CHORUS Deliverable 2.2: Second report - identification of multi-disciplinary key issues for gap analysis toward EU multimedia search engines roadmap

After addressing the state-of-the-art during the first year of Chorus and establishing the existing landscape in multimedia search engines, we have identified and analyzed gaps within European research effort during our second year. In this period we focused on three directions, notably technological issues, user-centred issues and use-cases and socio- economic and legal aspects. These were assessed by two central studies: firstly, a concerted vision of functional breakdown of generic multimedia search engine, and secondly, a representative use-cases descriptions with the related discussion on requirement for technological challenges. Both studies have been carried out in cooperation and consultation with the community at large through EC concertation meetings (multimedia search engines cluster), several meetings with our Think-Tank, presentations in international conferences, and surveys addressed to EU projects coordinators as well as National initiatives coordinators. Based on the obtained feedback we identified two types of gaps, namely core technological gaps that involve research challenges, and “enablers”, which are not necessarily technical research challenges, but have impact on innovation progress. New socio-economic trends are presented as well as emerging legal challenges

Learning About Metadata and Machines: Teaching Students Using a Novel Structured Database Activity

Machines produce and operate using complex systems of metadata that need to be catalogued, sorted, and processed. Many students lack the experience with metadata and sufficient knowledge about it to understand it as part of their data literacy skills. This paper describes an educational and interactive database activity designed for teaching undergraduate communication students about the creation, value, and logic of structured data. Through a set of virtual instructional videos and interactive visualizations, the paper describes how students can gain experience with structured data and apply that knowledge to successfully find, curate, and classify a digital archive of media artifacts. The pedagogical activity, teaching materials, and archives are facilitated through and housed in an online resource called Fabric of Digital Life (fabricofdigitallife.com). We end by discussing the activity’s relevance for the emerging field of human-machine communication

Representing and Indexing Archaeological Information

The need to preserve and remember the past is a particular human trait. The richness of our cultural history is approached by a vast array of disciplines, that investigate and manage it. However, their effectiveness can be hindered by several technical issues. One of the concerns of experts in this area is the way the importance of cultural heritage is communicated in order to cultivate interest, curiosity and respect. Another concern is the lack of suitable tools that can handle the dimension and complexity of the collections with which they interact. With the emergence of digital tools and the creation of online repositories for the collections of cultural institutions, it is possible to suggest different solutions to tackle these problems. The proposed solution aims to facilitate access and interaction with cultural information, through the implementation of an application capable of integrating multiple forms of representation of historical artifacts. The application tackles two problems that arise from distinct goals. One is the need to represent, in a single view, collections of related items from different repositories. The other is how to, effectively, communicate the information associated with an artifact and its context. This MSc dissertation is part of a collaborative effort between NOVA LINCS researchers and several archaeological institutions of the Iberian Extremadura, aiming to develop tools that will support research and help sharing the cultural wealth of archaeological sites and artifacts from the region. In this dissertation, the developed application covers a general view of the aforementioned problems, while being flexible to the customization of the representation of cultural data. The solution was evaluated on usability and effectiveness on reaching the proposed goals, during a process that involved target audience users and experts in the area of culture and history, as well as human-computer interaction. The results provided positive conclusions

#MPLP: a Comparison of Domain Novice and Expert User-generated Tags in a Minimally Processed Digital Archive

The high costs of creating and maintaining digital archives precluded many archives from providing users with digital content or increasing the amount of digitized materials. Studies have shown users increasingly demand immediate online access to archival materials with detailed descriptions (access points). The adoption of minimal processing to digital archives limits the access points at the folder or series level rather than the item-level description users\u27 desire. User-generated content such as tags, could supplement the minimally processed metadata, though users are reluctant to trust or use unmediated tags. This dissertation project explores the potential for controlling/mediating the supplemental metadata from user-generated tags through inclusion of only expert domain user-generated tags. The study was designed to answer three research questions with two parts each: 1(a) What are the similarities and differences between tags generated by expert and novice users in a minimally processed digital archive?, 1(b) Are there differences between expert and novice users\u27 opinions of the tagging experience and tag creation considerations?, 2(a) In what ways do tags generated by expert and/or novice users in a minimally processed collection correspond with metadata in a traditionally processed digital archive?, 2(b) Does user knowledge affect the proportion of tags matching unselected metadata in a minimally processed digital archive?, 3(a) In what ways do tags generated by expert and/or novice users in a minimally processed collection correspond with existing users\u27 search terms in a digital archive?, and 3(b) Does user knowledge affect the proportion of tags matching query terms in a minimally processed digital archive? The dissertation project was a mixed-methods, quasi-experimental design focused on tag generation within a sample minimally processed digital archive. The study used a sample collection of fifteen documents and fifteen photographs. Sixty participants divided into two groups (novices and experts) based on assessed prior knowledge of the sample collection\u27s domain generated tags for fifteen documents and fifteen photographs (a minimum of one tag per object). Participants completed a pre-questionnaire identifying prior knowledge, and use of social tagging and archives. Additionally, participants provided their opinions regarding factors associated with tagging including the tagging experience and considerations while creating tags through structured and open-ended questions in a post-questionnaire. An open-coding analysis of the created tags developed a coding scheme of six major categories and six subcategories. Application of the coding scheme categorized all generated tags. Additional descriptive statistics summarized the number of tags created by each domain group (expert, novice) for all objects and divided by format (photograph, document). T-tests and Chi-square tests explored the associations (and associative strengths) between domain knowledge and the number of tags created or types of tags created for all objects and divided by format. The subsequent analysis compared the tags with the metadata from the existing collection not displayed within the sample collection participants used. Descriptive statistics summarized the proportion of tags matching unselected metadata and Chi-square tests analyzed the findings for associations with domain knowledge. Finally, the author extracted existing users\u27 query terms from one month of server-log data and compared the generated-tags and unselected metadata. Descriptive statistics summarized the proportion of tags and unselected metadata matching query terms, and Chi-square tests analyzed the findings for associations with domain knowledge. Based on the findings, the author discussed the theoretical and practical implications of including social tags within a minimally processed digital archive

