The SOGITS N884 mandate spells out the issues as follows:
One of the benefits of the Information Society will be easier access to cultural information, in particular multimedia data of human cultural achievements….
However, inter-operability of various systems providing access, to everyone and from everywhere will not be easy to achieve. Not only does the vigorous development of the underlying technologies and infrastructure generate diversity and incompatibilities, but also local initiatives are developed without available guidance to ensure interoperability at a wider scale.
In order to guarantee public-access, to stimulate interoperability of networks and services, to ensure that applications exploiting the Cultural heritage can operate over a variety of networks or service providers and to accelerate multimedia digitisation of the Collection; agreement on technical specifications related to this issue are urgently needed at European level.
Before taking concrete initiatives on standardisation; the determination of a suitable approach, the business requirements and available technical input should be examined and assessed.