Recommendations
I’ve had the good fortune to meet and work with many talented and passionate people. Some of them have been kind enough to endorse me and my work; their recommendations are shown here.
Merete Sanderhoff, Curator and senior advisor of digital museum practice, SMK – Statens Museum for Kunst
‘I’ve been fortunate to work with Douglas since 2016 in various projects related to Europe’s digital cultural heritage. In 2016, he invited me to be the chair of an advisory board for Europeana Art Collections which he was leading. From day one, it was a perfect collaboration. Douglas is one of the most organised, amicable people I’ve worked with, always constructive and ahead of the curve in terms of generating new ideas and solutions. It’s been no surprise to me to see how he has been moving up in the Europeana organisation, developing new initiatives and gaining more responsibility.
One of Douglas’ major achievements has been to develop and maintain a continuously updated overview of Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAMs) worldwide that have openly licensed online collections. A very important go-to tool for the entire sector. He’s also a stellar speaker in his crossover field of art history & digital culture. Among other things, we’ve had the pleasure of featuring him on the programme of our Sharing is Caring X conferences where he always delivers with substance, humour, and a unique sense of occasion.’
Jane Alexander, Chief Digital Information Officer, Cleveland Museum of Art
‘Douglas’s passion for expanding the reach and impact of Open Access globally is greatly admirable and his work at the Europeana Foundation will deeply influence scholarship across all fields. Working with him on a collaborative Europeana Pro interview and blog has provided the opportunity to highlight the important strategy and implications of the future of open access initiatives. Douglas’s enthusiasm and energy made him the ideal partner and advocate for this project and we look forward to working with him again in the future.’
Diane Drubray, Founder, We Are Museums
‘Collaborating with Douglas is such a delight. Constantly supporting new ideas and initiatives, he is the best when you need to reach out to museum professionals having an expertise in open data and open access., not mentioning his excellent moderation skills!’
Hanna-Leena Paloposki, Senior Researcher, Finnish National Gallery
‘I had the chance to collaborate with Douglas in autumn 2017 when I was working for two months at the Europeana Foundation in The Hague as part of the professional residency programme of the Finnish National Gallery. I had the luck to have Douglas as my mentor in the collections team and we worked very closely together while I was curating an online exhibition on the European website. Douglas is the most patient and kind mentor and colleague with a vast knowledge and experience of museums, art and opening up museum collections. Since then I have also been able to hear his presentations in conferences and I can warmly recommend him as a stirring speaker. Douglas is a real ambassador of the open cultural heritage.’
Julia Katona, Head of Collection, Hungarian University of Fine Arts
‘It was in 2016 when I met Douglas for the first time. He invited our special collection to the Art Nouveau Season project on the Europeana platform and initiated our first meeting, virtually, because of this reason. I liked very much his idea about the Art Nouveau project, since as an art historian, I discovered many similarities in our way of thinking. Additionally, he closed our meeting some Hungarian words which was really surprising and heart-warming for me. After the Art Nouveau Season project we met in person during a Europeana Members Council meeting in The Hague. In 2018, we had the chance to meet again in Budapest at the MuseumDigit Conference, where he gave a lecture about the Europeana Collections. For me, his activity in Europeana represents a fruitful combination of professional art history knowledge and refreshing creativity which is the basis of making widely accesible and promoting our cultural heritage online.’
Neal Stimler, Founder, Stimler Advantage
‘I worked with Douglas on promoting Open GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) projects between Europeana, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Cleveland Museum of Art. Douglas is excellent at scholarly communication, open access, digital art history and public engagement with Europe’s cultural heritage. He is kind, thoughtful and reliable colleague and partner. I always look forward to working with Douglas on projects. I have the utmost confidence in his ability to create successful, engaging and compelling outcomes that support our collaborations.’
Jill Fenwick, Managing Director, Association for Cultural Enterprises
‘Douglas is a first rate conference speaker and imparter of knowledge on all things concerned with digital images. His expertise, depth and breadth of understanding and ability to communictae to a diverse audience make him a truly inspirational speaker. Our conference delegates raved about his session this year and we will be inviting Douglas to return to satisfy their appetite for this field.’
David Lipsey, Digital Asset & Media Management Strategist
‘The leadership contributions that Douglas makes to mature the field of DAM, as well as more directly for The National Maritime Museum, are noteworthy and are exceptionally insightful to understanding how discipline around digital assets can yield unexpected and measurable results. Douglas has made presentations to the leading DAM conferences and journal, and his preparedness for this has complemented the quality of the material. I’m confident that his continuing dialogue with the standards and practices around digital media will be of interest and important.’
Richard Ferguson, Director at Cultural Heritage Consulting
‘Together Doug and I have worked closely over the past 18 months to successfully formalise and established a cross enterprise Knowledge Management Steering Group at Royal Museums Greenwich. His methodical and factually based approach to leading and effecting change in this area of development was both great support and a key ingredient to this achievement.’
Abbie Enock, Founder and Chairman, Capture Ltd
‘I have worked with Doug on some large and complex areas in providing picture library management software, and have found his ability to focus on the goal and maintain a clear vision to be outstanding. He is a delight to work with, always using positive energy, terrific efficiency, pragmatism and kindness, mixed with the right measure of steel when necessary, to keep things on track. Doug really gets things done and would be an enormous asset in any environment. Highly recommended all round!’
Heather Caven, Head of Collections – Management and Care, National Trust
‘Doug is an inspiring and supportive colleague who was a pleasure to work with. No problem was too large or too small and Doug’s approachable manner helped find both constructive solutions and develop opportunities.’
Header image: Portrait of Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, Milt (Milton) Jackson, and Timmie Rosenkrantz, Downbeat, New York, N.Y., ca. Sept. 1947. Library of Congress, no known copyright.