Digital meets Culture

The latest version of veraPDF is now available to download on the PREFORMA Open Source Portal.

The latest version of veraPDF is now available. This release is the first of the PREFORMA testing phase. The release is focused on bug fixing and improvements of the test infrastructure:

Conformance checker

fixed cache issues in parsing embedded CMaps
fixed multiple issues with validation of font subsets
fixed delimiter handling in parsing content streams
ignore None colorants when checking DeviceN color spaces
fixed validation of Order arrays in optional content groups

Policy checker

fixed plug-in infrastructure
fixed handling of unknown feature types
added error info into HTML reports in case of broken PDFs

Documentation

updated developer samples
updated GUI documentation

Download veraPDF

PDFBox version: http://www.preforma-project.eu/downloads/veraPDF/bin/all-platforms/verapdf-1.2-20170302.zip
Greenfield version: http://www.preforma-project.eu/downloads/veraPDF/bin/all-platforms/verapdf-1.2-GF-20170302.zip

Release notes

The latest release notes are published at: https://github.com/veraPDF/veraPDF-library/releases/latest.

Help improve veraPDF

Testing and user feedback is key to improving the software. Please download and test the latest release. 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: http://lists.verapdf.org/listinfo/users.

To help you get started, we have published user guides and documentation at: http://docs.verapdf.org/.

About

The veraPDF consortium (http://verapdf.org/) is funded by the PREFORMA project (http://www.preforma-project.eu/). 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. The project’s main aim is to address the challenge of implementing standardised file formats for preserving digital objects in the long term, giving memory institutions full control over the acceptance and management of preservation files into digital repositories.

In the framework of the Digital Humanities Awards 2016, an international prize yearly bestowed to Resources in Digital Humanities.

EAGLE Mediawiki awarded as Best DH Tool or Suite of Tools

EAGLE Mediawiki has been awarded as Best DH Tool or Suite of Tools at the Digital Humanities Awards 2016, an international prize yearly bestowed to Resources in Digital Humanities.

EAGLE aims to build a multi-lingual online collection of millions of digitised items from European museums, libraries, archives and multi-media collections, which deal with inscriptions from the Greek and Roman World. The aim of the network is to make available the vast majority of the surviving inscriptions of the Greco-Roman world, complete with the essential information about them and with a series of peer-reviewed translations in several European languages. These are notoriously unavailable for inscriptions, as photos. EAGLE Mediawiki is designed to give a tool to anyone interested in bridging this gap and contributing translations of inscriptions, either by providing groups of translations or providing new ones. Mediawiki is the software installed on the EAGLE website, and it uses the additional extension Wikibase to produce seamlessly for users, machine readable data.

Digital Humanities Awards are a set of entirely open annual awards run as a DH awareness raising activity. The awards are nominated and voted for entirely by the public. These awards are intended to help put interesting DH resources in the spotlight and engage DH users (and general public) in the work of the community. Awards are not specific to geography, language, conference, organization or field of humanities. There is no financial prize associated with these community awards.

Brussels (Belgium), 21 March 2017

Cultural and Creative Industries in Europe: Maximising the Contribution of Culture towards Social and Economic Development

Culture represents an extensive economic asset and a valuable source of creativity and innovation. According to the European Parliament’s report on EU policy for cultural and creative industries (June 2016), Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) have become high-capacity engines for economic growth, representing 11.2% of all private enterprises and 7.5% of all employed persons. Beyond their significant economic contribution, CCIs have built a bridge between arts, culture, business and technology.

However, CCIs’ potential remains poorly exploited and is at risk of being compromised by changes in increased digital technologies, persistent economic instability, and considerable changes in the regulatory European framework. CCIs have moreover struggled to evidence the potential of their sector to investors and have suffered from legislative hindrances such as intellectual property rights and varying tax regimes.

To unlock the potential of CCIs, the European Commission has introduced initiatives such as the Creative Europe Programme with a total budget of €1.46 billion. This programme aims to stimulate cross-border cooperation among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the cultural heritage sector, whilst supporting policy work undertaken in the 2015-2018 Work Plan for Culture. With the continuous evolution of the cultural and creative sectors, there is an increased need to support the expansion and skills development of professionals employed in the industry through greater improvements in education and training. Similarly, it is essential that we recognise and utilise the potential contribution of migration towards cultural enrichment and consider its integration in the CCIs.

This timely symposium will provide an opportunity to discuss ways to drive the development of cultural and creative industries in the EU and examine how cross-sector and cross-border collaborations can lead to a stronger and more competitive cultural sector. In addition to their economic value, this symposium will also explore the potential of cultural and creative industries to foster an inclusive European identity and support social cohesion.

