Now Here This: Europeana’s “Sounds” Project Gets Underway

The three-year project got underway at the British Library about two weeks ago. 24 partners from 12 countries are participating.
From The British Library’s Sound and Vision Blog:

Europeana Sounds will use innovative digital technology to improve access to some of Europe’s leading collections of sounds and related material.
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Of particular interest was the issue of licensing material in order to provide as much access as possible, whilst ensuring that content providing institutions feel that the material in their custody is sufficiently protected. Indeed, in the case of recordings of ‘traditional’ or ‘ceremonial’ music that may contain culturally sensitive material, this will need to be taken into account in the same way that legal consideration must be adhered to.
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Whilst there is a great deal of expertise amongst the project partners, this sense of balance could not be achieved without an engaged and enthusiastic audience. Fortunately, we will be working with the Netherlands Institute of Sound and Vision and Historypin to engage different communities and to enrich the project’s metadata through crowdsourcing and edit-a-thons. In turn, this will make it easier for end-users to find what they are looking for. This focus on usability will be augmented by the development of thematic channels on the Europeana portal, and through other digital sound sharing platforms, Spotify and SoundCloud.

Read the Complete Blog Post
See Also: Learn More About the Project, “Building a Jukebox for Europe” (BL Sound and Vision Blog)

Sound recordings are one of the most popular media types, although representing just 2% of Europeana’s content. And while many of Europe’s leading cultural heritage institutions have large, high-quality audio collections that have great public appeal and are valued for research and for creative use, access to them is fragmented and constrained. Europeana Sounds will make audio content from memory institutions easily accessible – a much-needed gateway to Europe’s incomparably rich sound and music collections.

See Also: Europeana Sounds Project Info Page
See Also: Presentations from the Meeting at the BL

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