Thematic portals Znameniti.hr and EminentPeople.eu – The Challenges and Perspectives of the Virtual Networking of Digital Repositories

Thanks to numerous innovative technologies and methods, the Information Age has brought new challenges, but also new opportunities, to the cultural and scientific sector, for both the development and the presentation of its primary activities. More importantly, it paved the way for new networking possibilities through inter-institutional and multidisciplinary collaborative projects, based on linking together analogous needs, efforts, and ideas. The goal of this paper is to present and examine the opportunities for cooperation in a virtual environment between related institutions, gathered around a common project involving the development of a collaborative portal about eminent and meritorious persons. We shall present the project through three basic phases of development: the inception of the idea and the launching of the national pilot project ‘Znameniti i zaslužni Hrvati’ (Eminent Croats) that resulted in the creation of the portal Znameniti.hr; the one-year European project funded by the DARIAH–ERIC consortium that enabled the establishment of regional cooperation and the creating of the portal EminentPeople.eu; and the preparation of a new international project considering the European perspectives of this portal.