>>Community Report COMMUNITY REPORT 2001: Diane M. Zorich Diane M. Zorich Museum Information Management Consultant Achievements In The Networking Of Cultural Materials In a year in which the deleterious effects of the DMCA have come home to roost, the reality of the Copyright Term Extension Act has set in, and, most significantly, the political, social, and moral status quo in the U.S. imploded with the tragedy of September 11th, it is a challenge to identify achievements in the area of cultural heritage networking. Yet there have been some real achievements, some positive trends, and a reason to be hopeful that culture heritage will gain a more influential foothold in the networked environment. Perhaps the most important achievement over the past year is one of the least noticed because it is not a singular landmark event but rather a cumulative process: the accelerated growth of a critical mass of cultural materials online both in surrogate and native digital forms. The Library of Congress’ American Memory project continues to set the pace in this regard, making more and more cultural materials available online, and testing the technological, administrative and legal ways to do so. New forays from other corners, such as the American Family Immigration History Center (a private/public partnership between the Church of the Latter Day Saints, The Ellis Island Foundation, and various technology partners) made available cultural and historical materials that were welcomed with great enthusiasm by the American public. Two high profile exhibits that took place this year, – the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Bitstreams, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts 010101, made it clear that digital art is now a mainstream part of our cultural heritage. And, in what can surely be interpreted as a “coming of age” sign, the Web itself is being viewed as a cultural artifact, with projects such as the Internet Archive collecting, preserving, and making available web pages from 1996 to the present for researchers, scholars, and the general public. As the available stock of online cultural materials grows, the challenge of intellectual property rights becomes more acute for us all. Of the many articles and publications that focused on the issues, Copyrights and Copywrongs (Siva Vaidhyanathan, NYU Press: 2001) was by far the most eloquent presentation of what is at risk for our culture and society as we head down a dangerous path of commodifying culture. The call from many corners for a vibrant public domain, “thin” copyright, and new definitions of fair use now need to be clarified and conveyed to the public at large. Clearly the biggest challenge ahead, in light of the September 11th events and their impact on all aspects of our lives, will be to keep the momentum going, to make certain that the inroads made in cultural heritage computing go forward. We have on our side the certainty that, in periods of social crises, it has been our cultural heritage -- our artists, writers, musicians, cultural groups and organizations -- that has provided the commentary, the questions, the critiques. These groups will work, as they always have, within the cultural context of their time. Because this context is increasingly a digital one, we will see the placement of cultural works online accelerate at a breakneck pace, pressuring us more than ever to develop the technological and legal frameworks that will make these materials more available and central to our lives.