ARCHS as a capability framework for human‑centric digital transformation in Cultural and Creative Sectors

Background and problem framing

Across Europe, cultural organisations face mounting expectations to leverage data for audience development, operational efficiency, environmental accountability, and policy reporting. Despite growing investment in digital infrastructures and skills, the uptake of data‑driven practices in CCSI remains uneven and frequently siloed. Structural barriers include limited data literacy, resource constraints, regulatory complexity, and a persistent perception that data practices are peripheral to cultural missions rather than integral to them.

EXCENTRIC positions this challenge not as a deficit of technology, but as a governance and coordination problem. Rather than promoting isolated digital solutions, the project advances the concept of Collaborative Data Ecosystems – networks of organisations that collectively manage, govern, and use data to generate shared value while maintaining data sovereignty and ethical standards. The ARCHS Initial Framework (Deliverable D1.1) establishes the conceptual and methodological foundation for this approach.

Conceptualising ARCHS: from principles to capabilities

ARCHS is not conceived as a maturity model or compliance checklist. Instead, it functions as a capability framework that integrates normative principles with operational dimensions of digital transformation. The five principles respond directly to recurrent tensions observed in CCSI digitalisation processes:

• the need for adaptability in contexts of organisational precarity and rapid technological change;
• the imperative of responsibility, given expanding EU data and AI regulation;
• the structurally collaborative nature of cultural production and distribution;
• the risk of technosolutionism undermining creative labour and human agency;
• and the growing demand for multi‑dimensional sustainability across economic, social, cultural, and environmental domains.

Crucially, ARCHS treats these principles as interdependent. For example, collaboration without responsibility risks extractive data practices, while sustainability without adaptability may result in rigid or short‑lived solutions. The framework therefore resists single‑metric optimisation in favour of balanced, reflexive transformation pathways.

Operational structure and analytical levels

A distinctive contribution of the ARCHS framework is its multi‑level analytical design, which enables digital transformation to be assessed and steered across:

1. Individual level – focusing on skills, perceptions, agency, and everyday data practices of cultural workers;
2. Organisational level – examining governance structures, workflows, leadership, and decision‑making processes;
3. Network level – analysing collaboration readiness, trust, shared governance, and data‑sharing arrangements within and across organisations.

This structure acknowledges that digital transformation in CCSI rarely occurs within a single organisational boundary. Instead, it unfolds through project‑based collaborations, funding ecosystems, and transnational networks—conditions under which isolated assessments are insufficient.

ARCHS therefore functions both as a diagnostic instrument (supporting baseline assessments) and as a processual guide, enabling organisations to monitor change over time and recalibrate strategies as conditions evolve.

Measuring what matters: from reflection to assessment

While firmly grounded in qualitative reflection, the ARCHS Initial Framework explicitly integrates measurement and assessment logics. Each principle is associated with:

• working definitions and sub‑dimensions;
• reflection and assessment questions;
• and indicative measurement foci combining qualitative and quantitative data.

Importantly, ARCHS does not directly measure “competitiveness” or “sustainability” as isolated outcomes. Instead, these are treated as emergent results of changes in organisational and network capabilities across the five principles. This design choice reflects a growing recognition that digital maturity indicators alone fail to capture the socio‑technical dynamics of transformation in cultural contexts.

Measurement is iterative rather than extractive: data collected through surveys, workshops, and network analysis feeds back into organisational learning processes and informs subsequent design and implementation cycles.

ARCHS within the EXCENTRIC workflow

Within the broader EXCENTRIC project architecture, ARCHS plays a transversal role. It anchors the project’s iterative workflow—Grounding, Design, Implementation, and Assessment—and provides a common conceptual language across work packages.

In practice, ARCHS informs:

• the development of baseline diagnostics and digital maturity assessments;
• the co‑creation of use cases during acceleration “sprints”;
• the design and testing of digital tools up to Technology Readiness Level 6;
• and the aggregation of transversal insights across pilot sites and sectors.

This positioning reinforces ARCHS as both theoretical infrastructure and operational scaffold, enabling coherence across diverse pilots while remaining adaptable to local contexts.

Scientific and policy relevance

From a research perspective, the ARCHS Initial Framework contributes to ongoing debates on human‑centric digital transformation, collaborative governance, and data ethics in the cultural economy. Its explicit integration of sustainability across economic, social, cultural, and environmental dimensions extends existing digital transformation frameworks that tend to prioritise efficiency or growth metrics.

For policymakers and intermediaries, ARCHS offers a structured yet flexible instrument that can support funding design, capacity‑building programmes, and facilitated peer learning. Its emphasis on collaboration readiness and network‑level analysis is particularly relevant in EU policy contexts that increasingly promote shared data spaces and cross‑sectoral cooperation.

As a living framework, ARCHS will continue to evolve through empirical testing and iterative refinement throughout the EXCENTRIC project. Its longer‑term ambition lies in enabling cultural organisations not only to adopt digital tools, but to shape digital futures that remain consistent with their social, cultural, and public missions.