Digital meets Culture

The latest version of veraPDF is now available to download

The latest version of veraPDF is now available. Version 0.24 includes a prototype of batch validation in both the CLI and GUI. Other new enhancements include:

Conformance checker

added extraction of the AFRelationship key for embedded files as a part of veraPDF feature extraction.

Application enhancements

implemented prototype of batch validation from CLI and GUI;
implemented robust handling of run-time exceptions during batch processing; and
added error info on the run-time exceptions to the validation report.

Code Quality

moved feature extraction and metadata fixing code to library; and
tidied various compiler warnings.

Download veraPDF 0.24:

http://www.preforma-project.eu/verapdf-download.html

http://downloads.verapdf.org/rel/verapdf-installer.zip

Release notes:

https://github.com/veraPDF/veraPDF-library/releases/latest

Call for testing

veraPDF is building an open source, industry-supported PDF/A validator. Please support our efforts by downloading and testing the software. If you encounter problems, or wish to suggest improvements, please add them to the project’s GitHub issue tracker (https://github.com/veraPDF/veraPDF-library/issues), or contact us through our mailing list. Your feedback is very important, it helps to improve the software.

Find out more about veraPDF

Webinar: Watch the recording and slides from our latest webinar: http://verapdf.org/2016/09/26/recording-and-slides-from-verapdf-webinar-published/

Mailing list: Join our mailing list: http://lists.verapdf.org/listinfo/users

Newsletter: Subscribe to to the veraPDF consortium’s newsletter: http://verapdf.org/subscribe/

Experience workshop: Meet us at the PREFORMA Experience workshop, 23 November 2016: http://experienceworkshop.preforma-project.eu/

Led by the Open Preservation Foundation and the PDF Association, the veraPDF consortium is developing the industry-supported open source, file-format validator for all parts and conformance levels of ISO 19005 (PDF/A). The software is designed to meet the needs of memory institutions responsible for preserving digital content for the long term.

The veraPDF consortium is funded by the PREFORMA project. PREFORMA (PREservation FORMAts for culture information/e-archives) is a Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) project co-funded by the European Commission under its FP7-ICT Programme.

Roboticist and artist at the University of London spent years developing his drawing robots

Paul, the robot who can draw like a human artist

From Digital Trends online magazine.

UK artist Patrick Tresset has eventually turned to robotics, creating a computational system that is “artistic, expressive, and obsessive” in its ability to draw, and more than just a copy machine, Tresset’s robots are designed with an “autonomous artistic creativity” that makes them capable of producing “objects that are considered as artworks.” This project is a serious endeavor with other researchers creating advanced robotic systems, testing them extensively, and publishing their results in scientific journals.

One of his robots is named Paul and the Paul-derived paintings have been exhibited in major art museums and have been acquired by galleries, museums, and art fairs for display. Based on the feedback provided by the art world and the art-loving public, Tresset believes the creations of Paul indeed “are considered as works of art.”

Read the full article by Kelly Hodgkins on Digital Trends:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/robotic-artist/

STORYPIX is one of the projects supported and incubated by Europeana Space after a series of hackathons and business modelling workshops

E-Space presents… STORYPIX

The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.
Muriel Rukeyser, an American poet and political activist, said it right. Our lives are build up from this strange material, that seems to hold everything together. It is through stories that we learn, we empathize, we grow as human beings. And it is how we remember.
Art has for centuries played a crucial role in people’s lives as the visual appearance of stories. They inspired us, reminded us of the universality of human struggles and opened our eyes to the miracles of being alive, which is why art is of such incalculable value.
Museums, as the guardians of this heritage, have always looked for different ways of engaging with audiences to bring them the most optimal experience of encountering artworks. Now millions of artworks have been digitized and it’s time to disclose this treasure to the audience it deserves.

Look up close and hear the stories
Storypix is a digital platform that takes art collections to the audience at large. It is a technology designed for showing artworks on billboards or large outdoor screens that are now becoming more and more available in beautiful, high quality resolution. It allows for art institutions to present their collection in a meaningful way in public space.
A large screen that shows the artwork can be controlled by anyone with a smartphone and a connection. By entering the URL in their browser, a location prompt will connect them to the artwork in front of them which show up on their phone, together with an audio player. They’re straight inside the app, no downloads required.
Now they can magically zoom in on incredible detail to see the artwork in a way that would be impossible before. The paint stroke and details of the canvas at their fingertips. And they can listen to the story of it, making it a deeply engaging experience.

