Long-term Access to Cultural Heritage Content in Flanders: Towards Sustainable Valorisation

This paper reports on early-stage research that aims at developing sustainable valorisation models for access to (and reuse of) digital cultural heritage content in Flanders (Belgium), particularly for use in education, research and the cultural sector and industries. The research is taking place within the ongoing large-scale collaborative research project Archipel. As this is work in progress, this paper will mainly focus on contextual and methodological concerns. Firstly, previous research has shown that digitisation progress is still limited in Flanders and that the road towards digital sustainability in all its facets remains long. Secondly, (policy) discussions on the (un)desirability of charging for cultural heritage content are addressed, as they are paramount in developing acceptable valorisation opportunities. After sketching these contextual factors, a methodological overview of business modelling approaches for developing valorisation models for cultural content distribution is given. In this approach, the value network with its actors and roles is sketched, as well as the financial model, functional architecture and value proposition for users. Some concerns on the applicability of the approach in this context are voiced. A final section highlights the main contextual and methodological considerations and, as the research is ongoing, concludes by outlining planned subsequent research steps. These include the development of possible scenarios for target group specific valorisation and their evaluation by means of participatory methods, involving stakeholders from the field.