2.10. What cultural web standards should I use?

This sheet deals with the web standards on which it is necessary to rely so that the content of your site is understood, identified, and correctly referenced by the algorithms, therefore by the search engines.

Table of contents

Web standards, the true backbone of the Internet

The major web standards consist of rules, protocols, and technologies established to ensure the harmonious and coherent functioning of websites and web applications, making them interoperable and accessible regardless of the browser or device used. These standards cover various aspects, including data management, accessibility, user experience, and search engine optimization. They are mainly defined and governed by organizations such as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and other groups like the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and ECMA International.

The W3C is an international organization founded in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee, the main inventor of the Web. Its mission is to develop open standards to ensure the growth, accessibility, and sustainability of the Web. This organization, based at MIT in the United States with offices in Europe and Asia, has developed numerous web standards, some of which have entered common language, such as HTML, CSS, XML, and the HTTP protocol.

These web standards are essential for ensuring interoperability, accessibility, and compatibility across different browsers, devices, and users. They play a key role in the evolution of the web by making technologies more reliable, accessible, and universally understandable.  

“Web standards for the future” - W3C

Concretely, why are these standards fundamental to your digital marketing strategy?
It is important to understand that data only has value (and even existence) on the web if it is based on a framework that allows other platforms or services to recognize and use it according to the function you have assigned to that data. It is, for example, because we have decided and defined that a title is indeed a title that it will be recognized as such by robots and search engines.

The key standards relevant to cultural operators concern the structuring of web pages and the description of events. The first rule to adopt is to structure your data by tagging information to make it more understandable by search engines. To do this, it is recommended to use the Schema.org vocabulary, and more specifically the "Event" category for cultural events.  

“Get your event listed on google"

Attributes to use for identifying performances within the Schema.org vocabulary:

  • name: The name of the event
  • startDate / endDate: Start and end date and time of the event
  • location: Venue of the event, including details like address or hall name
  • performer: Name of the artist or group
  • offers: Ticket information (price, availability, purchase link)
  • eventStatus: Status of the event (scheduled, canceled, postponed)
  • audience: Target audience (e.g., families, adults)

These tags allow search engines to better interpret and display event information in search results, especially in enriched formats such as Google "events." These standards, while essential, are underused in the cultural sector, depriving venues and their events of part of their potential for regional outreach and discoverability through search engine optimization.

To check your own website's compliance, you can inspect the source code... or ask your webmaster!  

    Are these standards suited to cultural data?

    Schema.org is an essential foundation for structuring cultural institutions' websites and making them readable by recommendation algorithms. However, this standard is insufficient to satisfactorily describe cultural goods and offerings as presented by performing arts venues. To develop additional uses and strengthen the discoverability of cultural offerings, it is essential to provide more detailed content descriptions.

    A number of initiatives are currently underway in the cultural sector to create reference frameworks that are better aligned with the realities of performing arts data. These projects notably focus on building knowledge graphs: this data structure makes it possible to represent information in an organized and interconnected way. The key challenge is to document and contextualize relationships between various data points (e.g. performers in a show).

    Building a knowledge graph requires integrating heterogeneous data sources, such as databases, documents, and web pages, and then structuring them according to an ontology-that is, a model defining the types of entities and the possible relationships between them within a given domain.

    Cap Data Opera (FR)

    The CapData Opera - France 2030 project is initiated by the Réunion des Opéras de France (ROF). It brings together eight partners, including six opera houses: Opéra national de Bordeaux, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra de Limoges, Opéra Comique, Opéra national du Capitole de Toulouse, Opéra de Rennes, as well as the TMNlab / Théâtres & Médiations Numériques network. The project focuses on the "industrialisation of a solution for structuring and disseminating cultural data," with the aim of improving the discoverability of works, developing audiences, and facilitating the work of teams by reducing redundant data entry. It is based on data from six opera houses, with the ambition of creating a solution that is widely replicable across the performing arts sector.

    According to researchers who have published an article on this project, "This shared solution makes it possible to query data produced by multiple actors in the field to, for example, learn about the programming and circulation of a work or production among several opera houses."

    Learn more about this project

    • CapData Opéra - France 2030 - external link

      Le projet CapData Opéra - France 2030 porte sur l'industrialisation d'une solution de structuration et de diffusion des données culturelles capable de répondre aux enjeux de développement des publics, de soutien à la création artistique et d'accès à la culture.

    Artsdata (CA)

    The Artsdata.ca project focuses on the Canadian cultural sector and aims to create a broad, high-quality, and open knowledge graph for the cultural field. Among the expected benefits:

    • Creating knowledge, greater control and understanding of descriptive metadata related to events, people, organisations, and venues.
    • Programmatically sharing event metadata to enhance their circulation and discoverability.
    • Promoting the diversity of cultural expressions-particularly those of Indigenous populations-in response to the dominance of the English language in the construction of the web.

      Learn more about this project

      Scapin (BEL)

      The SCAPIN project (for SCène - API - Network) aims to design a unique database of performances, through a modelling approach that is not hindered by the sometimes inconsistent or, on the contrary, overly detailed encoding of the past. It will provide easy access to data via a consultation interface and an API (Application Programming Interface) allowing their display, which will be configurable on other websites, including those of partner companies.

      In the video (in English) below, Luc Wanlin, project member and IT manager at the Archives et Musée de la littérature in Autreppe, explains the issues related to linked data in the performing arts, as well as the historical obstacles linked to the nature of the works, and the difficulty of creating authority records and unique identifiers in a sector where published texts are in the minority.  

      "Unlocking performing arts global studies through ISNI" by Luc Wanlin

      Learn more about this project

      LODEPA (Linked Open Data Ecosystem for Performing Arts)

      Some of these initiatives, such as Scapin, are themselves part of the international LODEPA community (Linked Open Data Ecosystem for Performing Arts). Through the "Linked Digital Future" initiative, this community aims to improve the discoverability of the performing arts by promoting better use of linked data technologies. It also fosters collaboration among the various stakeholders in the performing arts value chain.

      If such an initiative exists in your country, don't hesitate to join it - these reference frameworks rely above all on user communities!  

      To go further

      Rubriques

      Explorez le sujet en quatre grandes rubriques dédiées au spectacle vivant, depuis la compréhension des enjeux jusqu'au pilotage stratégique.

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