Under the hood: the technology
The app is entirely web based, written in HTML5 and works with a combination of high end technologies to deliver a fast and seamless experience. One of them is a tiling service that can deal with ultra high res images very easily. This means that artworks that were scanned on gigapixel resolution can now be used in the street.
A web service is available for institutions to build their selection and upload their artworks, together with the stories. Every project can be customized to include other services such as ticket sales or print orders. And a collection page will hold all the stories for people to share amongst friends.

We are now in our final testing rounds and will be ready to launch soon.
Let’s set the arts free. They have stories to tell.

STORYPIX was one of the winner projects of the E-Space Hack Your Photo Heritage in Leuven (February 2016) and was further developed during the E-Space Business Modelling Workshop series.

Discover the 7 projects incubated by E-Space

The conference, “Online Learning in the 21st Century: Practice Problems and Prospects” takes place in Orlando (Florida US), in February 2017

Call for Papers open until 21 November for the GUIDE conference on distance learning

This conference will be jointly organized by Guide Association and University of Phoenix (Central Florida) and aims to promote discussions about the current status and next evolutions of distance learning. Particular attention will be given to the new pedagogical approaches to be used for the new digital generation, innovative emerging technologies and the keys for the successful improvement of a standardized quality system in e-learning. A Call for Papers is currently open on the conference topics.

CALL FOR PAPERS open until 21st November 2016

CONFERENCE TOPICS
Rethinking pedagogy for a digital generation

Flipped Classrooms, Blended learning and other active learning pedagogies
Case studies on gamification approach to optimize the learning process
New ideas on social networks to create collaborative learning

Emerging Technologies

Augmented and Virtual Reality enhanced learning
Next generation m-Learning and case studies
B.Y.O.D. philosophy in distance learning
Next generation multimedia products

Data Mining Strategies For E-Learning Organizations

Data-taking and analysis to increase distance learning quality
Opinions analysis and case studies
Innovative data mining methods in distance learning

Engaging and supporting faculty

Teacher training
Case studies in faculty support
Faculty development in blended and online learning

Creating communities in Distance Learning

Academic partnerships virtual collaborative success stories
Innovative practices and shared facilities
Case studies for the creation of communities of best practices

CONFERENCE WEBSITE

NORA is one of the projects supported and incubated by Europeana Space after a series of hackathons and business modelling workshops

E-Space presents… NORA

We are four art-flirty young women, each one different from the other.
We are your companions on an infinite journey through the jungle of Culture.
We are Italians, surrounded by Arts, Culture and Beauty and for sure this helped in our vision that Beauty is everywhere, but a little bit more in Art.

Forget about the grade-school teacher who dragged you at the museum, tedious books, knowall professors looking alike and objectiveness: no one is really objective, so why should we?
We will show you that everything is related to everything else and that unexpected things are more related than the others.
We are not close friends with Botero, Hirst or Koons nor we do not have a Pollock hanging on our walls (at most we could afford a drawing by our niece).
We are not the guest stars invited at MoMA’s private views but we know all the openings with a free buffet and lots of wine.
We are not professional photographers so enjoy our genuine pictures taken with our mobile phones (if we remember to put them in charge).

We will tell you what these Unidentified (maybe Flying) Objects of Arts are, explaining why they probably cost more than your whole house.
We will interview people from the Art world, asking them what you want to know.
We will confess you some secrets and curiosities, so you can look smarty with your friends by telling them.
We will show you the connections between art, cinema, fashion, music, architecture and each subject you are interested in.
We will suggest you which exhibition to visit on your next trip.
We will guide you in this magnificent, terrifying, fascinating and oneiric world.

Be ready for irreverence, fanciness, sauciness, laughing to death, aesthetic poetry written under alcohol fumes, tip ‘n tricks to become the perfect infiltrated at vernissages and more on. Embrace this cultural spectrum made of coloured and b/w strands, that would make the eyes of the teachers rolling back.
Enjoy NORA.

