ADS Newsletter Issue 14

Networks of Excellence and the Excellence of Networks

One of the most exciting things about the ARENA (Archaeological Records of Europe Networked Access) project is the community that goes with it. This community is what puts the 'N'into the acronym, Networked. The whole idea of community is bound together by networks, sometimes complex and sometimes, superficially clear-cut. The creation of such networks is extended by technologies that allow virtual communities to develop.

The ARENA network has grown over many years through personal contacts, developing a network of thoughts and ideas amongst like-minded people working with digital archives in different parts of Europe. The idea of a community developing ideas and disseminating information across Europe is not new; Henrick Jarl Hansen proposed the sharing of information at the CAA conference in Aarhus in 1992. Henrick illustrated the European archives community at a group of octopi reaching out to share information across Europe. This vision has developed since as the technical possibilities have expanded, allowing the possibility of creating an interoperable network supporting all kinds of virtual communities.

ARENA is itself a community, a community of organisations and individuals that have come together as a specific working network. This kind of community is strong because it is founded on a shared goal, but in many ways it extends beyond the current work of ARENA. For all the individuals and organisations involved in the project this is a clear benefit. Once the community has developed its network it is a strong mesh that is difficult to break. Not only is ARENA a working network it is also a network of idea.

As part of the ARENA project the ADS has extended its contacts and influence in Europe. ARENA has led to the participation of the ADS in a new EC-funded Sixth Framework Network of Excellence. Watch out for more about EPOCH when it begins operation. Informally ADS is finding its networks of thought and dissemination expanding, making important contacts with key organisations such as ROB in the Netherlands and PIN in Florence.

Image of octopi holding tenticles over a map of Europe.

A Network of Excellence?
Image courtesy of Henrik Jarl Hanson, reproduced from CAA 1992.

As you can see the ARENA network continues to develop on many levels, working with archaeological archive communities across Europe. At the latest ARENA roundtable held in St Petersburg we also began to consider the communities that use our resources. This is the nature of community and networks, they interconnect making it important for ARENA to develop not only its own networks of work, ideas and dissemination but an understanding of the communities that are our users.

Dr Jon Kenny
jk18@york.ac.uk
For enquiries about ARENA, contact Jon Kenny

Networks of Excellence and the Excellence of Networks

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