Georgia Evans
Senior Editorial Officer , Europeana Foundation
We are delighted to announce that the Europeana Aggregators' Forum has welcomed Heritage Malta as the country’s national aggregator! Read on to find out more about the Forum’s 44th Member.
The Europeana Aggregators' Forum (EAF) is a network of national, regional, domain and thematic organisations who support European cultural heritage institutions to share data with the common European data space for cultural heritage, via Europeana.eu.
As one of the three pillars of the Europeana Initiative, the Europeana Aggregators’ Forum supports the digital transformation of Europe’s cultural heritage, and develops events, programmes and training to exchange knowledge and best practice about aggregation and data sharing.
In 2019, the Forum launched an accreditation scheme to identify active aggregators and acknowledge their role as trusted partners for cultural heritage institutions wanting to publish their data on Europeana.eu. Since then, the Forum has grown and the accreditation of Heritage Malta brings the size of the Forum to 44 members.
Accreditation reflects an aggregator’s commitment not only to sharing data, but to playing a vital role in enabling building the capacity of Europe’s digital cultural heritage sector, based on common principles and practices.
Heritage Malta is the national agency for cultural heritage in Malta, responsible for the management, preservation and promotion of the country’s rich and diverse heritage. With a portfolio of over 90 cultural heritage sites, including UNESCO sites—ranging from prehistoric complexes to historic palaces, museums, archives, and maritime heritage both above and below water—Heritage Malta plays a central role in safeguarding the nation’s tangible and intangible cultural assets.
The agency is committed to digital transformation and is actively engaged in digitising the national collection. Its Technology and Experience Development Unit, which includes the Digitisation Unit, leads efforts in both 2D and 3D digitisation, oversees the digital infrastructure for collection management, and ensures the integration of catalogue data, metadata, and paradata for both 2D and 3D assets. The Unit also drives the development and implementation of digitisation standards to guarantee high-quality, interoperable digital heritage records. A key focus of this commitment is the evolution from Digital Twins to Memory Twins. Through these initiatives, Heritage Malta is expanding accessibility, enriching research possibilities, and advancing digital storytelling in the cultural heritage sector.
Tony Cassar, head of the Head TED Unit, says, Heritage Malta, ‘As Heritage Malta joins the Europeana Aggregators’ Forum as a national aggregator, the agency aims to contribute to the shared European digital heritage landscape by providing high-quality content and metadata to Europeana.eu, strengthening the visibility of Malta’s heritage on an international scale. We look forward to collaborating with the EAF community to further the mission of open and sustainable access to cultural heritage!’
If you are an organisation interested in becoming an accredited aggregator, please contact aggregators@europeana.eu and find out more about the Europeana Aggregators’ Forum. You can also explore the collections aggregated by Heritage Malta on Europeana.eu.