Learn more: http://www.noradot.com/

NORA was one of the winner projects of the E-Space Future Museum Challenge in Venice (March 2016) and was further developed during the E-Space Business Modelling Workshop series.

Discover the 7 projects incubated by E-Space

Presentations and videos of the webinars available online

The PREFORMA project run a webinar series throughout September to present the three conformance checkers that are being developed for electronic documents, still images and audiovisual files. The webinars introduced the PREFORMA project, updated participants on the current status of the conformance checkers, demonstrated the software, outlined future plans, and gave examples of how the community can contribute, or provide feedback.

The presentation and video recordings of the webinars are now available online:

DPF Manager webinar: http://www.preforma-project.eu/dpf-mnager-webinar.html
MediaConch webinar: http://www.preforma-project.eu/mediaconch-webinar.html
veraPDF webinar: http://www.preforma-project.eu/verapdf-webinar.html

The next appointment for all those who are interested to meet the PREFORMA team and the suppliers and see the demos live is the the PREFORMA Experience Workshop, which will be held at Kulturforum in Berlin on 23 November 2016.

Happy Fall From MediaArea!

MediaConch Newsletter #8 – Oct. 2016

New Release Notes

What’s new in MediaConch 16.09

Local GUI / CLI / Server / Online

New policy format to allow complex policies
Update example policies and displays
New policy editor to build complex policies
Policy rules can use MediaTrace
Handling of FFV1 16-bit bitdepth (YUV and RGB)
Support of Matroska FieldOrder, MatrixCoefficients, BitsPerChannel, Range, TransferCharacteristics, Primaries new elements
Stream count policy test (in General section)

Online GUI

Added guest mode, so no more need to register to use MediaConch Online!

CLI

Compare files (technology preview)

Server

New API version to handle new policy format

Bonus Update for the GUI / Server!

How to Migrate old policies

If you already have policies created before the MediaConch 16.09 release and want them back, follow this procedure:

1. First, go to your local folder:

On Windows: go to %APPDATA% (most of the time, it will be C:\Users$USER\AppData\Roaming).
On Mac OS: go to your $HOME/Library/Application Support/ directory (most of the time, $HOME will be /Users/$USER).
On Linux: go to your $HOME/.local/share/ directory (most of the time, $HOME will be /home/$USER).

2. Then, go to MediaConch/policies (or MediaConch\policies on Windows) directory. If it doesn’t already exist, create a directory named “-1” and move the XSL files to this directory.

3. Launch the GUI or Server and policies will be loaded.

4. Contact us if you created complex policies and would like us to move them to the new format

Latest Downloads

Download MediaConch’s latest release or a daily build.

MediaConch now supports plugins including VeraPDF and DPFManager!

Updates

First and foremost, Dave wrote a very insightful BLOG entitled ‘Policies vs. Reality’ about the deets of customizable policies and recent updates to their functionality. Make sure to check it out!

Now you no longer need an account to use MediaConch Online! Sign in as a guest anytime, from anywhere!

MediaArea in the Wild!

Dave and Natalie will join forces with the Archivematica team to for a special webinar on using MediaConch as a micro-service.

Sign up here for our MediaConch<>Artefactual Webinar – October 18th at 9 am PST / 12 noon EST / 6 pm CEST. Spots are limited to 50 participants, so sign up soon!

Late last month, Dave and Tessa went to the Library of Congress for IASA to share the current status of CELLAR (Codec Encoding for LossLess Archiving and Realtime Transmission): Update from an IETF Working Group for Archival Audiovisual
Formats. Check out their fancy slides!

Ashley, Erwin, and Jérôme are currently in Bern, Switzerland for iPRES2016 where Ashley is presenting on the paper she and Dave wrote about the status of CELLAR.

Also at iPRES, Ashley and Jérôme will host a workshop to demo all the latest with MediaConch.

The PREFORMA project invites all members of the digital preservation community to attend thethe Experience Workshop – Improving long-term digital preservation, which will be held in Berlin on November 23, 2016. Register here!

