Libraries and Museums in the Flat World: Are They Becoming Virtual Destinations?

In his recent book, “TheWorld is Flat”, Thomas L. Friedman reviews the impact of networks on globalization. The emergence of the Internet, web browsers, computer applications talking to each other through the Internet, and the open source software, among others, made the world flatter and created an opportunity for individuals to collaborate and compete globally. Friedman predicts that “connecting all the knowledge centers on the planet together into a single global network…could usher in an amazing era of prosperity and innovation”. Networking also is changing the ways by which libraries and museums provide access to information sources and services. In the flat world, libraries and museums are no longer a physical “place” only: they are becoming “virtual destinations”. This paper discusses the implications of this transformation for the digitization and preservation of, and access to, cultural heritage resources

The application of workflows to digital heritage systems

Digital heritage systems usually handle a rich and varied mix of digital objects, accompanied by complex and intersecting workflows and processes. However, they usually lack effective workflow management within their components as evident in the lack of integrated solutions that include workflow components. There are a number of reasons for this limitation in workflow management utilization including some technical challenges, the unique nature of each digital resource and the challenges imposed by the environments and infrastructure in which such systems operate. This thesis investigates the concept of utilizing Workflow Management Systems (WfMS) within Digital Library Systems, and more specifically in online Digital Heritage Resources. The research work conducted involved the design and development of a novel experimental WfMS to test the viability of effective workflow management on the complex processes that exist in digital library and heritage resources. This rarely studied area of interest is covered by analyzing evolving workflow management technologies and paradigms. The different operational and technological aspects of these systems are evaluated while focusing on the areas that traditional systems often fail to address. A digital heritage resource was created to test a novel concept called DISPLAYS (Digital Library Services for Playing with Antiquity and Shared Heritage), which provides digital heritage content: creation, archival, exposition, presentation and interaction services for digital heritage collections. Based on DISPLAYS, a specific digital heritage resource was created to validate its concept and, more importantly, to act as a test bed to validate workflow management for digital heritage resources. This DISPLAYS type system implementation was called the Reanimating Cultural Heritage resource, for which three core components are the archival, retrieval and presentation components. To validate workflow management and its concepts, another limited version of these reanimating cultural heritage components was implemented within a workflow management host to test if the workflow technology is a viable choice for managing control and dataflow within a digital heritage system: this was successfully proved

Report of the Stanford Linked Data Workshop

The Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR) with the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) conducted at week-long workshop on the prospects for a large scale, multi-national, multi-institutional prototype of a Linked Data environment for discovery of and navigation among the rapidly, chaotically expanding array of academic information resources. As preparation for the workshop, CLIR sponsored a survey by Jerry Persons, Chief Information Architect emeritus of SULAIR that was published originally for workshop participants as background to the workshop and is now publicly available. The original intention of the workshop was to devise a plan for such a prototype. However, such was the diversity of knowledge, experience, and views of the potential of Linked Data approaches that the workshop participants turned to two more fundamental goals: building common understanding and enthusiasm on the one hand and identifying opportunities and challenges to be confronted in the preparation of the intended prototype and its operation on the other. In pursuit of those objectives, the workshop participants produced:1. a value statement addressing the question of why a Linked Data approach is worth prototyping;2. a manifesto for Linked Libraries (and Museums and Archives and …);3. an outline of the phases in a life cycle of Linked Data approaches;4. a prioritized list of known issues in generating, harvesting & using Linked Data;5. a workflow with notes for converting library bibliographic records and other academic metadata to URIs;6. examples of potential “killer apps” using Linked Data: and7. a list of next steps and potential projects.This report includes a summary of the workshop agenda, a chart showing the use of Linked Data in cultural heritage venues, and short biographies and statements from each of the participants

Reanimating cultural heritage through digital technologies

Digital technologies are becoming extremely important for web-based cultural heritage applications. This thesis presents novel digital technology solutions to 'access and interact' with digital heritage objects and collections. These innovative solutions utilize service orientation (web services), workflows, and social networking and Web 2.0 mashup technologies to innovate the creation, interpretation and use of collections dispersed in a global museumscape, where community participation is achieved through social networking. These solutions are embedded in a novel concept called Digital Library Services for Playing with Shared Heritage (DISPLAYS). DISPLAYS is concerned with creating tools and services to implement a digital library system, which allows the heritage community and museum professionals alike to create, interpret and use digital heritage content in visualization and interaction environments using web technologies based on social networking. In particular, this thesis presents a specific implementation of DISPLAYS called the Reanimating Cultural Heritage system, which is modelled on the five main functionalities or services defined in the DISPLAYS architecture, content creation, archival, exposition, presentation and interaction, for handling digital heritage objects. The main focus of this thesis is the design of the Reanimating Cultural Heritage system's social networking functionality that provides an innovative solution for integrating community access and interaction with the Sierra Leone digital heritage repository composed of collections from the British Museum, Glasgow Museums and Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. The novel use of Web 2.0 mashups in this digital heritage repository also allows the seamless integration of these museum collections to be merged with user or community generated content, while preserving the quality of museum collections data. Finally, this thesis tests and evaluates the usability of the Reanimating Cultural Heritage social networking system, in particular the suitability of the digital technology solution deployed. Testing is performed with a user group composed of several users, and the results obtained are presented

