WP 5 Guidelines of Quality for Public Cultural Web Applications and the managing of web contents

1. Ministerial NEtwoRk for Valorising Activities in digitisation WP 5Guidelines of Quality for Public Cultural Web Applicationsand the managing of web contents U. Boccioni, Stati d’animo: quelli che vanno (1911) MOMA NYC

2. the MINERVA project foreground partners policy scenario structure working packages network enlargement MINERVA website the WP5 Quality Framework the Quality Handbook recommendation on long-term conservation of web contents Outline

3. the MINERVA projectforeground • MINERVA is the instrument to • support the implementation of the Lund Action Plan • co-ordinating national programmes • establishing relationships with: • other European countries • international organisations • associations • networks • international and national projects, • with a special focus on theDigiCult action of IST

4. Italy, coordinator (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali) Belgium(Ministère de la Communauté Française) Finland(University of Helsinki) France(Ministère de la culture et de la communication) Spain(Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte) Sweden(Riksarkivet) United Kingdom(The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries) the MINERVA projectOriginal Partners

5. Have already signed the membership agreement: Denmark Greece The Netherlands Are going to sign: Austria Germany Ireland the MINERVA projectNew Members

6. The main aim of MINERVA is to support the European framework made up of NRG, Lund principles, Lund Action Plan and Presidencies of EU in the field of the cultural heritage digitisation. The members agreed to give the highest visibility to the Lund principles in their countries, by setting-up national structures in charge of disseminating the results of the Minerva project. All the member states agreed on the opportunity to invest on MINERVA project their own funding besides the budget provided by contract. the MINERVA projectPolicy Scenario

7. 5 Working Groups at European level Publications (guidelines, reports, case studies, etc.) National Policy Profiles concerning digitisation National Representative Groups meetings Workshops Co-operation with other projects Harmonising activities Enlargement of the network the MINERVA projecthow MINERVA works

8. To provide political and technical frameworks for improving digitisation activities of cultural and scientific contents To contribute at the definition of a common European platform for the harmonisation of national initiatives Benchmarking framework Identification of Good practices and Competence centres Interoperability, Service Provision and IPR Inventories, discovery of digitised content, multilingual issues Identification of user needs, contents and quality framework for common access points (WP5) the MINERVA projectthe Working Groups

9. To exchange comparable information between Member States on programmes and policies To promote the adoption of a benchmarking framework as a key tool for co-ordinating and harmonising national activities as well as to develop measures to show progress and improvement short and long term strategies to report on the results achieved so far, at the next NRG meeting in Corfù (June 2003) to set-up methodology, shared data format and tool, for collecting data on a continuous base; to update constantly qualitative and quantitative information and to create a common database. the MINERVA projectBENCHMARKING

10. to select and to promote good practice examples from Member State programmes and projects in order to exchange experiences, skills and to collect consensus from different communities of users. short and long term strategies first selection presented in Alicante (E), June 2002 first MINERVA Handbook on Good Practices to be published during 2003, at the moment available in a draft version on the Minerva Website the MINERVA projectGOOD PRACTICES

11. within the general scope to contribute to the development of eventual European Guidelines for cultural digitisation analyse, identify and evaluate activities on metadata, registries and schemes promote discussion on standards, conformance testing centres, agreed terminologies, common metadata scheme, middleware specifications examination of related issues, such as IPR the MINERVA projectINTEROPERABILITY

12. To share experiences, to discuss and to facilitate implementation of common actions concerning inventories of past, on-going and planned digitisationprojects based on national observatories technical infrastructure for coordinated discovery of European digitised cultural and scientific content, including a common set of metadata for description multilingual issues the MINERVA projectINVENTORIES

13. definequality criteria for the digitised content encourage the adoption of quality criteria for developing cultural and scientific web applications supporting the initiatives launched by the European Commission with the provision of national digital content encourage training actions in cultural sites, to promote knowledge of multicultural issues the MINERVA projectWEB QUALITY

14. the instruments: Membership Agreement to formalise the participation of Ministries to the Minerva Network; Co-operation Agreement to formalise the participation of interested organisations to the Minerva Users Group. the MINERVA projectNetwork enlargement

15. www.minervaeurope.org whose goals are: in the short term: to promote the Lund principles as well as the activities and the results of the project to promote the project’s partners to be a “gate” to other linked initiatives in the long term: to be an essential instrument on web quality, digitisation, metadata, long-term preservation, accessibility minerva@beniculturali.it the MINERVA projectMINERVA web site