The MediaConch project and this symposium has received funding from PREFORMA, co-funded by the European Commission under it’s FP7-ICT Programme.

Feedback

MediaArea is eager to build a community of collaborators and testers to integrate the software in their workflows and participate in usability testing. Please contact us if you’d like to be involved!

Ready to download with new features suggested by the users

DPF Manager – NEW Release 2.6

DPF Manager version 2.6 is now available to download.

In this update, the list of new features is the following:

Improved GUI appearance. Now the DPF Manager logo occupies less space.
The reference to the ISO is shown in the report errors list.
DPF Manager now automatically identifies TIFF/EP and TIFF/IT ISOs and shows them in the report if valid.
Added short descriptions in policy checker options and in implementation checker rules.
Improved CLI commands format.

Also, some bugs have been fixed, you can see the complete list of changes of this new version in github. It is worth mentioning that many of this new release features have been proposed by users in the issue tracker, so don’t hesitate to ask us for any improvement or suggestion. We will consider them all and probably incorporate them in next releases.

We hope you enjoy this new release, and please contact us for any question or suggestions.

Next appointments:

IPRES 2016 starts today in Bern, Switzerland. DPFManager will be presented at the iPRES2016 conference on Wednesday! Read more…
Improving long-term digital preservation. PREFORMA EXPERIENCE WORKSHOP. 23rd November, Berlin. Register here…

Vivl.io is one of the projects supported and incubated by Europeana Space after a series of hackathons and business modelling workshops

E-Space presents… Vivl.io

Books are utterly intriguing characters. They tell stories, share knowledge, make arguments, and they fondle, poke and jab our feelings. We love reading them because they let us become part of their stories and, in their turn, they become part of our understanding of the world. At Vivl.io, we work on refining the experience of reading and exploring books, focusing on what we consider one of the greatest cultural heritage: the literary classics.

In the age of reading abundance, we believe that it is time to reinvent and rediscover the classics. By creating the best digital edition available. By offering them a cozy online home that combines a clean and seamless reading experience with unique contextual information. By putting together fine and well-crafted print editions, with attractive new covers, outstanding typography, and editorial excellence.

Vivl.io is a team that combines expertise in editorial, design, development and marketing for books. We have been working in supporting publishers in design and technology for the past 7 years and we now are launching our own digital imprint combining our knowledge and love for books and the experience of reading.

Learn more: http://vivl.io/

Vivl.io was one of the winner projects of the E-Space Hack the Book Festival in Athens (January 2016) and was further developed during the E-Space Business Modelling Workshop series.

Discover the 7 projects incubated by E-Space

How can we make better use of our digital heritage within other sectors? Expert speakers and discussions tried to find the answers.

Upcycle Digital Heritage – workshop in Derry

Over the past decades much effort has gone into the digitisation of our rich and varied cultural heritage, producing vast amounts of high quality digital data, ranging from images, video, sound and 3D. However, this valuable resource is not being fully exploited and repurposed for the benefit of many. By collaborating with several different sectors including: creative arts, community, tourism and education we can construct, reclaim, and reutilise cultural heritage data for a wide range of socially, culturally and economic activities.

This event explored some of the challenges and opportunities which are present in reusing digital heritage data with each section introduced by an international expert in this field, followed by discussion amongst the event attendees to explore potential solutions and opportunities.

[Show as slideshow]

The event was aimed at not only those in the cultural heritage sector but also those sectors discussed during the day. participants represented the sectors of Tourism, ICT, Community, Education, Enterprise, Arts.

Morning Session:

10:15 – Registration and refreshments
10:45 – Welcome and introduction
Anthony Corns (The Discovery Programme, Dublin)

11:00 – Creative Industries
How can we ensure that our digital heritage is exploited by new sectors and industries?
Introduction by Dr Antonella Fresa (Europeana Space Project) – 20 minutes
Followed by 40 minutes of discussion

12:00 – Communities
How can communities use digital technologies to make the most out of their heritage?
Introduction – Dr Stuart Jeffries (Glasgow School of Art/Digital Design Studio) – 20 minutes
Followed by 40 minutes of discussion

Afternoon Session:

