Digital meets Culture

Budapest, 6th October, 2018

REACH project at Budapest Ritmo Conference

The Budapest Ritmo Conference is the biggest world music forum in Central Europe, a unique opportunity for professionals to debate on trends and challenges, with a Central European focus.
In 2018, panels focused on:
– European music policies
– The UNESCO’s Music Cities initiative
– The music’s role in urban development
The conference was attended by the EU Commissioner for Culture Tibor Navracsics, several representatives of leading European music organizations like the European Music Council, the European Music Export Exchange Network and representatives of leading cities in the network, Katowice and Mannheim.
The event aimed at giving an opportunity to future European Capitals of Culture to present their plans and exchange views with experts in the field of world music.
A specific panel titled “The richest heritage, unclaimed – Roma musical tradition in the Carpathian Basin and its wider region “, was dedicated to investigate Who shall preserve the rich and diverse Roma heritage, the heritage of a people without a Country or a State and What can be done on international level.
Dr. Eszter György, from Eötvös Loránd University, contributed to enrich the debate introducing the REACH project and shared with the participants experiences and investigations carried on in the framework of the Minority Heritage pilot, focused on the promotion and support of the ROMA cultural heritage.
Conference sessions are held in English.
The venue of Budapest Ritmo Conference was Akvárium Klub, “Aranyhall”.
Link to the Conference Programme: http://budapestritmo.hu/en/ritmo-conference/

Thursday 4 October 2018, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm at Ars Electronica Center

Deep Space LIVE: ARS ELECTRONICA inspired by Bruegel

2019 marks the 450th anniversary of the death of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the outstanding painter of the Dutch Renaissance. On the occasion of this anniversary, the Delegation of Flanders, the Art History Museum Vienna and Ars Electronica are showing impressive gigapixel images of his most famous works. In Deep Space 8K, the high-resolution images reveal a host of tiny details that remain hidden from the eye during normal viewing. The pictures presented for the first time by Geert Van der Snickt (AXES Research Group of University of Antwerp) and by Frederik Temmermans (IMEC and Free University of Brussels) will be expertly explained at this Deep Space LIVE. Also present are Professor Manfred Sellink, Curator of the Bruegel Exhibition and Director General of the Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, and Stefan Zeisler, Director of Visual Media at the Art History Museum Vienna.

Frederik Temmermans says “There are many little details in the Bruegel paintings that are nearly impossible to spot when looking at the paintings from a typical distance in a museum exhibition. On the Inside Bruegel website on the other hand, you can get so close that you can inspect these details till the level of individual paint strokes. For me, this shows how complementary the website is with visiting the exhibition. If I have to pick one example, I choose the castle in the The Gloomy Day. When you zoom in close, you can see so many little details such as the little windows and snow on the walls. These details are very hard to see in real with the naked eye.”

Read more comments by experts Geert Van der Snickt and Frederik Temmermans in this inteview: https://ars.electronica.art/aeblog/en/2018/10/01/deep-space-live-bruegel/

About the Event: https://ars.electronica.art/center/en/inspired-by-bruegel/

Bruegel’s works permanently expand the art-historical offer at Deep Space 8K and will also be on view on SAT October 6, 2018 as part of the Long Night of the Museums.

Kindly supported by the Delegation of Flanders and the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna

New ways to promote participatory approaches to culture.

AR Technology and Institutional heritage

A recent boom in augmented reality (AR) technology is leading educational institutions to explore new ways of teaching, where virtual scenes are mixed with real-life locations and objects. However, more research is needed in order to understand when and how AR can be leveraged to increase knowledge rather than merely entertain visitors.
In a new partnership between the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County (which includes the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum) and University of Southern California, researchers will seek to understand how best to design augmented reality experiences for effective learning.
The project is funded by a new grant from the National Science Foundation totaling $2 million.
Emily Lindsey, assistant curator and excavation site director for the La Brea Tar Pits, and Benjamin Nye, the director of learning science at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, are the principal investigators.
A key aspect of the project is to use AR to provide additional information about what visitors see to help dispel misconceptions. “Augmented reality offers a powerful medium to share how science happens at the La Brea Tar Pits,” Nye says. “AR can show hidden worlds connected to what you would normally see with your eyes, such as seeing the pits in different time periods. These can tell the story of not just what we know, but how we know what we know.”

