Kati Geber is manager of research and business Intelligence at the Canadian Heritage Information Network, Toronto, Canada.The challenges we face in the present process of creating digital cultural content are of a global nature, and therefore require a response of equal scope in terms of objectives, resources, strategies and methods. While the transition to digital holds out the promise of innovative relationships with our audiences and a range of new cultural and social interaction models, we should nevertheless be aware that the creation of a harmonized cultural digital environment imposes undeniable, significant challenges on memory institutions. These challenges become obvious when we focus on two of the main aspects of a digital environment, which have gradually gained additional importance: the increased participation of all the parties involved in the communication process, and the trust and reliability underlying the very act of communication. The impact of these two aspects is before anything else a socio-cultural one. We are currently living at the beginning of a participatory culture marked by a decentralization and collaboration in the creative intellectual production of communicative acts as well as by an inherent diversity.The role of the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) is to understand and find a balance for the democratization of communication production with the integrity, stable cultural reference points and quality that will maintain reliable standards for the communicated data and secure the trust of the users. Based on the experience of research conducted at CHIN and synthesized in 'The Virtual Museum of Canada, The Next Generation' (http://www.chin.gc.ca), as well as years working together with members, producers, co-producers and users of digital content, we reached an appreciation and understanding of online museum audience requirements. These can be clustered around two main tendencies: a traditional query-based access to long-term, invariable, authoritative, trusted collective memories; and a recent need for ubiquity, communication and expression, which is defined by change, fluidity and transitivity and is focused on events and conversations. Our current digital platform aims at developing a lively communication platform that provides ample access, communication and social spaces to meet the needs of our audience (to collect, relate, create and share) without by-passing our previous commitment to collective memories. This communication platform will encourage individual points of view, but be capable of providing access to usable authoritative information, whenever the audience desires it.
