<div class="xblock xblock-public_view xblock-public_view-vertical" data-graded="True" data-has-score="False" data-runtime-class="LmsRuntime" data-init="VerticalStudentView" data-course-id="course-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4" data-request-token="d414e47e2c9511f09b250e526f83b440" data-runtime-version="1" data-usage-id="block-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4+type@vertical+block@15b7bd8504cb4ba88e1173bc06c4dbf2" data-block-type="vertical"> <h2 class="hd hd-2 unit-title">1.1 Introduction: Why do cultural heritage institutions have collections that are contentious?</h2> <div class="vert-mod"> <div class="vert vert-0" data-id="block-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4+type@html+block@8ca2129200a34c73adab30e2d3f18517"> <div class="xblock xblock-public_view xblock-public_view-html xmodule_display xmodule_HtmlModule" data-graded="True" data-has-score="False" data-runtime-class="LmsRuntime" data-init="XBlockToXModuleShim" data-block-type="html" data-request-token="d414e47e2c9511f09b250e526f83b440" data-runtime-version="1" data-usage-id="block-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4+type@html+block@8ca2129200a34c73adab30e2d3f18517" data-type="HTMLModule" data-course-id="course-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4"> <script type="json/xblock-args" class="xblock-json-init-args"> {"xmodule-type": "HTMLModule"} </script> <p>Cultural heritage institutions (also referred to as GLAM: Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) steward, curate, preserve and give access to collections of cultural heritage. Their collections reflect the societies, power structures, and historical contexts in which they were formed.</p> <p>Bias in cultural heritage collections refers to the unequal representation, interpretation, or valuation of certain cultures, histories, or perspectives within cultural institutions and their collections, often reflecting systemic power imbalances, such as colonialism, racism, or sexism. Historically, those with the power to document, collect, and preserve culture were often from privileged, dominant groups. This led to the prioritisation of their values, beliefs, and interests, while marginalising others. Many cultural collections have inherited, either implicitly or explicitly, the values and structural inequalities of the past. Many institutions in Europe and other colonial powers amassed their collections during eras of imperial expansion. Items were often acquired through looting, exploitation, or unequal trade.</p> <p>This problem, however, extends beyond colonial collections. For example, misogyny and patriarchy meant that women&rsquo;s contributions were overlooked, undervalued, or omitted altogether. Minoritised communities like minority ethnic groups (e.g. Sami, Roma) or LGBTQ+ communities are also a victim of this structural inequality. Their invisibility and underrepresentation form gaps in today's cultural heritage corpus.</p> <p>Even as societal values evolve, institutions sometimes fail to update the interpretation or contextualisation of contentious items. This can perpetuate outdated narratives or fail to acknowledge the harm associated with certain materials.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div>

<div class="xblock xblock-public_view xblock-public_view-vertical" data-graded="True" data-has-score="False" data-runtime-class="LmsRuntime" data-init="VerticalStudentView" data-course-id="course-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4" data-request-token="d414e47e2c9511f09b250e526f83b440" data-runtime-version="1" data-usage-id="block-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4+type@vertical+block@62fed2749ce848b1ba4436eeb0ecdb48" data-block-type="vertical"> <h2 class="hd hd-2 unit-title">1.2 Consequences of digitisation of culturally contentious collections</h2> <div class="vert-mod"> <div class="vert vert-0" data-id="block-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4+type@html+block@e14a755fbea74f7da0c4a3769e6eafa1"> <div class="xblock xblock-public_view xblock-public_view-html xmodule_display xmodule_HtmlModule" data-graded="True" data-has-score="False" data-runtime-class="LmsRuntime" data-init="XBlockToXModuleShim" data-block-type="html" data-request-token="d414e47e2c9511f09b250e526f83b440" data-runtime-version="1" data-usage-id="block-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4+type@html+block@e14a755fbea74f7da0c4a3769e6eafa1" data-type="HTMLModule" data-course-id="course-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4"> <script type="json/xblock-args" class="xblock-json-init-args"> {"xmodule-type": "HTMLModule"} </script> <p>When cultural heritage collections are digitised, this is often done on a large scale to capture as much of the institution's collection as possible. That said, even with large budgets often only a very small percentage of an institution's vast collections are digitised and made accessible online. Here we run into the first issue that pervades and adds bias to digital cultural heritage: only certain datasets and parts of collections are selected for digitisation. This selection can amplify bias if the chosen items reflect existing power imbalances or exclude marginalised perspectives. This selection process risks reinforcing dominant narratives while sidelining underrepresented voices, especially if decisions lack transparency or diverse input.</p> <p>In the process of digitising cultural heritage collections, the metadata added to the digitised objects often come directly from the collection management systems of the holding institutions. Those metadata fields are often either meant for internal use, or to enable findability and accessibility for curators and researchers, but not to accurately and exhaustively describe the object in detail, providing differing but valid perspectives.</p> <p>Curators adding metadata to objects in a cultural heritage institution often also weren't domain experts with deep knowledge of the objects they were describing. The collections might not relate to the lived experience of the curator, e.g. a European cultural heritage professional might have to add metadata to African cultural objects obtained through looting. This resulted in inaccurate, othering, racist, exoticising, demeaning descriptions and metadata values. Suddenly, that metadata is now exposed to everyone who wants to look up these collections online.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div>

