Data Standardization Support Program

Description

The evolving challenges of digital practices are forcing the sector to adapt and implement common strategies that encourage collaboration between cultural stakeholders and promote the influence of local cultural content. As a result, the adoption of new data processing practices is becoming a necessity for all cultural sectors. The studies and work carried out as part of the Quebec Digital Cultural Plan and the Joint Franco-Quebec Strategy on the Online Discoverability of French-Language Cultural Content, those carried out by the Observatoire de la culture et des communications du Québec, as well as the report of the advisory committee on the discoverability of cultural content, demonstrate the importance of data standardization, interoperability, and the use of best practices in their exploitation and analysis. All of this allows for increased collaboration, better data sharing, and, above all, better discoverability of cultural content. In this sense, the standardization of descriptive data, according to recognized standards, facilitates the work of data entry and exchange in the workflow of different sectors. In addition to facilitating these exchanges, this standardization also allows stakeholders in the field to more easily comply with international standards and thus make cultural content more easily discoverable. This Data Standardization Support Program directly aims to meet objective 2.1 of the 2023-2027 Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Culture and Communications: to encourage the adoption of cultural content description standards recognized by the sectors. Recognizing the importance of data standardization and what it represents for the influence of Quebec cultural content in the digital environment, the Ministry offers, through this Program, support to cultural sectors so that they can adapt their data practices to promote discoverability and thus maximize the benefits.

Purpose of the program

The evolving challenges of digital practices are forcing the sector to adapt and implement common strategies that encourage collaboration between cultural stakeholders and promote the influence of local cultural content. As a result, the adoption of new data processing practices is becoming a necessity for all cultural sectors. 

The studies and work carried out as part of the Quebec Digital Cultural Plan and the Joint Franco-Quebec Strategy on the Online Discoverability of French-Language Cultural Content, those carried out by the Observatoire de la culture et des communications du Québec, as well as the report of the advisory committee on the discoverability of cultural content, demonstrate the importance of data standardization, interoperability, and the use of best practices in their exploitation and analysis. All of this allows for increased collaboration, better data sharing, and, above all, better discoverability of cultural content.

In this sense, the standardization of descriptive data, according to recognized standards, facilitates the work of data entry and exchange in the workflow of different sectors. In addition to facilitating these exchanges, this standardization also allows stakeholders in the field to more easily comply with international standards and thus make cultural content more easily discoverable. 

This Data Standardization Support Program directly aims to meet objective 2.1 of the 2023-2027 Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Culture and Communications: to encourage the adoption of cultural content description standards recognized by the sectors.

Recognizing the importance of data standardization and what it represents for the influence of Quebec cultural content in the digital environment, the Ministry offers, through this Program, support to cultural sectors so that they can adapt their data practices to promote discoverability and thus maximize the benefits.

 

Discoverability

Discoverability refers to the availability of content online and its ability to be found among a large body of other content, particularly by someone who was not specifically looking for it.  

Objective

This Program aims to provide financial support to organizations with projects to upgrade their databases to enable them to standardize them according to standards designed in collaboration with the sectors and recognized by the Ministry.

In other words, the Program can enable an organization to:

• to equip itself with a data management tool in order to group and classify descriptive data according to recognized standards;
• to improve an existing database by adjusting its structure to make it compatible with recognized standards.

The Program aims  to increase the level of adoption of cultural content description standards recognized by the Ministry .

Eligibility

Eligible customers

The Program is aimed at organizations incorporated under one of the following legal forms:

• a non-profit legal person under Part 3 of the Companies Act (RLRQ, chapter C-38) or the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (SC 2009, c. 23);
• a cooperative incorporated under the Cooperatives Act (RLRQ, chapter C-67.2) or the Canada Cooperatives Act (SC 1998, c. 1);
• a private, for-profit company incorporated under Quebec or Canadian law.

To be considered eligible, the applicant must:

• work primarily in one or more areas of intervention of the Ministry, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) or the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC);
• be legally incorporated for more than 12 months;
• have its headquarters in Quebec;
• demonstrate, in the case of a private for-profit company, that effective control of the company is held mainly by persons who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents and have their tax residence in Quebec.

Ineligible customers 

The following are not eligible for the program:

• individuals operating sole proprietorships;
• ministries, health and education institutions, as well as budgetary and non-budgetary bodies of the Government of Quebec governed by the Financial Administration Act (RLRQ, chapter A-6.001);
• universities and research centers;
• applicants registered in the Register of companies not eligible for public contracts, including their subcontractors;
• applicants who, during the 2 years preceding the application for financial assistance, have failed to meet their obligations after having been duly notified in connection with the allocation of previous financial assistance by a ministry or body of the Government of Quebec;
• applicants who do not meet the high standards of integrity that the public is entitled to expect from a recipient of financial assistance paid from public funds;
• applicants who are insolvent, bankrupt, have filed a composition proposal or have obtained a benefit from a law relating to bankruptcy or insolvency;
• applicants supported during a previous call for projects under this Program.

