The programme featured 15 paper sessions, 7 panels, and 59 posters, showcasing research on collaborative infrastructures for cultural heritage, the CARE principles, pedagogies of engagement, and other current topics in the field of digital humanities.

In the session Heritage Infrastructure as Critical Infrastructure – Strategies to Build Resilient Infrastructure for Engagement and Public Good, Barbara Lovrinić Higgins presented the paper “Excavating the Archive: A Critical Examination of the EU’s Triple-Infrastructure Nexus for Digital Cultural Heritage.” The paper critically analyzes the European infrastructure for digital cultural heritage formed by connecting three infrastructural layers: research infrastructures, data spaces, and initiatives such as the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH). The study explored the ways in which policies, standards, and governance models for digital cultural heritage are shaped, as well as the potential consequences of such infrastructural transformations for cultural institutions, researchers, and cultural heritage users.

The joint paper by Aleksandra Uzelac and Barbara Lovrinić Higgins, titled “Beyond Digitisation Metrics: Towards Impact-Oriented Evaluation in Cultural Heritage,” was presented in the session Evaluating Impact and Value in Digital Cultural Heritage: Infrastructures, Institutions, and Engagement. This paper addressed the issue of assessing the impact of digital cultural heritage. It questions the prevailing approaches to evaluating digitization projects, which often measure success primarily through quantitative indicators—such as the number of digitized objects or the usage of digital platforms—and advocates for the development of approaches aimed at understanding the broader social, cultural, and institutional impact of digital heritage. Special attention was dedicated to existing European impact assessment frameworks and the challenges of measuring long-term and qualitative changes that digital cultural heritage can stimulate.

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Dr. Aleksandra Uzelac and Dr. Barbara Lovrinić Higgins took part in the conference, with Dr. Lovrinić Higgins delivering a presentation titled: “Between Code and Narrative: The Digital Transformation of Archives and Memory.” The presentation addressed the impact of digital technologies on knowledge structures and archival practice. It emphasised the relationship between algorithmic data processing and the human need for narrative, concluding that digital transformation fundamentally reshapes how archives are created, used, and understood in contemporary society.

More information about the conference programme and activities is available on the official website of ICARUS Croatia.

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The Transformation of Heritage Institutions in the Digital Age

The dissertation addresses the profound transformation processes that cultural heritage institutions—namely libraries, archives, and museums (the so-called “LAM” institutions)—face in the digital age. These processes are redefining the role of these institutions in society, reshaping cultural memory, and generating new value through digital collections. Today, digitization and hyperconnectivity enable significantly broader audience engagement and the development of participatory practices where users themselves become co-creators of knowledge. However, these shifts simultaneously blur traditional boundaries between individual and collective memory, as well as physical and digital spaces.

The Impact of EU Policies and Practical Obstacles

Utilizing the theoretical frameworks of mediatization and media archaeology, the research investigates how digital technologies impact the cultural heritage sector and how the European Union’s regulatory framework (such as copyright laws and open data policies) shapes its use and reuse. The research findings, based on a qualitative methodology and interviews with sector experts, highlight a crucial paradox: despite digitization bringing greater visibility to cultural heritage, significant obstacles remain in practice, primarily due to complex legal frameworks. As a key conclusion and recommendation, the study emphasizes that ensuring long-term sustainability and innovation within the heritage sector requires adopting user-oriented digital strategies and actively fostering a culture of open access.

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