“Certain scientific concepts, like the nature of geologic time, have historically been difficult for people to wrap their minds around,” Lindsey says. “This partnership allows us to explore the ways that new, immersive technologies can help people understand and connect with these concepts more fully.”

Source: https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/uosc-nhm091018.php

https://www.usc.edu/

a project co-funded by the EU in the framework of CEF Connecting Europe Facility programme

50s in Europe Kaleidoscope (2018-2020)

“50s in Europe Kaleidoscope” is a new project led by KU Leuven and including a mix of technology partners, universities and content providers. The aim of the project is to use state-of-the-art technologies to improve the user experience in engaging with digital cultural heritage. The targeted theme is ‘Europe in the 50s’, when citizens on both sides of the East-West divide started to rebuild their lives after the war. By showcasing their daily life, work, play and leisure – as well as austerity, stress, despair – in an interactive, user-driven way and contextualised in the political nascence of the EU, this project wants to appeal to Europeans today.

The kick-off took place on 20-21 September in Leuven hosted by the coordinator with participation of EC representatives and of Europeana. 50s in Europe Kaleidoscope is co-financed by the European Union in the frameowrk of CEF Connecting Europe Facility Programme.

Thematic focus: the 1950s in Europe.

The 1950s can be considered the foundation period of today’s Europe. Although recovering from the traumatic legacy of a recent, violent past, the transformation of Europe from a geographical expression to an integrated continent of peace and security was a distant dream. At the beginning of the decade some institutions (the OEEC and the Council of Europe) were already in place and, by the end of the decade, a framework for integration had been established with the Treaty of Rome. But Europe was divided – the formation of the Warsaw Pact in 1955 symbolising Cold War tensions. Coinciding with political repression, authoritarianism and the fear of nuclear annihilation, was a sense of increasing prosperity, welfarism and the development of democratic rights. The 1950s may be said, therefore, to be lodged in popular consciousness as a decade of diverse experiences across Europe – tradition balanced with innovation, and the old mixed with the new.

Technology at service of people.

The project offers innovative tools to engage citizens with digital heritage content. The thematic focus of 1950s in Europe is extensively documented by Europeana, the European digital library. Using pictures of people in the streets, men and women in the workplace, children playing, reconstruction works, changing cityscapes, freedom and repression, the project will compare the ‘feel’ of the fifties in the various European countries. The resulting stories will provide a stimulating environment for user engagement, open to multiple interpretations and to the inclusion of user-generated content.

Partners

KU Leuven – project coordinator
PHOTOCONSORTIUM – International Consortium for Photographic Heritage
Coventry University
CRDI – Ajuntament De Girona – Centre De Recerca I Difusió De La Imatge
NTUA – National Technical University of Athens
IMEC – Interuniversitair Micro-Electronica Centrum
SPK – Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz
KIK-IRPA – Koninklijk Instituut voor het Kunstpatrimonium – Institut royal du Patrimoine artistique
TOPFOTO – Topham Partners LLP
OSZK – National Széchényi Library of Hungary

Project Objectives:

– implement an intelligent visual similarity search that integrates and complements the Europeana Core Service functionality, applying state-of-the-art deep learning techniques on a training photo collection; afterwards, the trained models will be applied to predefined collections and queries and on real life scenes, to be matched with images from the collections.

– improve the end-user experience, supporting discovery and further use of the photographic content in Europeana, combining it with personal experience and user-generated material via demonstrator applications (web/mobile) and augmented reality services, for users and CH institutions.

