Assessment of Achieved Results

The overall assessment of the results achieved within the OASIS Project compare the initial objectives applied in the Grant Application and warranted in the Grant Agreement No. 2004 – 1475 / 001 – 001 CLT CA22 in Part II of the OASIS contract with the actual development of the project.

Within this assessment a general idea about the completion of the project is lined out. Due to the fact that all objectives and results are described in detail on the website we cite here just shortly the topics and refer to those.

The statement follows the format of the Grant Agreements Part II.

General considerations

The OASIS Consortium had been set up to develop a meta-archive system for sustaining electronic artworks and media objects. Electronic artworks have a predominantly dynamic and therefore ephemeral character. Thus the sustainability and future preservation are endangered. The OASIS platform supplies initial tools for locating tapes and works. Due to the networked search the existence of artworks can be ascertained much easier and activities of preservation can be coordinated. As a result of the project an internet platform has been established for sharing content and metadata.

In principle there are two major research directions the OASIS Group has dealt with:

• one is the research into the subject matter of artworks. The OASIS middleware is implemented as a tool for connecting the partner databases. In order to enable this, a mutual metadata model was developed, which is implemented in so-called database adapters. Every partner institution has integrated this software module into their own database system, so the OASIS middleware can direct enquiries and relay the results to the OASIS Front-end.

• Thus the OASIS Platform makes – as second major field of research - content of and knowledge about electronic media art forms accessible. Streaming technologies have been evaluated, implemented and integrated in an intelligent interlinking system.

Different methods for conserving electronic and digitally born media art suitably are described in the report as well as on the web page. In addition different video codices were tested to discover which reflect the special demands of electronic art.

To facilitate documentation and not loose sight of current technologies, among other things technologies like media Wiki and semantic Wiki have been improved systematically. Automatic indexing tools were developed and united in a structured manner, so that in the age of unmanageable data confusion some structuring mechanisms appear.

Concerning the social integration and socio-economic development role of cultural transfer, the activities and efforts of the festivals and community work of Les Instants deserves a special mention. In addition at the HfG and the AGH content and technologies of the OASIS Consortium were integrated directly into the syllabus. On a highly professional level Montevideo taught basics of the conservation of electronic works of art and at the ZKM Karlsruhe historical questions and modes of conveying electronic media art forms were discussed.

By way of development the OASIS website was implemented by the HfG as a publicly visible interface of the OASIS Platform. In addition to the OASIS Website CIANT designed a common interface to the OASIS Middleware, the so-called Front-end. Within this Front-end CIANT links important moments of development on a technological as well as on an artistic level.

Not only have the project partners and their institutions been brought into a closer cooperation in the sense of the intercultural exchange in Europe through the OASIS activities, but it was also possible to advance basic exchanges and discussions, for example in relation to information and among artists. While by way of the newly implemented platform the consortium provides a central instrument to improve the intercultural exchange within Europe, at conferences (Montevideo, Krakow, Prague), with a festival (Marseille) and in several exhibitions (Marseille, Karlsruhe) the OASIS project was presented to the public and an exchange with experts and interested laymen was initiated. Hereby not only the compiled contents were published but a sustainable handling of the cultural inheritance of Europe was promoted. Papers and scientific publications give an idea of the scope and the effect of the activities.

With those in the OASIS Project newly developed technologies and due to the research into metadata recording, description and database implementation it is now possible to integrate new partners easily into the platform and the networked archive system.

The OASIS Consortium agrees, that there is a great interest to further cooperate for follow-up projects. Dedicated ideas therefore are presented in chapter 9. There are also the requirements written down for interested partners who want to join the OASIS Platform.

OASIS Workpackages

→ WP1: Specification of Media and Data Structure

→ WP2: Development of Preservation Techniques

→ WP3: System of the Activity

→ WP4: Definition of the System Architecture

→ WP5: Design of User Interface and Preservation Tools

→ WP6: Content Streaming, Pilot Remote Exhibitions

→ WP7: The Cultural Content Insertion: Archive for Cultural Heritage

→ WP8: Scalable Presentation Techniques

→ WP9: Shared Platform Finalisation

→ WP10: Dissemination

Referring Part II.3 of the Grant Application, detailed descriptions of the activities for which financial support is requested are presented as mentioned above.