The second cross-issue is 'informing organisms', i.e. self organising, cooperating, simple and complex, intelligent components, which will be needed at all levels of the digital library application model. Emphasis should be placed as much on proof of concept demonstrators as on fully fledged prototypes, immediately scaleable and close to market. This leads to different and potentially conflicting models. This needs to be driven by personalisation, by presenting different user-views of the content, rather than by differentiating the content itself. Another group of cost issues raised related to the financial context of archives, libraries and museums where there is generally a need for solutions to be relatively low cost, requiring technologies and common platforms built on shared standards.
Play stations are an example of the emergence of low cost platforms.
These need to be based on the joint and collaborative involvement of archives, libraries and museums. Strategies - Partnership or cooperation is a core strategic issue in this area. A banner heading, such as European Heritage, is needed for a 'grand scheme' vision of the transition from 'print on paper' world to a 'digital' world. The ten years perspective for this vision is for a seamless access to Europe's cultural heritage at large. Creating new alliances between the public and private sectors, balancing their needs and interests.