16. March 2002 Beginning of the Minerva project May 2002Set up of the Minerva Quality Working Group February 2003First Deliverable on quality March 2003Index of the«Quality Handbook for Public Cultural Web Applications – Recommendations and Guidelines » June 2003 Draft version of the « Quality Handbook » (Corfu) November 2003 Definitive version of the « Quality Handbook » (Parma) the WP5 Quality Frameworkhighlights

17. An effective European Working Group A first Deliverable document on QualitySynthesis of all the work of the meetings on quality, but also an account of the contributes delivered by the different experts of the national working groups on Quality A definitive Quality Framework, basis of the Quality Handbook a set of criteria to be used at the difference stages of development of a cultural web site, i.e.: for the development of new cultural web sites to measure the quality of a project under development, in order to restyle weak components to validate and assess complete projects the WP5 Quality Frameworkresults achieved

18. References April 2001 - The Lund principles December 2001 - The Brussels Quality Framework November 2002 -The Greek WG5 questionnaire January 2003 - The Italian WG5 draft document #1 February 2003 - The first deliverable on quality of WP5 March 2003 - Index of the« Quality Handbook for Public Cultural Web Applications» the WP5 Quality Framework 1st goal: the Quality Handbook

19. June 2003 Presentation of the Handbook draft at the Kerkira NRG meeting November 2003 Published in the form of a Handbook in the Minerva Editorial Line November 2003 Final approval and adoption at the Parma NRG meeting Dissemination and e-learning programme the WP5 Quality Frameworknext steps

20. Quality Criteria for Public Cultural Web Applications a new approach beyond the user-defined Web the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality Handbook

21. RATIONALE INTRODUCTION Definitions, Principles and basic Recommendations General Quality Criteria for Web Applications Specific Quality Criteria for Public Cultural Web Applications ANNEXES Validation methods Framework International rules on public web Repertory Italian document on IPR and privacy issues the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality Handbook contents

22. Chapter 1 Definitions, principles and Recommendations The complex issues coming from the crossing of the cultural world with the Web revolution needs: Synthetic and efficientdefinitions: classes, notions and subjects General principles, acting like basic premises in the Web project Recommendations on policies and strategies to be followed during the Web project phase the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality Handbook contents

23. Definitions Public Cultural Entity (PCE) PCE identity PCE categories PCE goals Public Cultural Web Application (PCWA) PCWA goals PCWA Users PCWA Users’ needs PCWA Users’ routes the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality Handbook contents

24. Public Cultural Entity (PCE) An institution, organisation or project of public interest whose mission is to produce, conserve, safeguard, valorise and diffuse culture in any sector(archives, libraries, mobile and immobile heritage, archaeological, artistic, architectural, historical, demo-ethnological, anthropological). Public Cultural Web Application (PCWA) Every Web application whose services and contents concern cultural heritage in all its sectors, and which provides cultural information and promotion and/oroffersdidactic and scientific services. PCWA Users Everyone, professional or non professional, who uses in a systematic, casual, incidental or finalised way a PCWA, satisfying different needsdepending on his cultural profile, his aspiration to a personal growth or his incidental curiosity. the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality Handbook definitions

25. the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality Handbook contents The 8 PCE CATEGORIES • Archives • Libraries • Monuments / Sites / Parks /Reserves • Museums • Conservation departments • Research/training institutes • Exhibitions • Temporary projects

26. the WP5 Quality Framework PCE GOALS USERS NEEDS Basic Quality Criteria PUBLIC CULTURAL WEB APPLICATION PCWA GOALS Specific Quality Criteria

27. Principles a PCEshould provide to: Promote the widest diffusion of culture Share the whole community of cultural entities Use innovative channel of communication’s effectiveness Adopt a suitable use of web applications Conceive quality as a process with the agreement between PCE and Users’ goals the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality Handbook contents

28. Recommendations: policies and strategies Networks and thematic access points PCWA domain and validation PCE coordination between internal and external information flow PCE communication channels coordination PCWA process management: project, development and financial management IPR and privacy control for PCWA contents Long-term preservation of PCWA contents the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality Handbook contents

29. Chapter 2 Basic Quality Criteria for Web Applications The quality criteria framework is composed by two main groups : basic and specific criteria. Chapter 2is dedicated to the basic framework, a synthesis built according to the widely accepted criteria on web quality. Each criterium will be explained with definition, commentary and examples. the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality Handbook contents