Parametric Surfaces for Augmented Architecture representation

Augmented Reality (AR) represents a growing communication channel, responding to the need to expand reality with additional information, offering easy and engaging access to digital data. AR for architectural representation allows a simple interaction with 3D models, facilitating spatial understanding of complex volumes and topological relationships between parts, overcoming some limitations related to Virtual Reality. In the last decade different developments in the pipeline process have seen a significant advancement in technological and algorithmic aspects, paying less attention to 3D modeling generation. For this, the article explores the construction of basic geometries for 3D model’s generation, highlighting the relationship between geometry and topology, basic for a consistent normal distribution. Moreover, a critical evaluation about corrective paths of existing 3D models is presented, analysing a complex architectural case study, the virtual model of Villa del Verginese, an emblematic example for topological emerged problems. The final aim of the paper is to refocus attention on 3D model construction, suggesting some "good practices" useful for preventing, minimizing or correcting topological problems, extending the accessibility of AR to people engaged in architectural representation

Content rendering and interaction technologies for digital heritage systems

Existing digital heritage systems accommodate a huge amount of digital repository information; however their content rendering and interaction components generally lack the more interesting functionality that allows better interaction with heritage contents. Many digital heritage libraries are simply collections of 2D images with associated metadata and textual content, i.e. little more than museum catalogues presented online. However, over the last few years, largely as a result of EU framework projects, some 3D representation of digital heritage objects are beginning to appear in a digital library context. In the cultural heritage domain, where researchers and museum visitors like to observe cultural objects as closely as possible and to feel their existence and use in the past, giving the user only 2D images along with textual descriptions significantly limits interaction and hence understanding of their heritage. The availability of powerful content rendering technologies, such as 3D authoring tools to create 3D objects and heritage scenes, grid tools for rendering complex 3D scenes, gaming engines to display 3D interactively, and recent advances in motion capture technologies for embodied immersion, allow the development of unique solutions for enhancing user experience and interaction with digital heritage resources and objects giving a higher level of understanding and greater benefit to the community. This thesis describes DISPLAYS (Digital Library Services for Playing with Shared Heritage Resources), which is a novel conceptual framework where five unique services are proposed for digital content: creation, archival, exposition, presentation and interaction services. These services or tools are designed to allow the heritage community to create, interpret, use and explore digital heritage resources organised as an online exhibition (or virtual museum). This thesis presents innovative solutions for two of these services or tools: content creation where a cost effective render grid is proposed; and an interaction service, where a heritage scenario is presented online using a real-time motion capture and digital puppeteer solution for the user to explore through embodied immersive interaction their digital heritage

Collaborative and Multi-Modal Mixed Reality for Enhancing Cultural Learning in Virtual Heritage

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1001stories+: An effective and affordable multi-media, multi-format communication framework for cultural heritage institutions

Over the last decade, there has been an increasing number of technologies and devices (including smartphones, tablets and alike) able to provide new perspectives for the use of multimedia applications in the field of Cultural Heritage. This work arises from the interest in providing better authoring/delivery possibilities to cultural heritage institutions (small and medium sized in particular). Indeed, often medium and small sized museums do not have the necessary resources to create high quality multimedia productions. Not only have they faced short time and low budget, but a shortage of dedicated staff. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, this thesis focuses on the development of an effective and affordable multi-media, multi-format communication framework. The framework provides institutions with guidelines and methodologies and it is based on an innovative authoring tools (not developed in this thesis, but available). Specific concerns of the framework are: developing multimedia content within a short time span, developing multimedia content with a limited, low-budget, adapting multimedia content to different technologies and to different user experiences, making possible to “reuse multimedia content” (e.g. from websites, to audio guides, to multimedia guides, to YouTube or to paper brochures) This research has been conducted throughout parallel and intertwined processes, requiring a take of perspective. One the one hand, a general investigation (about multimedia formats, technologies and methodologies for production) has been conducted. On the other hand, an empirical work on real-life multimedia productions has been undergone. Indeed, the merging of theoretical knowledge and real fieldwork remains the main characteristic of this study’s methodological approach and of its strength. Its overall result is a fully developed framework (named 1001stories +), providing: multi-media, content information is presented throughout different media, including images, text, audio, and video; effective, the content can have the desired impact on the audience; affordable, content can be created in a short time, within low budget, and can be reused; multi-technology, content is available on different channels (web, smart phones, tablets, You tube, etc…); multi-format, content can be reorganized into various solutions, generating different formats for different user experiences. A more conceptual contribution of this thesis is about consideration of what communication in the Cultural Heritage domain is about, what its purposes are, and what the most appropriate means to reach the potential audience may be

D7.3 Training materials

This Deliverable gives a detailed description of the comprehensive training programme and of the open educational content that the University of Padua has accomplished up to now for the project "Linked Heritage: Coordination of standard and technologies for the enrichment of Europeana" (CIP Best Practice Network). The final version of D7.3 will be released by the end of the project, when all the Learning Objects will be finished

Digital gypsotheque. Online features as inclusive educational tool

The paper deals with the first results of an ongoing research on the issues of digitization of CH for educational and museum purposes. The research starts from the study of the small plaster casts collection kept inside the Santa Croce complex at the University of Cagliari. The workflow aims to investigate the potential of advanced technologies by reconciling the needs strictly related to the two principles of measurement and visualization. The construction of an information system will facilitate not only the classification and management of the digital plaster collection but also communication for scientific and didatic purposes. Two different possible applications are considered: the first for the construction of a web platform for the remote interactive query of the database, the second for the virtual visit of the rooms that host some of the casts through the delivery platform for point & click games developed in the PAC-PAC research project