Membership: Background

The fundamental purpose of the Network of Excellence is to unite different communities within digital culture through a common goal of sharing knowledge, resources, methods and critical thought. The monies available are primarily to enable existing research to be shared. In some cases they may stimulate researchers to work together in future projects. But the NoE is not intended to replace or offer an alternative to existing research programmes at either the national or the European level.

Research Institutions

The most immediate benefit for research institutions is to be linked directly with a number of leading institutes concerned with E-Culture in Europe and throughout the world. Funding received will depend on the number of researchers directly engaged in one of the three action lines:

1) Build the DEED (Distributed European Electronic Dynamic) resource
2) Add content to the DEED through country level networks
3) Update the DEED through research matrices of the knowledge production life cycle.

It is planned that members of E-Culture Net will have priority access to broadband networks such as GEANT and will play a direct part in the development of an European Grid for Culture.

Individual Researchers

Researchers who are now engaged in large-scale projects such as virtual reality reconstructions of monuments, sites, cities or cultural routes which cannot be shown on the regular Internet will be able to make their findings visible to other scholars and students. Members will thus have access to many resources not available today. This will position members at the vanguard of new developments.

Through the network, researchers will be in touch with others in their field, and thus better able to participate in future research projects. In addition to having access to a range of content not available elsewhere, individual researchers are likely to have access to a number of emerging tools for content management, context creation and communication in an experimental framework. This will have great advantages for both their research and teaching.

Memory Institutions

Museums, libraries and archives are scanning in images at high resolution for research purposes which they are unable to share with colleagues elsewhere. Being connected via GEANT to other members of e-Culture Net allows them to share their materials at new levels. At the same time the assurance that members are trusted experts in an Intranet means that they are not faced with the same problems of copyright protection needed on the Internet. In short, memory institutions can experiment with new kinds of sharing in a trusted environment. The link with education and research provides new access to future users.

Companies and SMES

Companies and SMEs are constantly developing new products, which too often are not tried on a significant amount of users until they “hit” the market. The existence of a trusted group that includes major content holders plus experts in the field of culture offers an ideal environment to try out their new products. Companies benefit with new levels of feedback from informed users. Content holders and researchers benefit through access to new tools for research and teaching.
NGOs and Networks

Many specialized organisations and networks deal with specific aspects of the cultural domain. Membership in E-Culture Net will ensure that these aspects are properly represented in the knowledge life cycle and also provide access to a wider range of users within the cultural community.

Legal Agreements

All members are required to sign a basic legal agreement that they will normally use these materials only for research purposes. In signing the agreement those with potential commercial interests agree that they will first make legal arrangements with the rights holders of the materials in question. The decision to exploit materials is entirely with the original owners of the material and not the concern of E-Culture Net per se.