 

Important: Financial assistance cannot be used to make a payment to any entity in any of the situations described in the preceding items.

Eligible projects

To be considered eligible, the project must:

• be based on 1 of the 5 recognized sector standards, namely:
  • MetaMusic;
  • Performing Arts;
  • Movie theater;
  • Book(for publishers);
  • Exhibition in a museum context.
• contribute fully and concretely to the achievement of the objectives of this Program;
• provide a schedule for completion over a maximum of 12 months;
• be accompanied by a quote drawn up by a competent organisation or consultant for carrying out the upgrade work, or a demonstration that internal capacity is sufficient to carry it out;
• be accompanied by a complete file that complies with the proposed templates.

The applicant must demonstrate that he is able to carry out the project in its entirety while respecting the budgetary framework presented.

Ineligible projects 

Projects that:

• are not based on 1 of the 5 standards recognized by the Ministry;
• are exploratory in nature and do not specifically aim to upgrade a database;
• are based on the day-to-day functioning of organizations, i.e. relating to activities considered normal and usual;
• are of a recurring nature;
• are funded under another assistance program from the Ministry, CALQ or SODEC;
• are aimed exclusively or mainly at the development of a website (more than 50% of eligible expenses);
• are aimed exclusively or mainly at the development of an application programming interface (API) leading to other web organizations (more than 50% of eligible expenses).

Submission of the application

The application for financial assistance must be produced using a form accessible by theonline service di@pason and is automatically forwarded to the Ministry department responsible for processing it.

Before submitting their application, the applicant must register in the di@pason system as a partner client (or update their profile, if applicable). It is recommended to complete the registration, or update it, at the latest one week before the project submission deadline. The applicant must ensure that they have an up-to-date di@pason profile at the time of submitting their application .

The application must be submitted according to the project call dates determined in the Ministry's program calendar.

The applicant must provide the following information in the application form or attached documents:

• the project description  (DOCX 384 KB) according to the attached template;
• the detailed project budget  (XLSM 407 KB) according to the instructions in the attached Excel document;
• letters of commitment from partners confirming their participation (financial or in services), if applicable, and the value of their contribution;
• the presentation of the team planned for the implementation of the project, including subcontractors, highlighting their experience and skills;
• a schedule of implementation including the main stages of the project and spanning a maximum of 12 months;
• the data management plan  (DOCX 379 KB) descriptive for the organization;
• any supplier submissions, if applicable;
•  the duly signed document Conditions for granting financial assistance  (PDF 1.84 MB) ;
• the most recent financial statements, approved and signed by its directors;
• the current list of members of its board of directors and members of the board of directors of its controlled and related entities, including the name of the president and his or her email address.
  • In the case of a private for-profit company, the email address of the president and the names of the shareholders and details of their shareholding (number of voting shares and percentage of voting rights), their citizenship and whether they are domiciled in Quebec.

To be submitted for analysis, the file must be complete, comprehensible and based on accurate data. It is up to the applicant to correct any deficiencies within the time limits granted by the Ministry, if applicable.

During the analysis of the project, the applicant must provide the Ministry with the information and additional documents that it requests.

Selection of applications

The evaluation of applications is carried out by the Ministry with the collaboration of CALQ and SODEC.

Applications are evaluated in two stages, general analysis and specific analysis, based on the following criteria:

General analysis

Please note that a minimum score of 70% is required to reach the specific analysis stage. If this score is not reached, the application will be refused. 

The criteria for the general analysis are as follows:

• the consistency of the project with the purpose and objectives pursued by this Program (35%);
• the quality of the descriptive data management plan for the organization (30%);
• the experience and competence of the production team, including external resources (35%).

Specific analysis

The criteria for the specific analysis are as follows:

• compliance with recognized industry standards (15%);
• the clarity and precision of the project presented (10%);
• the applicant's ability to carry out the project (15%);
• the feasibility and realism of the project and the implementation schedule (15%);
• realism and quality of the budget (15%);
• the quality and relevance of the proposed technological approach (10%);
• compliance with the principles of sustainable development (5%);
• the impact of the project on the quality of ecosystem data (15%).

Projects submitted by an applicant whose headquarters are located outside the metropolitan communities of Quebec and Montreal will benefit from a 10 % bonus during the selection analysis.

Projects aiming to deposit descriptive data in open data on a regular basis will benefit from a 5 % bonus during the selection analysis.

The Ministry reserves the right to limit the number of projects selected for each of the 5 recognized standards for the sake of fairness between sectors.

The Ministry reserves the right to limit the number of projects selected or to make lower financial proposals in order to respect the budget envelope and the amounts available.