„Takeaways and Recommendations“
Following the series of workshops on collaborative digitisation projects, the Working Group International Cooperation has summarised a fact sheet/position paper with experiences and reflections from the field.
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Statement on the portal "Collections from Colonial Contexts" of the German Digital Library, 6 December 2021
The Newtwork Colonial Contexts expressly welcomes the fact that the portal Collections from Colonial Contexts ("Sammlungsgut aus kolonialen Kontexten") of the German Digital Library (Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, https://ccc.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/?lang=en), which went online on 30 November 2021, now provides an opportunity to list and centrally publish relevant collection material in a transparent manner. It is extremely important to make this information accessible to a wide circle of interested and affected parties.
At the same time, we regret that, contrary to previous promises, no separate space has been set up for data records on human remains and sensitive objects. Until last Friday, these could be found together with zoological objects and without corresponding notes on classification or disclaimers. Colonial racist terms were also used in the descriptions without comment. As far as we know, there has been no consultation with representatives of the societies of origin on possible forms of representation. Both the network and many of the institutions and experts involved had called for a more cautious approach. Completely removing the data sets on human remains from the portal is not a permanent solution.
We hope that an appropriate way of dealing with sensitive data will be found. The experts involved in the Colonial Contexts Network offer support and mediation.