The autumn highlight for BFM was Culture4D conference

The end of October was busy for us. Conference “Culture 4D: Digitisation, Data, Disruptions, Diversity” took place. More than 200 participants from 19 countries. The conference was hosted by Tallinn University Centre of Excellence in Media Innovation and Digital Culture (MEDIT) and Estonian Ministry of Culture within the framework of the Estonian Presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers.

The conference rationale was based on an understanding that the new digital and networked infrastructures should be used to reinforce access to and participation in an open culture, thereby strengthening democracy.

Indrek Ibrus, associated professor at Tallinn University Baltic Film, Media, Arts and Communication Institute, the director of MEDIT and the lead organizer of the conference commented this event:

1. What was importance of this confernece?

In the Estonian context the importance was to start asking critical questions about the digitisation of culture, on how culture-related data is managed in Europe and globally and what may be the effects of these processes to our cultures, their inherent diversities, their dynamics, their openness, their inclusiveness and orientation to participation. In Estonia we are advanced as an e-society - out digital public services are very good and therefore there is a lot of enthusiasm for everything digital. Resultingly and paradoxically, we are less used to ask critical questions on the designs of international cultural service markets and their potential negative effects on culture. I would like to think that for Estonia more broadly and for BFM and MEDIT more specifically the discussions of the Culture 4D conference created an initial conceptual footing where from to continue to investigate and further address these issues. 

And, of course, it was important also for us to discuss these issues with some of the most outstanding thinkers on these issues in Europe. I hope with many of them we will cooperate also in the future. 

2. Messages for Europe as we did this conference togehter with Council of Europe? 

Council of Europe is internationally well known for their focus on human rights and their ability to achieve a lot on this regard with so called soft regulation measures - various kinds of recommendations that they produce. To focus next on cultural big data as a challenge was our suggestion for the Council of Europe. They liked it and as the conference turned out a success it is expected that one of the next recommendations of Council of Europe will be on this topic. We will be happy to continue our cooperation with them and help them to figure out the appropriate focus for their next steps in this area. 

Some moments of the event: