastructures (professional exchange, synergies, international projects, fundraising etc)

• Hands on

These panels will discuss issues related to the practical use of archival content on the internet. It should be a platform for different kind of users in order to learn about specific requirements and expectations.

• • Users of archivistic content now and in the future (definition of target groups, new requirements for archives, greater accessibility etc)
  • Building new partnerships (Web 2.0, crowdsourcing, cooperation with users/scientific institutions/genealogical societies etc)
  • Archival content in didactic practice (best practice, requirements, cooperation with universities, schools etc)

Submission guidelines

Potential speakers are invited to present a paper (15 min.) within one of the following panels and are asked to send a proposal of their presentation (about 1000 characters) by completing this online form.

The deadline for submitting proposals is: 

17 February 2013

The submission of a proposal does not imply a guarantee of acceptance. We will inform you about our decision by 15 March 2013 at the latest.

The consent of the speakers / authors provided, papers might be published on the Archives Portal Europe or within an anthology accompanying the conference.

Conference language: English

Further information will be available via the conference website.

Scientific committee

• Dr. Maria Gussarsson-Wijk (Swedish National Archives)
• Dr. Thomas Aigner (ICARUS)
• Dr. Angelika Menne-Haritz (Federal Archives Berlin)
• Silke Jagodzinski (Federal Archives Berlin)
• Dr. Anna Koulikourdi (General State Archives of Greece)
• Dr. Anna Krochmal (Head Office of Polish State Archives