DE-BIAS project supports more inclusive and diverse cultural heritage

Over the course of two years, the DE-BIAS project, co-funded under the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) of the European Union, aimed to promote a more inclusive and respectful approach to the description of digital collections and the telling of stories and histories of minoritised communities. Central to the project was the development of an AI-powered tool designed to detect and contextualise offensive terms in the metadata of cultural heritage collections, supported by active collaboration with minoritised communities hitherto under- or misrepresented in metadata. As the project comes to an end, we share its achievements and resources.

Methodologies and resources to support diversity and inclusion

A key achievement of the project was the development of the DE-BIAS Vocabulary, which identifies almost 700 contentious terms commonly used in cultural heritage metadata in five languages. The vocabulary provides context and historical background for each term and suggests alternatives where available. As language is a sensitive and politically contested terrain, engaging and seeking collaboration with communities who either created these items or are (mis-)represented by them was at the core of work on this vocabulary - and the project. This was done in co-creation workshops to identify new terms, but also by searching and adding terms from inclusive glossaries created by the communities.

The DE-BIAS Typology was also a useful resource for analysing patterns of bias in the collections made available through Europeana.eu, taking also into account the interplay of language and visual (mis-)representation.

Another of the project’s key outputs was the Community Engagement Methodology, which serves as a framework for organising and implementing community work. As project partners, we've learned how important the role of allies and community representatives is in connecting with underrepresented communities and that one should not underestimate the effort of building trusting relationships. Allies and community representatives were also instrumental in dealing with blind spots, gaps and omissions in collections, as editorial on Europeana.eu and Europeana Pro demonstrate.

The results of the project are meant to be re-used and further developed. We have created a wide range of capacity building materials including guidelines for cultural heritage institutions and policy makers on representing diversity in metadata. All outcomes are documented and available on the DE-BIAS Knowledge Hub and we encourage you to explore them!

Inspiring editorial

The editorial efforts of the DE-BIAS project have played a crucial role in shaping its public engagement, fostering critical discourse and ensuring the accessibility of its findings. Through a structured series of blog posts, news updates and curated galleries, the project has documented its progress, milestones, and methodologies while amplifying diverse perspectives in cultural heritage. The DE-BIAS blog series has traced the evolution of the project, beginning with its foundational principles of inclusivity and community engagement, and progressing through key developments, such as the application of knowledge co-creation methodologies, capacity-building initiatives and the introduction of a Community Engagement Methodology. These editorial outputs have served as a platform for knowledge exchange among cultural heritage professionals, institutions and communities.

In parallel, a dedicated series of blog posts on Europeana.eu has delved deeper into the thematic dimensions of the project, reflecting on postcolonial narratives, queer representation, and inclusive archival practices. Notable entries such as ‘A Queer Tour Exhibition’ and ‘Claude Cahun’ explore the role of LGBTQ+ perspectives in reshaping cultural narratives, while ‘Colonial Depictions’ and ‘Co-curating Postcolonialism’ examine strategies for deconstructing colonial legacies in visual and textual representations. Authored by experts and community collaborators, these posts provide nuanced reflections on how cultural institutions can critically reassess their collections and engagement strategies. 

Beyond textual contributions, a series of curated galleries on Europeana.eu has showcased artefacts and metadata related to key topics explored in workshops, including ‘Queer Pride,’ ‘Politionele Acties,’ ‘Berber,’ ‘Claude Cahun,’ and ‘Antisemitic Caricatures. Each gallery reflects the insights gained from community collaborations and expert discussions, furthering the project’s mission to promote awareness and challenge exclusionary narratives.

The DE-BIAS detection tool

At the heart of the project was the development of the Bias Detection Tool, which detects outdated and potentially harmful language in descriptions of cultural heritage collections. The tool t can be used to automatically search large datasets, which requires some expert knowledge, but it can also be used by less tech-savvy people who want to run it on single texts or text excerpts to detect contested terms.

The tool is a valuable resource for identifying problematic language and explaining why a term is considered controversial, but we acknowledge that it can only be a starting point - not a solution. Language is complex and nuanced, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. We provide suggestions as to how an institution might proceed with a term identified as problematic, but the decision must be made on a case-by-case basis.

How cultural heritage institutions can use the DE-BIAS tool

The DE-BIAS tool is available for checking metadata in the following languages: English, German, French, Italian and Dutch. It can be accessed in different ways, depending on your need and capacity. Explore some scenarios below!

• ‘I have prepared label texts for an exhibition or written a description of an object. Now I quickly want to check them for problematic terms.’

  • You can use the stand-alone version of the tool, simply choose the language, copy/paste your text and run the analysis.

• ‘I have prepared a bunch of texts, so copy/paste is too tedious!’

  • The stand-alone version of the tool also offers the option to upload several text files and analyse them in a bundle. Check out the Upload a file tab.

• ‘I have prepared my data for submission to Europeana, can I check these records for biassed language?’

  • Users of the Metis Sandbox can generate a DE-BIAS report for their data. Ingest your records as you always would and then run the tool. You can also download the report afterwards.

• ‘I regularly want to check the records directly from my database.’

  • The DE-BIAS tool can be accessed directly via its API or even run locally. The tool's source code is available under the AGPL-3.0 license.

All the different ways of using the DE-BIAS tool are explained in detail in the manual available in the DE-BIAS Knowledge Hub. We encourage cultural heritage institutions to try out the tool!

Find out more

We want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the DE-BIAS project or provided the groundwork and resources we could build on. You can explore all the resources and work of the project on the DE-BIAS knowledge hub on Europeana Pro.