Semantic annotation for 3D cultural artefacts: MVP

A suite of tools for semantic annotation of 3D cultural artefacts is being developed as part of the NFDI4Culture project across several partner organisations (led by the Open Science lab at TIB, Hannover). Operating within Task area 1: Data capture and enrichment, the proposed toolchain focuses on the annotation of 3D data within a knowledge graph environment, so that 3D objects’ geometry, attendant metadata, as well as annotations remain searchable, while data interconnections are not lost

The intangibility of tangible objects: re-telling artefact stories through spatial multimedia annotations and 3D objects

An interdisciplinary team at the University of Cologne just released Kompakkt, an open-source online-tool for linking 3D objects to multimedia content and for gathering information through annotations in 3D space more generally. It enables users to share, explore, and collaboratively annotate objects in standard modern web browsers. The 3D representation of an object serves as the hub of an open-ended collection of heterogeneous information established through the use of multimedia annotations. The annotations are flexible (meta)data complementing what one usually finds in collection management systems in the GLAM sector. Through personalised and group level collections of 3D models, images, sounds and videos Kompakkt enables a novel solution for gathering and generating artefact information. The third dimension of objects highlights the perspective of annotations in a new way: annotations are not only linked to a specific location in space, the corresponding point of view chosen by the user is also relevant. Linking and ranking annotations leads to moving from one annotation (and a specific perspective) to another, which implies a movement through space in time. That allows new ways of annotation-based storytelling, where annotations can be used for presentations in which movement in VR- and AR-applications is embedded

Collaborative annotation and semantic enrichment of 3D media

A new FOSS (free and open source software) toolchain and associated workflow is being developed in the context of NFDI4Culture, a German consortium of research- and cultural heritage institutions working towards a shared infrastructure for research data that meets the needs of 21st century data creators, maintainers and end users across the broad spectrum of the digital libraries and archives field, and the digital humanities. This short paper and demo present how the integrated toolchain connects: 1) OpenRefine - for data reconciliation and batch upload; 2) Wikibase - for linked open data (LOD) storage; and 3) Kompakkt - for rendering and annotating 3D models. The presentation is aimed at librarians, digital curators and data managers interested in learning how to manage research datasets containing 3D media, and how to make them available within an open data environment with 3D-rendering and collaborative annotation features

European Survey on Scholarly Practices and Digital Needs in the Arts and Humanities

This report summarizes the statistical analysis of the findings of a web-based survey conducted by the Digital Methods and Practices Observatory (DiMPO), a working group under VCC2 of the DARIAH research infrastructure (Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities). In order to provide an evidence-based, up-to-date, and meaningful account of the emerging information practices, needs and attitudes of arts and humanities researchers in the evolving European digital scholarly environment, the web survey involved a transnational team of researchers from more than a dozen countries, and addressed digitally-enabled research practices, attitudes and needs in all areas of Europe and across different arts and humanities disciplines and contexts

Light Variability Illuminates Niche-Partitioning among Marine Picocyanobacteria

Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus picocyanobacteria are dominant contributors to marine primary production over large areas of the ocean. Phytoplankton cells are entrained in the water column and are thus often exposed to rapid changes in irradiance within the upper mixed layer of the ocean. An upward fluctuation in irradiance can result in photosystem II photoinactivation exceeding counteracting repair rates through protein turnover, thereby leading to net photoinhibition of primary productivity, and potentially cell death. Here we show that the effective cross-section for photosystem II photoinactivation is conserved across the picocyanobacteria, but that their photosystem II repair capacity and protein-specific photosystem II light capture are negatively correlated and vary widely across the strains. The differences in repair rate correspond to the light and nutrient conditions that characterize the site of origin of the Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus isolates, and determine the upward fluctuation in irradiance they can tolerate, indicating that photoinhibition due to transient high-light exposure influences their distribution in the ocean

Collaborative International Research in Clinical and Longitudinal Experience Study in NMOSD.

