PLUGGY is built around the Faro Convention and the Faro Convention

is built around Europe’s need to promote cultural heritage.

In this series of news bulletin we will inform you, how PLUGGY tackles the notion that heritage that is everywhere, and relevant to everyday life, is likely to be one of the preconditions for genuine sustainability.

The Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Faro Convention, 2005)

The Faro Convention emphasizes the important aspects of heritage as they relate to human rights and democracy. It promotes a wider understanding of heritage and its relationship to communities and society. The Convention encourages us to recognize that objects and places are not, in themselves, what is important about cultural heritage. They are important because of the meanings and uses that people attach to them and the values they represent.

The Faro Convention is a “framework convention” which defines issues at stake, general objectives and possible fields of intervention for member States to progress. Each State Party can decide on the most convenient means to implement the Convention according to its legal or institutional frameworks, practices and specific experience. Compared to other conventions, the “framework convention” does not create specific obligations for action. It suggests rather than imposes.

The Convention was adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 13 October 2005, and opened for signature to member States in Faro (Portugal) on 27 October of the same year. It entered into force on 1 June 2011. To date, 17 member States of the Council of Europe have ratified the Convention and five have signed it.

“Everyone, alone or collectively, has the right to benefit from the cultural heritage 

and to contribute towards its enrichment.”

(Article 4 of the Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society – Faro Convention, 2005)

PLUGGY’s strong connection to FARO Convention

PLUGGY, the Pluggable Social Platform for Heritage Awareness and Participation, has been inspired and built around the FARO Convention and expresses its notions and principles in most of its developments. 

It embraces the Convention, having as main objective to highlight citizens’ dual aspect role of being cultural heritage providers and consumers at the same time, promoting cultural heritage exploitation as a central factor in the mutually supporting objectives of sustainable development and cultural diversity.

PLUGGY addresses the need of society to be actively involved in cultural heritage activities, not only as an observer but also as a creator and a major influencing factor. A heritage that is everywhere, and relevant to everyday life is one of the preconditions for genuine sustainability.

PLUGGY’s novel technologies are expected to enable the citizens of Europe, even in its less developed regions, to be actively involved in cultural heritage activities: this will allow a better understanding of their local surroundings and relations with far-away cultures. Through their cooperation and interaction, the users of the PLUGGY social platform and its pluggable applications will be able to develop a common cultural and intellectual perception of European heritage and to participate in the shaping of an overall European cultural landscape.

PLUGGY’s link to FARO Convention’s Articles

Article 2 of the Faro Convention defines cultural heritage as a group of resources which people identify as an expression of their constantly evolving values, beliefs, knowledge and traditions. It is not rigid but develops according to the needs of the community. PLUGGY incorporates the same spirit of innovation and ability to adjust to ever-changing demands and requirements. This affirmation of adaptability will ensure that the social platform and the curatorial tool will be in a position to respond to the inconceivable challenges the future may present.

Article 7 also calls for the development of knowledge of cultural heritage as a resource to facilitate peaceful co-existence by promoting trust and mutual understanding. Such approaches should be integrated into lifelong education and training. PLUGGY’s Social Platform and Curatorial Tool could serve the role of a knowledge depository, not only for well-known and admired cultural monuments but for lesser known heritage assets that have value for relatively smaller communities. Since Faro does not prioritize between tangible and intangible monuments or between famous and unfamiliar resources, PLUGGY will host, gradually, an exciting wealth of material and knowledge supplied by the communities themselves, the best source of information on aspects of identity, remembrance, tradition, and memory.

PLUGGY will be easily accessible, easy and friendly to use, with an appearance and operational capabilities that would make it attractive both to a younger audience and marginalized groups that may not feel comfortable expressing their values and participating in joint actions. PLUGGY can assist or even substitute the state’s role in ensuring that individuals and groups are not (or feel they are not) excluded from even the possibility of benefiting from their cultural heritage.