Purpose of the DEER

The DEER will provide a means of ensuring that the products of cultural research, content, and application development are permanently available for the people of Europe. It will be a digital online resource for research and learning in European culture, using the technologies of e-science and distributed computing (grid computing). It will be a work platform for collaborative research, and an accessible repository for distributed digital materials.

DEER principles

The DEER will be: overarching; visionary and forward looking; provide for the unity and diversity of European culture; a multilingual and multinational resource; permanent; provide for interoperability for distributed resources; bring users to the foreground; for communication, creativity and joint working; for education, learning and inspiration.

Who is the DEER for?

-         The European research community

-         A range of user communities:

-        Content creators

-        Content users and re-purposers

-        Learners, the public, those with special needs

-        Commercial exploiters

DEER components

DEER outcomes

The DEER will add value to the services already provided by national research content networks,  by developing the technologies and tools for collaborative research and by making European digital cultural content more widely accessible. The products of research will become available for continuous learning and teaching and for commercial uses such as tourism, publishing, networked information for the public, and information for planning and development. As has already happened in some countries, the value of pooling digital resources and carrying out integrated research and development will ensure that it continues to be supported by national institutions.

Suzanne Keene

University College London
18 December 2002