CO OP: Community as opportunity

The project activities are tailored to specifically meet the target of audience development and professionalization and facilitate the mutual relationship between archives and archivists and the general public across the population stratum. Partial aim behind the project is to offer a barrier-free and easily accessible doorway to the opportunities of the Digital Age in the archival sector and empower the general public to actively make use of these possibilities and thereby take part in creating and exploring shared European history. Furthermore, it is envisioned to encourage sustainable growth of the digital archival landscape, advance the qualification of young professionals by providing material for teaching purposes, sponsored internships for students, various creative competitions for pupils, students and latterly the general public audience and therewith eventually advocate social solidarity. To this end the online archival database Monasterium.net will be enhanced through additional technical and Web 2.0 features in order to meet demands of audiences with special needs as well as actively promote and facilitate community involvement. Additionally, the implementation of innovative approaches towards citizen participation (festival, “Bring your history”-days – Topotheque, MOMathons, MOMschools) will reciprocally engage the public community with the archival world and in the long run create an intertwined, heterogeneous living community.

All activities within this project serve to reach the final goal of reaching out to the general European population and build sustainable bridges between archives and the public community. Ultimately, the development of a manifold audience, historical awareness on a European level, voluntary corporate citizenship, and openings for life-long-learning and intercultural dialogue will be encouraged. The fusing of these addressed parties by the means of this project’s integral activities will elucid and detail our shared European history and energise international understanding.

The Centre for Information Modelling is engaged in this project with activities in the field of legal issues and software development. http://informationsmodellierung.uni-graz.at/forschen/coop/