– improve the Europeana database integrating back-end tools to allow users to manipulate photographic collections, then interacting with the source Europeana database to update the existing records with the crowdsourced annotation, contents and addenda.

– develop a community of users (culture lovers, educators&researchers, GLAM pros, creatives), for awareness-raising on Europeana content and its research, societal and even commercial potential, and for training/demonstration of reuse. A key component for this action will be an educational portal including a MOOC.

– yield data that are beneficial to support curation work, particularly in curating virtual exhibitions, thus answering a need identified during the creation of Europeana Photography Thematic Collection.

More info: http://www.photoconsortium.net/50s-in-europe-kaleidoscope/

Photo courtesy Topfoto.co.uk. In Copyright.

Pisa (Italy), 12th October 2018

Europeana Migration Collection Day – Pisa

Photoconsortium and KU Leuven, in collaboration with Europeana, the European digital library, in the framework of the Europeana Migration project, organized a Collection Day and photographic exhibition hosted by the Museo della Grafica in Pisa.
We all have objects, photographs and tales that tell stories of where we’ve come from and what’s shaped our lives.
As with other Collection Days, in Pisa an interview room with digitization station was set up: citizens and museum visitors were invited to share their stories about travels and migration, to share the common research of new horizons, accompained by objects like photographs, letters, postcards or recipes, which represent a bridge between their past and the presence.
During all day about 20 testimonials have been collected which will soon appear online at migration.europeana.eu.

photo by Rudy Pessina

In the late afternoon, the official opening of the photo exhibition “Thousands are Sailing” celebrated the Europeana Migration collection and marked a great day for photographic heritage and citizens participation.
20 portraits – some formal and posed, some casual or inconspicuously snapped – represent equally as many stories of people who once left their homeland to go settle abroad.
The exhibition includes images from important archives and museums from all over Europe. It will be on show until 11th November.

photo by Rudy Pessina

An apertif and good time concluded the evening in Pisa.
To conclude the initiative, on Sunday the 14th, in occasion of the “Families at Museums” national day, the Museo della Grafica arranged a special event dedicated to children and parents: a guided visit to the “Thousands are Sailing” exhibition and a creative laboratory were set up, giving to families the opportunity to participate and reflect upon what it means to “follow your dream”.
More on the 12th October: http://www.photoconsortium.net/happy-stories-from-pisa-collection-day-europeana-migration/
FB Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/238852503456635/
About Thousands are Sailing: http://www.photoconsortium.net/thousands-are-sailing-photograhic-exhibition-in-pisa-12-oct-11-nov-2018/

photo by Rudy Pessina

More information:

photography.europeana.eu

migration.europeana.eu

Udine (Italy), 23-25 January 2019

AIUCD 2019 – Pedagogy, teaching, and research in the age of Digital Humanities

The main topic of the AIUCD 2019 Conference is ‘Pedagogy, teaching, and research in the age of Digital Humanities’. The conference aims at reflecting on the new possibilities that the digital yields for pedagogy, teaching, and scholarly research: how will these transform teaching in the humanities? What contributions can humanistic cultural critique offer to the digital revolution? What is the connection with the digitization plan for Universities outlined by the Ministry? It also concerns the Digital Humanities as a new discipline, and this brings forward further considerations: how can the new professional figure of the digital humanist be developed? Which areas of knowledge define the Digital Humanities as a subject of study, research, and teaching? How can we recognise, classify, describe, and evaluate research efforts in the Digital Humanities?

CALL FOR PAPERS

While open to other topics related to Digital Humanities, proposals for contributions are particularly encouraged on the following:

General questions:

the epistemological positioning and area of knowledge of DH in relation to the systems of Academic Research Areas (Settori Scientifico-Disciplinari) and Recruiting in Italy;
the positioning of DH in the European and International academic systems;
the evaluation of research in DH beyond traditional publications;
dissemination, public history, and crowdsourcing within research projects;
the role of inter(multi-trans-cross)-disciplinary DH research in European projects, enquiry, and teaching.

