Open Knowledge manifesto for cultural projects

Background

Based on a discussion during Monmouthpedia with Linda Topos (director of CyMAL - Museums Archives and Libraries Wales, part of the Welsh Assembly Government), there is a need for Welsh cultural and heritage funding to recognize open knowledge criteria, to ensure long term preservation and access as a firm measurable outcome of such projects. The following manifesto is under collaborative development to form a proposal for Wales.

Manifesto

All cultural and heritage programmes in Wales with elements of public funding are committed to:

• Preservation
  • Long term value of any project must be measured against credible plans for eternal preservation. External hosting should be assessed for their capability to commit to 100 year operational plans rather than 10 year plans.
  • Artefacts subject to rapid deterioration (such as inscriptions subject to natural erosion) should be considered for archive quality digital preservation in addition to physical preservation or restoration.
• Access
  • The public should have simple access to project outcomes.
  • The default for all projects should be free access for the public.
  • Virtual access should be a central component to access planning.
• Engagement
  • Collaborative open knowledge projects, such as Wikipedia, should be a central component to engagement planning.
  • Open knowledge must be easy to reuse and consume for collaboration to be realistic. Digital assets should be licensed for free reuse and formatted in the most commonly accepted open standards.