The Challenge

While libraries, archives, and museums have been sharing data and access to collections for decades, if not centuries before the advent of the internet, the sector has been slow to adapt open web protocols or to work collaboratively across the cultural sector.

Our Approach

In 2010, Jon Voss and Kris Carpenter Negulescu organized the first international summit, with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities. Attracting over 100 delegates from 18 countries and 85 organizations, the 2011 San Francisco gathering would become the start of a global grassroots movement to build a culture of openly sharing historical metadata and content. The conference utilizes the Open Space Technology facilitation format to allow the participants to set the agenda on the days of the meeting. Voss served as facilitator and chair of the organizing committee from 2011-2015.

Stats and Impact

• The event has attracted over 500 participants in 10 years, bringing together a wide range of arts and heritage organizations from around the world.

• After the first LODLAM Summit kickstarted the movement, 100% of funds have been raised through sponsorships, participants and partnering organizations, with a sliding scale cost of attendance at under $100.

• Participating delegates have publicly released open datasets and hundreds of millions of pieces of content in the public domain from institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Archives, and many more.

• The LODLAM Summits have taken place about every other year, with many workshops and meetups at other conferences globally in between.

  • 2011 San Francisco, hosted by Internet Archive

  • 2013 Montreal, hosted by Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

  • 2015 Sydney, hosted by State Library of New South Wales, co-convened with DH2015

  • 2017 Venice, hosted by Fondazione Giorgio Cini

  • 2020 Los Angeles, hosted by the Getty Research Institute