EURINDIA

Back

Starting date: February 2004
Duration: 2 years
Funding: EU-India Economic Cross Cultural Programme

The EURINDIA Project (www.eurindia.org) lasts from February 2004 to February 2006 and it is financed by the EU-India Economic Cross Cultural Programme.

Aim of the Project
The project Eurindia focuses specifically on the history of economic relations (commercial, industrial, sea and land trade, etc.) between Europe and India, in particular the history of map drawing and textile commerce from 15th century to present time. The aim is to highlight the historical cross relations between both continents by surveying, digitizing and disseminating on the Internet a large corpus of common historical documents from the public domain.
The project is meant for everyone in India and Europe interested in documentary research, as well as university scholars, historians, teachers, students and, of course, NTIC experts in both regions with a growing interest in the information society.

Main Activities
- Surveys and inventories of collections in Europe and India
The first step should be taken towards the localization and identification of relevant collections (archives of commercial and economic reports and map collections) in public and private collections both in Europe and India.
There is a large need for the conservation and preservation of documentary collections in India, especially commercial archives which are often kept by private companies in bad environmental conditions because they have not been considered so far as cultural heritage.
- Digitization of documents using new descriptions and standard formats as well as diffusion on website
- Training sessions on conservation, preservation and controlling access to archives
Training and a charter governing the fair application of intellectual property laws on the public domain with respect to ownership of documents in the case of reproduction should provide new resources for archives.
This project will first be demonstrated on specific topics (textile and map) and may be later extended to other types of documents.
As most historical documents are actually in the public domain, digital reproduction brings about new problems with Intellectual property laws, in Europe as well as in India. This sub-objective should study the legal situation in both continents and provide useful tools (thanks to training sessions) for curators, archivists, and lawyers to find fair use and legal reproduction solutions.

Access
Access to collections is essential for both original and digital copies and it may be possible only if the collection is subjected to intellectual treatment, namely an inventory. Since European and Indian collections are not yet well catalogued, this topic becomes fundamental for the project.

Priorities
The main priority of the program includes the strengthening and enhancing of civil society as well as cross cultural and economic cooperation between India and Europe.

If you want to learn more on the EURINDIA project, please contact:

Elena Murelli
CRATOS,
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore,
via Emilia Parmense 84,
29122 Piacenza, Italy
Phone: +39 (0)523 599442
Fax.: +39 (0)523 599434
e-mail: elena.murelli@unicatt.it