FAQ
ATHENA has produced some frequently asked questions.
You can find the English version and some translations at the end of this page.
Version 1.0: April 2009
What is ATHENA?
ATHENA, the European museum network, is a project whose purpose is to harvest museum content and to deliver it into Europeana (the European digital library). This project has evolved from two governmental frameworks launched in 2001: the MINERVA, and MICHAEL networks. Both networks continue to support museums in their delivery of objects into Europeana.
WHAT IS EUROPEANA?
Europeana provides a single, multilingual access point to Europe's cultural heritage content. Users can access all types of media (video, sound, images, text) in a single, European-wide search. Within Europeana you can search through millions of digital items provided by Europe's museums, galleries, archives, libraries and audio-visual organisations. Searching in Europeana is simple. Just ask yourself who, what, where or when you are interested in and type these words into Europeana's search box. For further information see: http://www.Europeana.euWHAT ARE EUROPEANA AND ATHENA?
Europeana and ATHENA are both projects supported by the European Commission. They are both being developed in order to make the rich content from the thousands of memory institutions across Europe instantly accessible to citizens across the world.
WHO IS PARTICIPATING IN ATHENA?
There are currently 109 institutions participating in ATHENA: from Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and United Kingdom. Among the 23 partners there are six Ministries of Culture, many museums and cultural associations. The full list of the partners is available on the ATHENA website, and is growing.
WHAT KINDS OF BENEFITS WILL I GET WHEN I JOIN EUROPEANA OR ATHENA?
By sharing information about your digital objects you will automatically become a part of these initiatives. You will be granting access to your collections, and will benefit from new ways of promoting your institution and content. In addition, you will also have an opportunity to take part in developing European strategies concerning metadata standards, and content sharing policies.
WHAT OTHER BENEFITS WILL WE RECEIVE BY JOINING EUROPEANA?
Europeana is the leading initiative that harvests, publishes, and promotes digital cultural heritage in Europe. By sharing information about your digital objects you become the part of this initiative, and will be granted access to new ways of promoting your institution, and your content.
HOW LONG WILL EUROPEANA BE AVAILABLE?
Europeana is an open-ended project, supported by the European Commission, and the European Member States.
I AM NOT A EUROPEAN MUSEUM, MAY I STILL JOIN EUROPEANA?
If your collection is in any way connected with European culture, you are very welcome to contact us for further discussion.
HOW DO I KNOW WHETHER IS ATHENA FOR MY INSTITUTION?
Absolutely! If you already manage digital objects, or you plan to digitise your objects, regardless of the size of your collections, your institution will be on the map, as soon as you join ATHENA.
WHY SHOULD MY MUSEUM JOIN ATHENA?
ATHENA is the simplest way for your museum, or your cultural institution to harvest, and deliver your digital content into Europeana. Through ATHENA your resources will be seamlessly integrated with sister institutions across Europe, promoted, and instantly made accessible to audiences the world over.
WHO IN MY MUSEUM SHOULD BE CONTACTING ATHENA?
This depends on the managerial policy of your institution. Anyone can contact ATHENA, but we recommend that decisions should be taken by senior management in your museum.
I HAVE ALREADY GIVEN MY INFORMATION TO OUR NATIONAL PORTAL. CAN I STILL JOIN ATHENA?
Yes, there are a number of working groups that may be of interest to you. Please contact us for further information.
I HAVE ONLY FEW DIGITIZED OBJECTS, IS IT WORTH THE EFFORT?
Yes, of course, every digital object matters.
DO I NEED TO GIVE ALL MY OBJECTS/INFORMATION TO EUROPEANA OR ATHENA?
Of course, not. You can select, and upload the objects that you feel are appropriate for your institution.
WHO WILL SEE MY OBJECTS?
Your objects, and their descriptions, once delivered to ATHENA will be harvested and published in Europeana, where everyone can see them. Users may then access the ‘original' digital object that is located on your own institutional site.
DO I HAVE TO HAVE MY OBJECTS ONLINE ALREADY?
To become an ATHENA partner it is not necessary to have objects already available online.
IF NOT, WHERE WILL THEY BE?
It will be possible to put a limited number of your objects directly into the ATHENA repository in order to allow you to evaluate the benefits of being part of the ATHENA network.
HOW MANY OBJECTS MAY I UPLOAD INTO ATHENA?
There are no limitations on the number of objects. You may upload as many objects as you like.
ARE ALL KINDS OF OBJECTS ACCEPTED?
ATHENA accepts all objects located in museums in Europe with cleared copyright.
WHICH STANDARDS SHOULD I APPLY?
This is a critical issue for all museums across Europe and ATHENA is currently developing guidelines for a common set of recommended standards for cultural institutions.
Our intention is to work towards automatically converting all accepted standards currently used by museums into a fully integrated Europeana standard. The required metadata elements are available in the Europeana Semantic Elements:
WHAT KIND OF USERS WILL I BE REACHING ONCE I UPLOAD MY OBJECTS INTO ATHENA?
There are already many different kinds of users interested in the Europeana portal. Among them are researchers, teachers, students, tourists. You will no doubt discover your own colleagues there!
WILL I MAINTAIN MY IPR?
Be assured that we pay great attention to IPR both in ATHENA and Europeana. A Digital Rights Management guide will be circulated to museums members who are associated with the ATHENA network.
WILL YOU CHANGE MY INFORMATION IN ANY WAY?
We do not change any information provided by content providers unless it is inconsistent with commonly accepted standards.
HOW MUCH WILL THIS COST ME?
Membership to ATHENA is free, and costs to your museum may be measured in the work-hours it will take you to upload your objects into ATHENA. You will not incur any additional costs once you have joined the ATHENA Network.
WILL THERE BE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ABOUT MY OBJECTS IN ALL THE EUROPEAN LANGUAGES?
Search mechanisms are available in all European languages, but the information you contribute will be available in the languages provided by your institution.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EUROPEANA AND MICHAEL?
Both Europeana and MICHAEL are digital cultural heritage inventories. But while MICHAEL describes digital collections (sets of objects sharing the same features), Europeana grants access to individual digital objects.
IF I JOIN EUROPEANA WILL I AUTOMATICALLY BECOME A MEMBER OF MICHAEL?
No, MICHAEL deals with sets of collections not with single objects. But you are welcome to join MICHAEL as well. Just contact to the Association:
http://www.michael-culture.org/pl/home
association@michael-culture.org
ATHENA FAQs ARE ALSO AVAILABLE IN:
