Digital

A new £1m digital modelling and analysis centre for the conservation and heritage science sector will open next year, it has been announced.

Heritage organisations will be able to bring artefacts to the centre based at Manchester Metropolitan University's PrintCity, where a range of imaging, scanning, and x-ray equipment will be used to pinpoint origins.

The centre is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council through the UKRI Infrastructure Fund. The university said it would be the first of its kind to provide a "one-stop shop" to access specialist techniques.

Ben Edwards, Reader in Heritage and Archaeology at Manchester Met and Centre Director, said: “We’re incredibly excited about the possibilities for this new facility. 

"For the first time ever, we want to design a low-cost model for access where community groups, volunteer archaeological societies, and staff at small museums and galleries will be able to come and get a full picture of their object, artefact or historical remains."

The centre is expected to open in late 2025.

A digital platform that will bring together more than 100 million object records from 1,750 accredited museums and other collections across the UK has launched today (13 September).

Created through a collaboration between Art UK, Collections Trust and the University of Leicester and funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Museum Data Service (MDS) is a single, unified resource for researchers, educators, curators and content developers.

Allowing organisations to upload and securely manage their object records easily, MDS has been designed to be accessible for all museums, regardless of size, while making it easy for users to search and retrieve records across multiple collections and diverse databases.

The platform will also be a backup resource, especially for smaller collections lacking robust digital infrastructures.

MDS is primarily designed for institutional use and does not include images, but it allows onward users to incorporate visual content.

Its initial collection will comprise 3,129,798 records from 21 museums, with another nearly two million records in the pipeline. Art UK, the first major user of MDS, aims to double the number of artworks on the platform from 300,000 to 600,000 by the end of the year.

"The launch of the Museum Data Service is a landmark achievement for the cultural and academic sectors, offering a powerful new tool for researchers and curators," said Professor Nishan Canagarajah, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester. 

"By centralising millions of museum records in one accessible platform, we are not just preserving history, we are making it easier to explore, study and innovate."

Kevin Gosling, MDS Managing Director, added: “The website view of the data is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot more going on in the back end, with innovative features that allow museums to manage their data securely and share it in a controlled way. Building trust across the sector is key, and the MDS is designed with that in mind.”

Professor Christopher Smith, Chair of the AHRC, said: “This major milestone in the full integration of modern technology and our rich cultural heritage will create a place where anyone can access the immense resources held by our museums.

“Not only will this open these resources up to the public in ways that would have been unimaginable even twenty years ago, but it will also enable museums to manage and share their data securely and sustainably."

A coalition of trade associations and unions representing creatives has written to big tech firms telling them to end the "unlawful" use of creators' content.

The Creators’ Rights Alliance, whose membership includes performer's union Equity and the Musicians' Union said writers, performers and artists are among those whose works have been used unlawfully to inform the training of AI models by technology companies, without consent or remuneration.

The letter, sent to tech companies including Microsoft, Google, OPENAI, Apple, and Meta, warns that members of the Creators’ Rights Alliance and the 500,000 creators they represent do not authorise the use of any of their works protected by copyright for such purposes.

Nicola Solomon, Chair of Creators’ Rights Alliance, said creators are innovators and are keen to use AI tools but need trusted systems that do not have the potential to infringe their rights.

"Creators need to be consulted, give consent and be remunerated when their work is used to develop AI models," she said.

"If we work together, we can create high-quality, robust systems that enhance the work of human creators and reward their creativity."

Arts and culture organisations will be able to access free support tools to save historical data from Google Analytics before the previous version goes offline next month.

One Further, which specialises in digital services for arts and cultural organisations, charities, non-profits and councils says old Universal Analytics data will be lost at some point from Monday 1 July.

Historical data could still be accessed via Universal Analytics following the switchover on 1 July 2023, but that will soon no longer be the case.

The firm has created two tools to support arts and culture organisations to save their data which is giving away for free - one to create pdf reports for specific data, and a template spreadsheet that raw data can be downloaded to.

"If you want to keep access to your historical data you need to archive it before the end of this month to be safe," One Further said.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has published a Get Paid Guide which it says aims to help demystify metadata for music creators. 

The resource, developed in partnership with PPL and PRS for Music, guides creators on how to register and manage their metadata, so they can protect their recorded music rights and ensure they are paid fairly and timely for their work.

It follows the launch of a guide on intellectual property rights for songwriters and composers released last year.

IPO Head of Research, David Humphries, says that following the publication of the Metadata Agreement in May 2023, IPO and representatives across the music industry have worked together to determine how best to improve the quality and accuracy of data. 

He added: “Industry led working groups on technical solutions and education have been meeting regularly to consider how best to improve the current data systems and how best to engage with the creator community.”

Michelle Escoffery, President of the PRS Members’ Council, said the guide has all the tools to make it easier for creators to master the art of good music data. 

“My hope is that by simplifying what can be quite complex, we empower our songwriter, composer, and performer community to understand that inputting accurate music data is a key contributor to financial success,” Escofferey added.

“By closing the knowledge gap, we will improve the quality of metadata across the music industry and ensure we're paid timely and correctly for our creativity.”