DARIAH-CH/GLAM/Pillars

There has been a strong link between GLAM institutions and higher education institutions focused on arts and humanities. This link is becoming ever more important in the context of the digital transformation, which not only affects how work within the institutions is conducted, but also provides new opportunities and poses new challenges to the collaboration across institutional boundaries. Data related to heritage collections is of crucial value for research conducted by higher education institutions and/or GLAM institutions. And conversely, research (specifically in the arts and digital humanities) contributes to heritage collections and informs the practices surrounding them.

The DARIAH-CH GLAM Working Group (WG) therefore strives to foster this cross-sectional collaboration and to bring representatives from the different institutions together to implement joint projects, define common best practices and approaches and jointly address shared challenges.o do so, the DARIAH-CH GLAM WG invites all members of the relevant institutions to join the collaboration based on the following pillars:

1. Establish an open collaboration

The collaboration in the DARIAH-CH GLAM WG is designed to be open in various ways. First, participation is open to interested individuals and institutions from all sectors, and diversity is explicitly sought both in the WG itself as well as in the wider network. Second, the open sharing of documentation and data from all members is encouraged and provides an important basis for the collaboration. Third, the use of open, neutral, and ethical software is encouraged and supported among Working Group members.

2. Leverage synergies

Understand the needs, requirements and limitations of the different institutions and define common goals in light of these preconditions. This means for instance leveraging the potential that comes from new collaborations to increase the visibility, accessibility, but also joining forces when it comes to acquiring resources or addressing joint challenges.

3. Build shared knowledge, resources, and processes

In order to implement joint projects smoothly, ensure knowledge sharing and effectively use the existing synergies, some basic common infrastructure and understanding has to be established and succinctly used in the collaborations within the WG. This includes shared processes and documentation, communication channels, standards for data structure and quality as well as a joint vision and goals.

4. Focus on output

Whereas a joint understanding, shared goals and some basic structures are necessary for the collaboration to work smoothly, the WG aims at creating tangible outputs from the beginning. This is key not just for convincing members of the WG of its importance and potential to deliver tangible results, but is also crucial for acquiring funding and ensuring the economic sustainability of the WG’s efforts. Focusing on outputs also means that relevant metrics for progress are identified and there is a regular critical assessment of the latter.

5. Strive for sustainability

The work of the WG takes a broad perspective on sustainability and takes into account ecological, economic and social sustainability. It specifically aims at leveraging the opportunities that stem from cross-institutional collaboration to not only improve sustainability of each of the individual institutions, but also ensure that, in the interest of the common good, the jointly implemented projects are beneficial from a sustainability perspective.