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The Open Observatory

Not Your Typical EU Project

Not Your Typical EU Project 

As described in our about section the InDICEs platform has arisen from the Horizon 2020 programme to give tools and resources to decision makers in the cultural heritage sector to better understand and create forward thinking strategies around the digitization of culture. 

Just like a European project the InDICEs initiative is divided into work packages with specific tasks and deliverables. However, the platform does not necessarily have a one to one translation of the work packages on the platform within its working groups and co-creation process. The InDICEs platform through practice and form is a step into the future not just as a project but for the larger European Cultural Heritage community. The different spaces and work areas have been created with a more inclusive approach and in anticipation of actors, organizations and communities not currently within the InDICEs project to also encounter us and possibly participate. 

However, it is important that we explain how each assembly is designed and how it relates to concrete deliverables that have been promised. 

Processes

Processes are similar to assemblies however they are marked by distinct phases. Currently, all platform assemblies are involved in a single online process called the ‘Co-creation Workshop’.

Co-creation Workshop

When Covid-19 initiated a broad state of alarm across the EU in March, the project had to swiftly adjust and create online spaces for meetings that were to take place in person. Thus, the online co-creation workshop was initiated as an agile response to create collaborative spaces online that would begin the work of co-creating the platform. 

The workshop is meant to tie together the activities of on-board partners as well as create a common online process to design and execute different ideas for the InDICEs platform. 

The tasks and deliverables related to this process are as follows:

Task 4.1 Co-design the observatory (M1-M24); 

Task 4.2 inDICEs Participatory Space (M6-M34); 

CONSULTATION PROCESS

This process is the first full partner run process on the platform. It will cover and be integrated into a series of three workshops that will serve to identify the the needs and aspirations of CHI professionals around the theme of digitization and how it interacts with Intellectual Property Rights and crowdsourcing, future research, and ICT and change management. We are more than excited about the proactive use of the platform to expand on the work in InDICEs and support the use and learning around our platform community. 

Task 5.4 Consultation Workshops and Stakeholder Engagement (M3-M24)

Assemblies

Currently within the platform there are five different assemblies: Hypothesis, Tech Integration, Platform Model and Ethics, Covid-19, and the CHI consultation process. These different assemblies are meant to address the core areas of the work within the InDICEs project: tackling more theoretical areas such as academia and policy around cultural heritage, integrating various technologies to create tools and grow and sustain online communities and sharing, creating and developing an inventory of governance and ethics models and resources for online communities around cultural heritage in Europe, and finally rethinking the impact of Covid-19 on our work. 

Platform Model and Ethics 

The PME assembly investigates ethics and digital participation to create a model of a participatory online community. Some of the outputs of this work include finding and demonstrating examples of online observatories that support the creation of the InDICEs observatory as well as integrating case studies that further to progress of both the case study and the platform in the creation of digital tools and networks within the scope of present and forecasted needs of CHIs. Parallel to this work is also to define an ethical compass for future steps and the governance of the platform. 

The summary of the the PME’s work stems from the following tasks and deliverables within the DOW of the InDICEs project:

Task 5.3 Designing a model for digital community participation

Task 1.1 Develop methods of analysis (M1-M18; Lead: FBK; Participants: KU Leuven, EF, PIN SCRL, CCC); 

Task 1.2 Data collection, enrichment and alignment (M1-M36). Lead: FBK; Task 7.1 Ethics requirement (M1-M36; Lead: ICCU)

D5.4 inDICEs model for digital community participation (M16) Analysis and selection of participatory approaches: a large amount of practices and participatory approaches will result from the research, so a methodological framework for their selection is needed.

D1.1 Methodology and definition of the inDICEs analytical toolbox (M12) A technical report presenting and discussing the methodologies that have been selected as part of the project’s analytical toolbox and their potential and limitations of application.

Hypothesis 

The theoretical frameworks and knowledge production of the platform and InDICEs project such as research methodologies, data analysis, and defining terms and ideas is ideated within the Hypothesis Assembly. As such some activities within this assembly take a deep dive into the themes and trending topics around digitization. Ultimately it provides the empirical cornerstone to the platform and invites contributors from both academia and non academic backgrounds. 

The work for the hypothesis assembly comes from the following tasks and deliverables: 

Task 1.1 Develop methods of analysis 

Task 1.3 Analysis and policy definitions

Tech Integration 

Any question around software design, tech integration from the various stakeholders and new ideas for the platform happen within the Tech Integration assembly. Discussions revolve around assuring the quality of technology developed within InDICEs as well as supporting the creation of a participatory digital space built using open source technologies, a visual analytics dashboard, and ideating new dashboard functions to support research, sharing and resource creation. 

The Technology Integration Assembly was created with the following tasks and deliverables in mind:

Task 4.3 Build the inDICEs Dashboard (M6-M36; Lead: WLT)

Task 1.2 Data collection, enrichment and alignment (M1-M36). Lead: FBK

D4.1 User scenarios and wireframes report (M8) Translating the user needs and functional requirements specified by the different stakeholders into technological requirements. Defining the scenarios describing how users can interact with the inDICEs Open Observatory platform depending on their roles/rights and for different use cases

Covid-19

Attitudes especially around digitization changed during the Covid-19 crisis and this project would be remiss if it did not also address how the global pandemic affected not just the move towards online interactions but also the impact of the crisis on how we view labor, mental and physical wellness and digital lives and cultures.

This diagram demonstrates the relationship between how we've designed the assemblies and process to align with the creation of the platform and partner engagement.

In Conclusion

The InDICEs project is the starting point of what could a transformative online space for Cultural Heritage Institutions and we are designing the processes and assemblies with all of that in mind. It’s important for the design to foster strong engagement and participation to start building habits with our partners first as well as integrate the platform into our work with tasks and deliverables to foster and strengthen the space. Finally, built into the platform is a more honest and transparent governance that allows us to create points of reference for other digital communities who can see how we co-design and create at every step of the way.