Cultural heritage easier to access via the Web

24 February 2009

CATCH Plus: the next step towards a Dutch Digital Collection

CATCH Plus, launched on Friday 20 February 2009, is a new implementation project that aims to give visitors to museums and other cultural heritage institutions easier and more attractive digital access to the most important collections in the Netherlands.

CATCH Plus develops the cooperation between the heritage institutions even further still: it will become easier to search in each other's collections and to exchange and enrich data. This initiative marks a further step towards an integrated Dutch Digital Collection of our cultural heritage.

An investment target of more than € 3 million has been set for CATCH Plus to enable the programme to realise its objectives. Part of this funding is being made available by the interdepartmental Programme Implementation Agenda ICT Policy (PRIMA). Significant contributions are also being made by CATCH Plus partners, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, and NWO.

Integral searches in heritage databases

An example: Somebody has an old object that has been in the family for generations. They search in the Rijksmuseum database for images of it. Besides links to paintings, they also find links to the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision that has a television programme in its archive about the significance of this object, to the Koninklijke Bibliotheek that has many original documents about it and to the Meertens Institute that has a copy of a folk song about it.

A single search query therefore results in an overall picture based on information from various databases. Such an approach repeatedly allows significant links to be made and presented in a manner that relates to the moment, the target group, the intended objective et cetera.

From science to application

The project is an extension of the current research programme Continuous Access To Cultural Heritage (CATCH). In CATCH, humanities researchers, information technologists and the heritage sector have already developed a unique cooperation. The prototypes and the knowledge from CATCH will now be converted into practical services and tools. In a nutshell, CATCH Plus will convert the science into reliable applications for everyday usage.

Partners in CATCH Plus

The project office for CATCH Plus is housed at Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision The other participating heritage institutions are: Rotterdam Municipal Archives, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Meertens Institute, National Archive, Naturalis, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, and the National Service for Archaeology, Cultural Landscape and Built Heritage (RACM).

The participating knowledge institutions are: Eindhoven University of Technology, Telematica Instituut, Free University Amsterdam, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, University of Twente, Tilburg University, University of Amsterdam, Utrecht University and University of Groningen. Various software companies shall probably participate in the programme as well.

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last modified on 7 April 2010