Pedagogy and teaching questions:

teaching DH: which models, technologies, and methods?
teaching the humanities in secondary schools and universities with DH tools;
teaching DH at the University: how is it taught today?
DH and media: production, dissemination, and analytical prospects
teaching history and DH;
DH and didactic strategies;
DH and hands-on teaching practices;
DH and primary source teaching;
Big Data methodologies and technologies in DH research and teaching.

Questions concerning research efforts:

statistical and quantitative research methods and their teaching applications;
Data Science and the role of DH in the definition of new knowledge;
Information science and DH: meeting points and methodological integration;
cultural and social impact of humanities research with computational methodologies;
Semantic web technologies and linked open data in the humanities;
models and tools for knowledge representation in the humanities and the cultural heritage sector;
visualization methodologies and technologies and their significance for humanities and cultural heritage knowledge and information;
Natural Language Processing methodologies and applications for the humanities;
digitization methodologies and technologies for the production, preservation, and promotion of digital cultural heritage.

The deadline for submitting proposals is the 25th October 2018 (h. 23.59 CET).

Website: https://aiucd2019.wordpress.com/

The workshop investigated new roles for Research Libraries on the way to Open Science

Third mission and Citizen science, workshop in Padua

On the 17th September, the University of Padova Library Center organized a workshop entitled Third mission and Citizen science, new roles for Research Libraries on the way to Open Science.

The topic of the workshop, that was held in the Auditorium of the Botanical Garden, was the role of Academic Libraries in the framework of the Third mission and Citizen science to promote awareness and participation of libraries so that this dimension becomes part of the University library systems’ mission.

The Third mission, also defined as knowledge transfer, community service and third stream in English-speaking countries, has been important in Italian universities in contributing to society’s social, cultural and economic development and in creating interactions between academia and the territory. This dimension is expressed through a series of activities which are mainly related to the strategic areas of “Technology Transfer and Employment” and “Public Commitment and Valorisation of cultural heritage”. The so-called Citizen science, namely the activities and projects which involve citizen volunteers in the collection and analysis of data in collaboration with scientists and scientific institutions, is also included in the Third mission.

An interested audience of ca. 120 librarians, museum curators, archivists and experts in the cultural sector was engaged in the varied programme of interventions, with 12 speakers chaired by Paolo Budroni (University of Vienna, E-IRG Austrian National Delegate).

Speeches by Stefan Hanslik (Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research), The European Open Science Cloud – the Austrian experience; Roberto Balzani (University of Bologna), Navigare alla cieca. La Terza Missione fra retorica pubblica, autorappresentazione accademica e innovazione culturale; Cristina Dondi (University of Oxford), Condividere con il pubblico il frutto della collaborazione internazionale delle biblioteche: Printing Revolution 1450-1500. I cinquant’anni che hanno cambiato l’Europa (Venezia, Museo Correr e Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, 1 Settembre 2018 – 7 Gennaio 2019); Maurizio Vedaldi (University of Padova), Che ci azzeccano le biblioteche accademiche con la Terza missione?; Deborah Agostino (Politecnico Milano), È possibile misurare il contributo delle biblioteche alla terza missione? Evidenze dal progetto Good Practice and Giorgio Maria Di Nunzio (Associazione per l’Informatica Umanistica e le Culture Digitali – AIUCD), Le biblioteche (digitali) come strumento per la diffusione dei risultati della ricerca took place in the morning.