Objective: To develop a resource of systematically collected, longitudinal clinical data and biospecimens for assisting in the investigation into neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) epidemiology, pathogenesis, and treatment. Methods: To illustrate its research-enabling purpose, epidemiologic patterns and disease phenotypes were assessed among enrolled subjects, including age at disease onset, annualized relapse rate (ARR), and time between the first and second attacks. Results: As of December 2017, the Collaborative International Research in Clinical and Longitudinal Experience Study (CIRCLES) had enrolled more than 1,000 participants, of whom 77.5% of the NMOSD cases and 71.7% of the controls continue in active follow-up. Consanguineous relatives of patients with NMOSD represented 43.6% of the control cohort. Of the 599 active cases with complete data, 84% were female, and 76% were anti-AQP4 seropositive. The majority were white/Caucasian (52.6%), whereas blacks/African Americans accounted for 23.5%, Hispanics/Latinos 12.4%, and Asians accounted for 9.0%. The median age at disease onset was 38.4 years, with a median ARR of 0.5. Seropositive cases were older at disease onset, more likely to be black/African American or Hispanic/Latino, and more likely to be female. Conclusions: Collectively, the CIRCLES experience to date demonstrates this study to be a useful and readily accessible resource to facilitate accelerating solutions for patients with NMOSD

Setting the Space: Creating Surroundings for an Interdisciplinary Discourse and Sharing of (Implicit) Knowledge

The international workshop Thinking in Practice was organized to explore scholarly modelling from the perspectives of researchers belonging to various disciplines. This focus on interdisciplinarity made the workshop unlike other academic meetings. Therefore it was important to build an environment and create a surrounding to share not only explicit knowledge connected to the ordinary scholarly work of the participants, but also to invite them to share their implicit knowledge, which often happens in a complex secluded network of relationships, removed from conscious knowledge sharing. Taking these aspects into account, this article reflects upon the created workshop model from an abstract view, outlining the selection of participants, location and format and how the planning contributed to a notably successful event

Visuelle modellbasierte Experimente in den (digitalen) Geisteswissenschaften

This article presents a number of visual experiments with a special focus on processes of media transformation and modelling. In the selected examples, the development and use of computer systems are used to create different visual artefacts. These experiments can only be performed with the use of models in modelling processes. This chapter shows how important modelling and the use and development of software is for the analytical reflections and thus for the gaining of new knowledge. We also show how these points tend towards a more general pattern: visual experiments in the digital humanities cannot be performed without the use of models

Modelling Virtual Realities. Virtual Reality as a Transformative Technology for the Humanities

The current state of the art technologies offer many people the opportunity to experience Virtual Reality (VR) without having to purchase expensive devices. This results in a rapidly growing number of different explorable contents, and overall concepts are also quite diverse. Looking at VR as a form of representation and as a means of reproducing narratives, many potential research questions also for the (digital) humanities arise. Analyzing VR from this perspective includes observing, exploring, and comprehending the modelling of virtual worlds. It is of key importance to consider the process of creation, which is a process of modelling done by different individuals with different disciplinary backgrounds. Thus, several practical and reflective theoretical Digital Humanities courses at the University of Cologne were offered in which virtual worlds for the narration of theatre plays as well as other narratives were modeled by the students. This approach includes the presentation of appropriate concepts to the students, guiding them through concrete cases while also providing enough space for new creative and individual ideas. For this purpose, teaching began with the adaptation of works originated in other media. Theatre plays were used as the basis for a first transmission into this audio-visual form of representation, focussing on the processes of media transformation. During the development of the different practical projects, a tension between realistic and symbolic representation, interactivity, storytelling, self- and world-perception, and individual immersive experiences emerged. This paper proposes bridging VR and Humanities, creating a valuable outcome through the implementation of virtual realities in teaching environments and through the reflection on the narratives and content in the process of modeling humanities. The development of VR applications as a process of media transformation in teaching will be discussed here

Towards a common data model for semantic annotation of digital media: A new FOSS toolchain

In this poster we present the ongoing development of an integrated free and open source toolchain for semantic annotation of digitised cultural heritage. The toolchain development involves the specification of a common data model that aims to increase interoperability across diverse datasets and to enable new collaborative research approaches