<div class="xblock xblock-public_view xblock-public_view-vertical" data-graded="True" data-has-score="False" data-runtime-class="LmsRuntime" data-init="VerticalStudentView" data-course-id="course-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4" data-request-token="d414e47e2c9511f09b250e526f83b440" data-runtime-version="1" data-usage-id="block-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4+type@vertical+block@34137ed2d16147269687531585418813" data-block-type="vertical"> <h2 class="hd hd-2 unit-title">1.3 The current state of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in cultural heritage</h2> <div class="vert-mod"> <div class="vert vert-0" data-id="block-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4+type@html+block@784afc6e13174009902a314b89ce89ce"> <div class="xblock xblock-public_view xblock-public_view-html xmodule_display xmodule_HtmlModule" data-graded="True" data-has-score="False" data-runtime-class="LmsRuntime" data-init="XBlockToXModuleShim" data-block-type="html" data-request-token="d414e47e2c9511f09b250e526f83b440" data-runtime-version="1" data-usage-id="block-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4+type@html+block@784afc6e13174009902a314b89ce89ce" data-type="HTMLModule" data-course-id="course-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4"> <script type="json/xblock-args" class="xblock-json-init-args"> {"xmodule-type": "HTMLModule"} </script> <p>In the GLAM sector there is an increasing amount of attention given towards diversity, equity and inclusion in collections, reflecting on word usage, decolonisation, and participative approaches towards collection development. But why is this important?</p> <p>First off, there is no consensus that recontextualising heritage is valuable, although many cultural heritage professionals do think it's important to introduce more diversity and inclusion in their collections. How and why to do this recontextualisation work is still a hotbed for discussion. To learn more about this discussion, we warmly invite you to read the <a href="https://amsterdam.wereldmuseum.nl/sites/default/files/2021-04/words_matter.pdf.pdf" target="_blank">Words Matter publication</a>, especially Wayne Modest's essay also titled "Words Matter".</p> <p>Why an institution should critically reflect on their collections is dependent on the kind of institution, the nature of their collections, and their larger context in society. Some reasons can be found in publications like Words Matter, an important document gathering essays and a vocabulary about biased language, published by the Museum of World Cultures in Amsterdam.</p> <p>Ethnographic museums, anthropological institutions, and institutions with deep roots in imperialism have often had to critically reflect on their collections earlier and more by necessity than other institutions. Think of the British Museum, which has been criticised many times for its collections of looted artefacts.</p> <p>Stijn Schoonderwoerd, general director of the Museum of World Cultures in Amsterdam, says in Words Matter:</p> <blockquote> <p><em> "For us, as a museum that deals with cultures from across the world and that has the task of representing these diverse cultures with integrity, it has become a necessity to be self-critical about the types of narratives we develop and the words we use. We have come to question our perspectives and our practices of marketing and display, and seek to include diverse voices. In doing so, we have had to think about the words or phrases that are sensitive to particular groups, that can cause offense, that elide important context, and that are understood as derogatory."</em></p> </blockquote> </div> </div> </div> </div>

<div class="xblock xblock-public_view xblock-public_view-vertical" data-graded="True" data-has-score="False" data-runtime-class="LmsRuntime" data-init="VerticalStudentView" data-course-id="course-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4" data-request-token="d414e47e2c9511f09b250e526f83b440" data-runtime-version="1" data-usage-id="block-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4+type@vertical+block@2b6dd0e7c2264d21994d853286ead974" data-block-type="vertical"> <h2 class="hd hd-2 unit-title">1.4 A few examples of why institutions recontextualise their collections</h2> <div class="vert-mod"> <div class="vert vert-0" data-id="block-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4+type@html+block@ce6caf15333d4e8c81957cf2ac07af27"> <div class="xblock xblock-public_view xblock-public_view-html xmodule_display xmodule_HtmlModule" data-graded="True" data-has-score="False" data-runtime-class="LmsRuntime" data-init="XBlockToXModuleShim" data-block-type="html" data-request-token="d414e47e2c9511f09b250e526f83b440" data-runtime-version="1" data-usage-id="block-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4+type@html+block@ce6caf15333d4e8c81957cf2ac07af27" data-type="HTMLModule" data-course-id="course-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4"> <script type="json/xblock-args" class="xblock-json-init-args"> {"xmodule-type": "HTMLModule"} </script> <p>We've taken a few passages from essays in the Words Matter publication to illustrate the thinking that is happening in different institutions around Europe about critically reflecting on their collections.