30. Content criteria Consistency, Currency, Accuracy, Content responsibility, Advertising policy, Objectivity, Content organization evidence, Content membership evidence Navigation criteria Link evidence, Link soundness, Link coverage, Backtracking soundness, Context evidence, Media control soundness, Media control evidence Presentation criteria Scannability, Similarity, Proximity, Consistency, Minimalism Application evidence (technical) criteria Application mission evidence, Application responsibility, Maintenance strategy evidence, Technical strategy evidence Accessibility criteria (from WAI Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 - W3C Recommendation -1999) the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality Handbook contents 2. Basic Quality Criteria for WA

31. Chapter 3 - Specific Quality Criteria for Public Cultural Web Applications (PCWA) Contents Premises PCWA goals / quality criteria crossing table PCWA goals definitions PCE categories and the Web PCWA goals / quality criteria cards the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality Handbook contents

32. Chapter 3 Specific Quality Criteria for Public Cultural Web Applications (PCWA) Besides the respect of basic quality criteria, the specificity of Public Cultural Web Applications require specific quality criteria. Those criteria may change according to each PCWA goals. Each of the 12 PCWA goalsmust descend from the agreement between PCE goals and users needs. the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality Handbook contents

33. Chapter 3 Specific Quality Criteria for Public Cultural Web Applications (PCWA) For each of the 12 PCWA goals are defined and commented the proper quality criteria, both for PCWA content and for its technical characteristics, intended as valid for all PCE categories. When necessary, the criteria will be better clarified according to the specificity of each of the PCE categories the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality Handbook contents

34. PresentingPCE identity PCE activity transparency PCWA mission transparency Promotion of PCWA role in thematic networks Presenting legal rules and standards Spreading cultural contents Promotingcultural tourism Educational services Scientific research services Services for culture-related professional Reservation and e-commerce services Promotion of thematic communities the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality Handbook contents The 12 PCWAGOALS

35. the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality Handbook contents The 13 specific CRITERIA • Contents • Completeness • Comprehensiveness • Conciseness • Richness of information • Multilinguism • Authority / Responsibility • Uniqueness • Content organisation • Appropriateness of grouping • Appropriatenessof nesting • Appropriateness of splitting • Query/Search usability • Appropriateness of query/search forms • Completeness of query/search results • Possibility to bookmark/save query/search results

36. the WP5 Quality FrameworkPCWA goals/quality criteria crossing table

37. the WP5 Quality FrameworkQuality CriteriaCards

38. the UE CouncilResolutionof 25 June 2002 on digital preservation notes that: “memory institutionssuch as archives,libraries and museums have a central role to play” for a preservation policy of digital informations one of the main goals of Public Cultural Entitiesshould be to contribute to turn upside down the anti-historical tendency of cyber-world the PCEshould be in the front line in disseminating guidelines and best practices for long-term preservation of Web contents the long-term preservation Handbook Recommendation

39. in our Handbook about digital contents creation and management we want to incorporate in the Web Quality notionthe necessity for Web developers of a long-term preservation policy the long-term preservation QualityHandbook Recommendation

40. A preservation policy regards organisationalaspectsand technological strategies, planned together. The Quality Handbook points up with emphasis the importance of such issues in its Principle # 4: “Adopt a suitable use of web applications” Recommedations # 3-7: Coordination between internal and external information flow Communication channels coordination PCWA process management: project, development and financial management (technical and organisational) IPR and privacy control for Application contents Long-term preservation strategy forApplication contents the long-term preservation QualityHandbook Recommendation

41. 1. A organisational preservation policyfor archiving Web Application materials should provide: a primary role for the Producer/Generatoramong the stakeholders a strategy that preserve the hypertextual relationships among materials: original or due to further modifications/interactions A strategy that considers the orginal distinction between public and private contents/applications a strategy for valutation/selection a strategy that preserve somehow the interaction between application and users (logfiles, email, forum, blogs, newsgroups, etc) the long-term preservation QualityHandbook Recommendation

42. 2. A technical preservation policy for archiving Web Application materials should provide: A strategy considering that web applications are composed by many media and formats, generated by many producers who create, update, rename, move and delete daily web contents, sometimes with the intervention of remote users A strategy that provides the creation, currency and conservation of proper finding/browsing/searching aids A strategy that forecastes and plans the consequences of hardware/software obsolescence the long-term preservation QualityHandbook Recommendation

43. The Kerkira ERPANET Training Seminar conclusions will be the basis for the Minerva QualityHandbook Recommendation on preservation policy. THANK YOU ! pfeliciati@archivi.beniculturali.it