The presentations were followed by a session on comparing experiences which saw the participation of Serafina Spinelli (University Library System of Bologna), Biblioteche e terza missione. Le esperienze dell’Università di Bologna; Laura Vannucci (University Library System of Firenze), Il Sistema Bibliotecario dell’Ateneo di Firenze e la terza missione: il caso della mostra “Tesori inesplorati”; Caterina Fortarezza and Luana Varalta (University Library System of Milano), Philosophy and Children. Ricerca e laboratori per bambini in una biblioteca universitaria; Lorisa Andreoli (University Library System of Padova), Valorizzazione dei beni culturali e apertura al territorio. Il percorso del Sistema Bibliotecario dell’Ateneo di Padova; Adriana Magarotto (University Library System of Roma “La Sapienza”), Il patrimonio e le competenze delle biblioteche universitarie per la società. A round table of discussions and question and answer session concluded the workshop with final wrap up by the Chair.

Follow up information and videos of the event available at: http://bibliotecadigitale.cab.unipd.it/chi_siamo/i-progetti/new-roles-for-the-university-libraries-third-mission-and-citizen-science/new-roles-for-the-university-libraries-third-mission-and-citizen-science.-presentation_EN

Save the date: 22 October 2018, Nicosia, Cyprus

Upcoming workshop:“Historic Cities & ICT: Which building will you save first?”

Cyprus University of Technology organizes a one-day Workshop on innovative use of ICT (Information Communication and Technology) on preserving, protecting and promoting Cultural Heritage in Historic Cities. The Workshop will take place in Nicosia at 22nd of October 2018 (Monday) between 10:30 and 16:30, in Leventis Gallery. The workshop is divided in two parts: first part (10:30 to 13:30) will include scientific presentations to the participants under the theme of ICT & Cultural Heritage, focusing on specific thematic areas. The second part (14:30 to 16:30) is a hands-on workshop where all the participants will be engaged in a decision-making tool for historic cities.
The Workshop is part of project IRC-HERMES, funded by Interreg Balkan- Mediterranean. IRC-HERMES addresses the rescue, promotion and development of cultural heritage. It focuses on preventing the danger of collapse by means of management and prevention algorithms for historic buildings. .
The Workshop is scheduled in the framework of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 and as a side event of the 5th Anniversary Conference of the 7 Most Endangered programme and Capacity Building Days on Endangered Heritage which will take place on 22-24 October in Nicosia (Cyprus), organized by EUROPA NOSTRA.
If you are interested in presenting a paper in this workshop, you should submit an Abstract under the following Thematic Areas:
• Historic Cities and Cultural Heritage Management
• Tourism and Cultural Heritage
• Cultural Heritage for Education
• Digital Heritage (focusing on historic cities, monuments & buildings)
• Community Engagement for Cultural Heritage
• Urban Planning for Historic Cities
• Endangered Cultural Heritage (focusing on monuments and buildings)

You will have three (3) months (after the workshop) to submit the full paper.
All papers and workshop results will be published in RESEARCH GATE (with DOI) and in IRC-HERMES project portal. There will be a vast dissemination of the papers and the results of this Workshop, through our partners and Europa Nostra.
Important Dates:
Abstract Submission deadline (for presentation): 20th of September 2018 (maximum 6 presentations)
Registration (Free) deadline: 30th of September 2018 (maximum 30 participants)

Workshop Agenda:
10:00 – 10:30: Registration / Coffee
10:30 – 13:30: Paper Presentations
13:30 – 14:30: Lunch
14:30 – 16:30: Hands-on Workshop; designing a conservation plan

http://irc-hermes.eu/
Facebook: @IRC.HERMES

Organized by Cyprus University of Technology,
Department of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Informatics

The agenda of the conference will be published in the next few days. Participation in workshops is for free.

Euromed 2018 registrations are now open

The EuroMed2018 registration is online and it is mandatory for ALL the participants:
https://euromed2018.eu/index.php/registration

Moreover, it is a real success that in total 537 papers have been submitted and reviewed for the EuroMed2018 conference. The 97 accepted papers are already by the Springer-Nature publisher and the corresponding authors will be notified directly from the publisher in the next 10-15 days. The EuroMed2018 e-proceedings, as well as, the hard-copy proceedings will be available at the conference.