</p> <p>From Words Matter by Wayne Modest:</p> <blockquote> <p><em>"Indeed, for museums like the Tropenmuseum, Museum Volkenkunde and the Africa Museum &mdash; museums that share a history with both the field of anthropology and Europe&rsquo;s colonial project, and that have claimed to study and represent &ldquo;other&rdquo; cultures &mdash; questions about the importance of words, about how words matter, are present and ongoing concerns. In fact, working with ethnographic collections today, one is always aware of the shadows of colonial categories and of the critiques of words (and images) long voiced by those we try to represent. Indeed, it is not just words that matter: the perspectives or the position from which one writes, or displays, also matter."</em></p> </blockquote> <p>From Engendering Language: 'LGB' and the Addition of TQIA2S by Eliza Steinbock:</p> <blockquote> <p><em>"For museums, addressing gender and sexual diversity may still be something novel, but not doing so may inadvertently contribute to the ongoing marginalization [sic] of LGBTQIA people. Museums like the National Museum of World Cultures are important places where such work against structural injustices can be fought. Not only do they have objects and archives related to the Two-Spirit identity described above but they also hold collections that show other forms of gender diversity across the world, for example in Japan and Indonesia. These can be foregrounded. Such objects and their collection histories offer us important entryways into the entanglement of colonialism, racism, and sexism and the ways that sexual and gender diversity has been lived and experienced in the past and continues to be in the present. Using the correct terminology in describing such diversity is part of this process."</em></p> </blockquote> <p>From Exclusionary Conviviality by Annick Volenbergh</p> <blockquote> <p><em>"Beyond uncovering the presumed neutrality of words such as 'society', 'community' and 'co-existence' is a bigger issue: How do we accommodate one another&rsquo;s interests, values and ideas about community, as we try to live together in our changing societies? What do we have to give, or give up, to accommodate each other? Whose values lie at the core of these assumptions? And do the values of a society change over time? In the debate over difficult or sensitive language, is it really a choice between rewriting history or having a right to offend, or is it about accommodating each other&rsquo;s norms and feelings within a diverse society?</em></p> </blockquote> <p>Perhaps these are the questions that need to be addressed in response to the issue of the language that is used or not used in museums today. If museums are to serve all their visitors equally, then using language that makes all visitors and audiences feel welcome and included, not alienated or insulted, should be the ultimate goal. Language, then, is a tool to create community, to fashion co-existence."</p> </div> </div> </div> </div>

<div class="xblock xblock-public_view xblock-public_view-vertical" data-graded="True" data-has-score="False" data-runtime-class="LmsRuntime" data-init="VerticalStudentView" data-course-id="course-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4" data-request-token="d414e47e2c9511f09b250e526f83b440" data-runtime-version="1" data-usage-id="block-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4+type@vertical+block@1318b70d2cc44017809eedff7545d06a" data-block-type="vertical"> <h2 class="hd hd-2 unit-title">1.5 Why this is important for digital cultural heritage</h2> <div class="vert-mod"> <div class="vert vert-0" data-id="block-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4+type@html+block@0b895dd6928844458d61d78264b34732"> <div class="xblock xblock-public_view xblock-public_view-html xmodule_display xmodule_HtmlModule" data-graded="True" data-has-score="False" data-runtime-class="LmsRuntime" data-init="XBlockToXModuleShim" data-block-type="html" data-request-token="d414e47e2c9511f09b250e526f83b440" data-runtime-version="1" data-usage-id="block-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4+type@html+block@0b895dd6928844458d61d78264b34732" data-type="HTMLModule" data-course-id="course-v1:europeana+BIAS_01+2024Q4"> <script type="json/xblock-args" class="xblock-json-init-args"> {"xmodule-type": "HTMLModule"} </script> <p>The Europeana Initiative strives to give access to digital cultural heritage online in a way that brings culture to anyone who wants to enjoy it. This also means that people from any background and lived experience have to feel safe and empowered to explore collections without being confronted by harmful language or imagery without warning and context. Critically reflecting, recontextualising, working with communities to co-create, working on vocabularies and thesauri, contribute to these goals.</p> <p>With so many cultural heritage institutions facing the same challenges, it&rsquo;s important to learn from each other. Through Capacity Building efforts like this course we aim to amplify learnings and <a href="https://pro.europeana.eu/project/de-bias" target="_blank">insights from the DE-BIAS project</a>, and from other projects and institutions that have set themselves on the path of debiasing their collections.</p> <p>This work can result in measures taken at every step of the "digital heritage pipeline": it can influence policies and practices on how collections are formed or preserved; which people and institutions should be stewards of which heritage; if objects should be repatriated; who and how collections get described and metadated; who is allowed to be involved in the curation process; what collections are selected for digitisation; which copyright labels and licenses are attached to digital objects; if there are content warnings or other user interface and user experience measures put in place to reduce harm; and which words are used when users search, browse, view, download and reuse digital heritage.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div>