Workshop on Applications of Metadata Harvesting in Scholarly Portals: Findings from the MetaScholar Projects: AmericanSouth and MetaArchive

It is with great pleasure that I preface these proceedings for the Workshop on Applicationsof Metadata Harvesting in Scholarly Portals: Findings from the MetaScholar Projects:AmericanSouth and MetaArchive. This event marks the conclusion of two projects fundedby the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to advance the understanding of metadataharvesting and scholarly communication. These projects were conjoined in 2001 to formthe MetaScholar Initiative, an ongoing research collaboration based at Emory Universityinvolving librarians, scholars, archivists, curators, and technologists. Now concluding,these projects have successfully led to many findings that have informed the planning fornew endeavors that the MetaScholar Initiative is now undertaking.Our goals in organizing this workshop have been: to include presentations of researchfindings by participants in the projects; to provide a forum for scholars involved in theprojects to discuss development of the portals for scholarly communication and research;to discuss future development of the resulting portal systems; to introduce newMetaScholar Projects now underway; and to examine the value of the OAI and other opensource systems in the academic community

VR Technologies in Cultural Heritage

This open access book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on VR Technologies in Cultural Heritage, VRTCH 2018, held in Brasov, Romania in May 2018. The 13 revised full papers along with the 5 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 21 submissions. The papers of this volume are organized in topical sections on data acquisition and modelling, visualization methods / audio, sensors and actuators, data management, restoration and digitization, cultural tourism

Heritage Reproduction in the Age of High-Resolution Scanning:A Critical Evaluation of Digital Infilling Methods for Historic Preservation

High-definition digital scanning has established itself as a useful tool for documenting cultural heritage in the twenty-first century. Proponents of surveying technology are hailing the use of digital fact-based 3D models as valuable tools for recording, analyzing and safeguarding items of cultural importance. Methods for digitally filling holes have not yet been considered through the lens of historic preservation. No modeling technique is error-free and understanding how heritage professionals are addressing lacunae is vital for understanding digital heritage objects resulting from 3D scanning hardware. Frameworks exist for working with scanned data, but they define general principles for a broad range of applications and do not provide any guidelines or strategies of how to comply with them practically. This thesis is a comparative evaluation of current practices of in-filling digital lacunae that attempts to establish which methods are best suited to the following historic preservation practices: documentation, Interpretation graphics, Long-term monitoring, digital restoration, physical fabrication

The Spatially Interactive Literature Analysis System Study Tool: A GIS Tool for Interpreting History

The Spatially Interactive Literature Analysis System Study Tool (SILAS.ST) follows in the tradition of the original SILAS, developed by Stephen Benzek (MS GIS Cohort 12). This second phase of SILAS focuses on the educational functionality of the application. With SILAS.ST, students can overlay and juxtapose information from multiple sources and explore and document the historical information for each source brought into ESRI’s ArcGIS, a geographic information system (GIS). Current geographic metadata standards are not suitable for documenting historical sources in GIS, and often they are too cumbersome for students who are new to GIS and metadata. SILAS.ST has been fitted with its own metadata standard for the purpose of documenting historical geographic data. When students fill out and share information in the metadata forms, they will better understand the historical relevance and uncertainty inherent in the maps they create and the map layers they encounter when studying historical topics. Students will also learn how to document historical sources using the custom metadata, easing the transition from critiquing textual sources to evaluating visual map layers. Additional customization of the ArcMap user interface, such as custom toolbars, buttons and direct access to the new metadata forms, will aid in the introduction of digital mapping technologies to humanities students. SILAS.ST has earned the Association of American Geographer’s (AAG) Amy Mather New Scholar Award for 2009, which honors students for their outstanding contribution to the field of Biblical Geography

Towards Semantic Knowledge Maps Applications: Modelling the Ontological Nature of Data and Information Governance in a R&D Organization

In organizational management, it is highly recommended that data and information be adequately prepared to match the knowledge needed to be used in decision‐making processes. However, faced with the paradigm of complexity that currently dictates the dynamics of modern organizations, there is still a search for operational solutions that allow agility and flexibility to corporate information flows to meet that desired condition. In this context, the concept of data and information governance presents itself as a fundamental premise because it systematizes, reorganizes and reorients each element of the organizational system (people, processes, structures, etc.) without losing the notion of its contexts and causalities. For this, in the conceptual modelling of governance, the concept of systemism arises to support the balance between holistic and reductionist approaches, inherent in management processes, but often considered antagonistic or contradictory. The present chapter presents and discusses a data and information governance model for research and development (R&D) organizations. The model is based upon the concepts of data, information and knowledge life cycles and knowledge mapping, recovering and valuing the ontological nature of the elements of the system under analysis and constructing a pragmatic proposal for corporate application and operation