The project involves groups of historians in several European countries. Its aim is to explore the use of new digital methods for navigating and distributing information on the history and culture of European cities in a variety of media and genres, with the following objectives:

• To facilitate public access to the materials and thereby encourage wide appreciation of the depth and diversity of European culture
• To provide new tools and facilities for tourism and heritage management
• To encourage comparison between the cities of Europe
• To contribute to educational programmes
• To facilitate research across disciplinary and territorial boundaries, to be undertaken by the public at large as well as by scholars.

It is impossible for such a project to be comprehensive in its content. The approach will be to concentrate on a sample of cities (in Britain, Germany, Italy, and perhaps also the Low Countries and Ireland) where relevant material is accessible and to experiment with methods which might be more widely applied at a later date. Moreover, the materials available for each city will vary according to their history, the survival of sources, the management of collections, current legislative and administrative frameworks, and the ways in which nations and cities have interpreted their past.

Nevertheless, several core themes and modes of presentation can be identified:

1. Mapping framework

Digitised modern maps will be core tools for organising the material, providing links for any particular site to relevant items in other parts of the collection.

2. Source collections provided by partners in the project

For example: historic maps; photographs, paintings and other visual representations of city scenes; literary descriptions; historical sources such as chronicles, diaries, letters, street directories, and taxation returns; music, voices and other sounds; the content of cultural institutions and collections in the city (whether or not they directly concern the city itself); archaeological discoveries; heritage databases (e.g. in Britain ‘listed buildings’, and 'sites and monuments records'); bibliographies.

These can be linked to the mapping framework, but also ordered so that they can be interrogated thematically and chronologically.

This might involve links to other projects in E-Culture Net

3. Links to other relevant collections and resources

4. Interpretative texts

Would include existing publications, but also specially-written short essays introducing specific themes or describing particular sites, with facilities for users to follow through to the source collections. The aim would be to provide wide access to the most up to date ideas and interpretations.

5. Virtual reality ‘4-D’ reconstructions of selected environments

Comparable to the ‘mapping framework’ but giving users a sense of physical change in three dimensions over time.

6. Modes of delivery

e.g. via websites, public display (museums and heritage sites), portable navigation systems (for use in the street).

7. User needs

Particular attention should be given to the needs of three categories of users:

·        general public

·        structured learning in school and undergraduate courses

·        academic research

In order to realise these aims the historians would work closely with experts in digital technology who would be partners in the project.

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Derek Keene

November 2002.

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