This report presents the findings of a study focused on infrastructure futures for digital cultural heritage, considering the processes and practices of preserving, managing, sharing and maintaining the cultural legacy of groups and societies in digital formats. We recognise digital cultural heritage as encompassing both digitised and born-digital artifacts and their tangible and intangible attributes, for preservation, management, research, and educational use. This necessitates dedicated infrastructures to support the complexities of digital preservation, access, analysis, and dissemination of heritage. The project explored the infrastructural needs and challenges associated with digital cultural heritage, aiming to understand current priorities, concerns, and hopes by imagining future possibilities through speculative design. A set of future scenarios were developed through a literature review and expert interviews, to provoke thought and discussion among stakeholders. These scenarios were explored through a survey and workshops, which allowed for the collection of diverse perspectives on digital cultural heritage infrastructures. The project identified several persistent issues in digital cultural heritage, including sustainability challenges due to short-term funding, difficulties in sharing knowledge across diverse disciplinary and operational contexts, and the impact of power dynamics on the inclusivity and accessibility of infrastructures. Additionally, the speculative scenarios highlighted that there is no one-size-fits- all solution to infrastructure design, emphasising the need for flexible, adaptable approaches that consider the varied needs of Gallery, Library, Archive, and Museum (GLAM) institutions and the communities they serve.

This work was made possible by a grant of £6600 from Creative Informatics, which received funding from the AHRC Creative Industries Clusters Programme, with support from the Scottish Funding Council and the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, Award Reference AH/S002782/1.