14:00 – Tourism & Museums
How can utilise digital heritage to improve our experiential tourism products?
Introduction – Daniel Pletinckx (Visual Dimension bvba, Belgium) – 20 minutes
Followed by 40 minutes of discussion

15:00 – Education
How digital heritage be used to improve our understanding of the past?
Introduction – Dr Danielle O’Donovan (Irish Heritage Trust) – 20 minutes
Followed by 40 minutes of discussion

16:00 – Refreshments

16:10 – Summary, discussion and close

Speakers:

Antonella Fresa

ICT expert, General Director at Promoter Srl. Antonella has been working on European cooperation projects since 1994. Technical Coordinator and Communication Manager of several national and European projects in the domains of digitisation of cultural heritage, access and creative re-use of digital content, long-term digital preservation, smart cities, citizen science, e-Infrastructures and cloud technologies. From 2002 to 2012, advisor of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities. From 1999 to 2002, Project Officer at the European Commission. Previously, researcher in the industry, and in particular at Olivetti in Pisa, Ivrea and at the Olivetti Advanced Technology Centre in Cupertino (CA, USA). She regularly serves as independent expert for evaluations and reviews by the European Commission and national research programmes. Enterprise Fellow at Coventry University. Project Manager of Digitalmeetsculture.net, the online communication platform powered by Promoter Srl.

Stuart Jeffrey

Stuart Jeffrey is Research Fellow in International Heritage Visualisation at the Digital Design Studio of The Glasgow School of Art. Stuart studied a combined honours degree in Computer Science and Archaeology at the University of Glasgow and completed his PhD in three dimensional modelling of early medieval sculpted stones in 2003, also at the University of Glasgow. Following posts with the West of Scotland Archaeology Service and subsequently as Deputy Director of the Archaeology Data Service, Stuart took up his current role with the GSA where his work covers all aspects of heritage visualisation and the use of new technologies to create records, analyse, interpret, re-interpret and represent every form of heritage from built to intangible. Current and recent research activities include major projects funded by the AHRC researching community co-production of archaeological research data (ACCORD), educational re-use of large 3D Heritage datasets (REVISIT) and the forthcoming Scottish Community Rock Art Recording Project in partnership with Historic Environment Scotland (SCRAP). Stuart is also co-director of an historical and archaeological research project with the National Trust of Scotland working on the isle of Staffa and Fingal’s cave in particular (HARPS). Stuart has published extensively on diverse topics in archaeology and computer science, including, medieval sculpted stones, archaeological informatics, community co-production, contemporary social value, visualisation techniques, digital preservation, digital authenticity, natural language processing, and the use of social media in archaeology. Stuart is a member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

Daniel Pletinckx

Daniel Pletinckx was trained as a civil engineer, with specialisation in information technology. He gained extensive experience in system design, quality assurance, digital image processing and synthesis, 3D and virtual reality through a career of 15 years in private industry. Currently, Daniel Pletinckx is director of Visual Dimension bvba, a SME dealing with ICT based innovation in cultural heritage, education and tourism. Visual Dimension specialises in new, efficient ways for creation of and interaction with 3D digital heritage assets. The company has been active in European projects, such as the European Network of Excellence V-MusT.net that focuses on virtual and digital museums, and 3D-ICONS that provides 3D content of World Heritage monuments and sites through Europeana.

Danielle O’Donovan

Danielle holds a Ph.D. in Architectural History and an M.Sc. in Information Technology from Trinity College Dublin. At the heart of Danielle’s experience is engaging people with art, architecture, history and heritage. Danielle has taught history of architecture at third level, she has worked as a tour guide for second, third level and elderly learners. She has designed learning in the historic environment for second and third level learners, both with and without the use of digital technology.
Engaging users with heritage through digital technology has formed a large part of Danielle’s experience in recent years. This has ranged from designing interactive maps and timelines, curating blogs, crowdsourcing intangible heritage stories from diverse audiences and sharing all of these in a meaningful way that places transaction (rather than transmission) at the core of people’s relationship with history and heritage

Organized by The Discovery Programme / CARARE/ FABLAB Derry
Wednesday, October 12, 2016 from 10:15 AM to 4:30 PM (BST)
Derry/Londonderry, United Kingdom