Is there something in the water? This presentation will share first-hand research results an ongoing investigation into the memory institution developer community in Europeana compared to the developer communities in the U.S.. Funding streams, cultural differences, absent high level standardization and differing public perceptions of heritage institutions all come into play here. Regretfully, a less collaborative and sustainable developer community in Europe stifles innovation, stretches already thin funding, and fails to catalyze the necessary standardizations and synergies that allow for smaller institutions to be on the same level as their bigger counterparts. Inspired by legacy FOSS initiatives like Apache, the inbox clogging Code4Lib list as well as newer groups like IIIF and Hydra, EuropeanaTech wants to better understand the developer ecosystem in the U.S.A. and explore how it can be cultured within Europeana and the EU.
