Culture 4D: digitisation, Data, Disruptions, Diversity: 3^rd Council of Europe Platform Exchange on Culture and Digitisation Conference

September 29^th -30^th, 2016
Tallinn University, Estonia

Culture 4D: Digitisation, Data, Disruptions, Diversity (conference website) was a Council of Europe conference hosted by Tallinn University and Estonian Ministry of Culture within the framework of the Estonian Presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers.

The conference rationale was based on an understanding that the new digital and networked infrastructures should be used to reinforce access to and participation in an open culture, thereby strengthening democracy. The conference focused on some of the opportunities and challenges that are emerging in relation to digitisation of culture and management of cultural data.

Day 1 of the conference was titled ‘Small Europe, Big Data’ and focused on issues raised by ‘big data’ management in the cultural field vis-à-vis the common good. Accompanied and complemented by concurrent trends like automation and cloud computing, big data may lead to the concentration of data processing in the hands of a few global corporations. Day 1 panels, therefore, looked into such questions as public-private co-operation in cultural digitisation projects, power and control over cultural data, how data management in the global marketplace may affect reproduction of cultural memory and cultural diversity in Europe.

Day 2 of the conference focused on the means to empowerment and participation in the digital era in order to equip everyone with the means to benefit from the digital technology. The Day 2 panels considered ways for overcoming cultural barriers and closing digital gaps within a global society, as well as between different social groups with a view to enhancing cultural access, participation, production, acquisition and intercultural relations). The core question explored was how Europe can contribute to societal inclusion through digital culture.

You can read the conference report here. See the conference website for more information.