The agenda of the conference will be published in the next few days.
Those of you, who want to attend one of the workshops or all of them, have to register (free of charge) to each one separately:
Workshop 1 – European Parliament/Commission Workshop
https://goo.gl/kLVMMa

Workshop 2 – H2020 – COST Joint Session
https://goo.gl/XTdUTL

Workshop 3 – H2020 – VIMM
https://goo.gl/HfWc84

Workshop 4 – H2020 – INCEPTION Workshop
https://goo.gl/iJbZJX

Workshop 5 – H2020 – CrossCult
https://goo.gl/PTQ83q

Workshop 6 – Europeana Transcribathon 1914-1918 in Cyprus
https://goo.gl/axf7gE

The most important workshop will be on the 29th-30th of October and it is in cooperation with the European Parliament and the European Commission. Key professionals from around the world will be actively involved and few authors will be invited to present their work also. The workshop is focusing on the current state of the art and future challenges in the area of 3D documentation in Cultural Heritage. The results of this workshop will help the policy makers at the European Commission to shape the next agenda on Digital Heritage in the upcoming Horizon-Europe Framework programme (2021-2027). Attached you can find the official announcement from the European Commission.

The EuroMed publications have been downloaded more than one (1) million times from the e-Portal of Springer-Nature since 2010 (the start of our cooperation with Springer). Therefore, our proceedings belong to the 10 bestselling e-books of Springer-Nature worldwide. To celebrate that, the Publisher will be represented at the conference with one senior Director in Charge of the LNCS publications and it is offering 1000 Euro Award for the three best papers (FULL, PROJECT and SHORT). Consequently, the first best paper under the category FULL will receive 400 Euro, the best paper under the category PROJECT will receive 400 Euro and the best paper under SHORT papers will receive 200 Euro award.

The award ceremony will be during the opening ceremony on the 29th of October 2018.

>>>>>

Some important information for all of you travelling to Cyprus:

1. Venue of the conference: Filoxenia International Conference Center in Nicosia, Cyprus http://www.fcc.com.cy/ (Google Maps: https://goo.gl/p9tqcP)

2. Traveling to Cyprus and from the airports to Nicosia: https://www.euromed2018.eu/index.php/travelling-cyprus

3. Travelling in Nicosia by BUS:
a) https://itunes.apple.com/cy/app/cyprus-bus/id1384885081?mt=8 app store
b) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gmv.cyprusbus2 android

4. Hotel accommodation in Nicosia: https://www.euromed2018.eu/index.php/accommodation

5. About Cyprus: http://www.aspectsofcyprus.com/ and Cyprus Tourism Organization: http://www.visitcyprus.com/index.php/en/

EXTENDED Deadline: 15 October 2018 - Theme: The First World War.

Europeana Research Grants Programme 2018: Call for Submissions Open

The Europeana Research Grants Programme 2018 will fund up to three projects, depending on the quality of the applications, with 8,000 Euros on average per project. We invite you to explore the Europeana 1914-1918 Collection and to submit projects that are transnational in scope. The collection hosts 400,000 items aggregated from Europeana partner libraries, archives and museums, including over 600 hours of video, alongside 200,000 items of content contributed by individuals both online and during the 200+ collection days. The community collection days, organised by Europeana and other institutions throughout Europe, invited people to share their stories and objects from the First World War, which were then digitised by professional archivists. Applicants are also invited to explore the selection of newspapers from the First World War period in the Europeana platform, which offers over 20,000 openly licensed records.

The eligible projects must:

Focus on the First World War theme.
Use openly licensed Europeana content, including but not limited to the Europeana 1914-1918 Collection.
Apply digital tools and digital humanities methods to address their specific research topic.

More info and application: https://pro.europeana.eu/post/research-grants-programme-2018-call-for-submissions-open

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