Delegates will:

Develop methods to further promote and safeguard cultural and creative industries at European level
Explore means of unlocking the economic potential of cultural and creative industries
Consider ways to boost innovation and develop synergies between education and culture
Discuss the innovative aspects and social contribution of digitalized cultural heritage
Share best practice in improving data collection on CCIs
Scrutinise approaches to empowering local and regional economies
Examine current funding opportunities for the CCI sector

Speakers:

Marietje Schaake Member European Parliament
Prof. Elisabetta Lazzaro Professor of Creative Economy HKU University of the Arts Utrecht
Damien Helly Head of External Action Programme & Cultural Affairs Advisor ECDPM
Clémentine Daubeuf Consultant KEA European Affairs
Grégoire Polad Director General Association of Commercial Television in Europe
Marie Le Sourd Secretary General On the Move
Sophie Querton Co-Founder Refugees Got Talent
Julia Wolny Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) SonicPaintings
Sophie Querton Co-Founder Refugees Got Talent
Andreas Ruhe Designer, Co-Founder Deaf Magazine
Alexandros Michalakopoulos Designer, Co-Founder Deaf Magazine

More information and registration on EVENT’S PAGE

Download event’s flyer with detailed ageda (PDF, 904 Kb)

Paris (France), 19-22 June 2017

Communicating the Museum – CTM17 Paris

ctm17

Communicating the Museum (CTM) was launched in Paris in 2000 and since then over 5’000 professionals from the cultural sector have attended this conference. During 4 days of the 2017 edition, the participants of the conference will analyse trends, share best practices and answer the following questions:

What is the role of museums in today’s political and social issues?
How to address the needs of your community?
How do you get educators, curators and communicants to work together?
How can museums learn from their public?
How can museum transform the field through learning, community building, and innovative practice?

Confirmed speakers include:

Anne-Laure Béatrix, Director of External Affairs, Musée du Louvre, France
Erik Bär, founder and partner, Tinker Imagineers, Netherlands
Anna Cutler, Director of Learning, Tate, United Kingdom
Corinne Flax, Manager of School & Community Partnerships, Bruce Museum, USA
John Giurini, Assistant Director for Public Affairs, J. Paul Getty Museum, USA
Pascal Hufschmid, Head of External Affairs, Musée de l’Elysée, Switzerland
Jack Lang, Président, Institut du Monde Arabe, France
Jean Luc Martinez, President-Director, Musée du Louvre, France
Catherine Saurais, Director, nest, Nestlé discovery centre, Switzerland
Isabelle Vanhoonacker, Head of Educational Department, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Belgium
Richard Woodward, Strategic Planning Facilitator, Business Development & Sponsorship Training, Australia
Wendy Woon, The Edward John Noble Foundation Deputy Director for Education, MoMA, USA

CTM Day 1 – Monday 19 June

Join us at the Louvre for the first day of the conference.
Attend keynotes, workshops and panel discussions to learn from your peers.
Meet colleagues and experts from all over the world during the coffee breaks and lunch.
Explore the Louvre like never before during an after-hours visit.
Network during the Welcome Reception in a unique cultural venue.

CTM Day 2 – Tuesday 20 June

Learn about the latest trends during the keynotes and discover the best case studies during the workshops.
Enjoy the Gala Reception at la Monnaie de Paris, network, visit, eat and drink.

SAFARI Day 3 & 4 – 21, 22 June

Discover four cultural institutions over two days.
Join the safari to learn about the communication and education strategy of four key Parisian institutions, network with your peers and enjoy guided visits of their exhibition and permanent collections.

More info and registration: http://www.agendacom.com/communicating-the-museum-2017-paris/

Early bird deadline available until 15 March: it offers exceptional value as the 4-day pass includes access to all conference sessions, conference material, guided visits, cocktail receptions and coffee breaks.

testing wearables as a new approach to interactive storytelling

Smartwatches in Museums

The innovative project personal.curator, in collaboration with FluxGuide and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, researches impact and possibilities of wearables in museums. Now, the first real world test has been carried out!

At the exhibition handWERK. Tradiertes Können in der digitalen Welt (MAK – Austrian Museum for Applied Arts) test users receive Smartwatches providing exciting and interactive storytelling elements.

Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italy), 5-9 June 2017

The Museum of the Future – SPROUT workshop / applications open until 15 April

Leading brands in the global market are those which constantly innovate their products and services, their communication and marketing strategies. This is true for cultural brands as well. To ensure their success, they need to anticipate the future changes and the evolution of cultural, social, technological and symbolic aspect.

The workshop will apply SPROUT – a design-driven innovation methodology conducted by PCA Design Management professor, Maurizio River Serena, together with trends specialist Laureano Mon – to the cultural field, combining theoretical and practical instruction to develop the team’s vision and ability to imagine possible future scenarios for museums.

The Guest Professors Julian Stadon – Subject Leader in Innovative Media Practice at University of the Arts London – and Victoria Szabo – Associate Research Professor of Art, Art History & Visual Studies at Duke University (NC) – will provide students with inspiration from the world of augmented reality, game design, transmedia storytelling and other innovative media practice that are changing how museums conceive their spaces, services, products and relationships with audience.

The SPROUT Methodology will be integrated to a design ideation process, that will enable students to produce developed ideas and concepts for a product-service-system for the museum of the future.

Practical case study: Museo Dolom.it, the virtual museum of Dolomites landscape

When: 5-9 June 2017

Where: Rifugio Lagazuoi (at 2752 m) Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy) in Dolomites UNESCO Heritage

Who can apply?

University students, postgraduate researchers, museum professionals, curators, designers, architects, project managers.

How can participate?

Read the program and fill the registration form.

Deadline to apply: 15th April 2017

For more informations contact us at info@museodolom.it

as a final outcome of the E-Space Dance Pilot, the portal for accessing and searching dance resources

Dance Gateway is now online!

The Dance Pilot of E-Space had the aim to create tools for enabling the use of digital cultural content about dance for education and learning.

DanceSpaces focuses on the needs of the general public, dance enthusiasts and pre-professionals, dance audiences/viewers and tourists, etc. who want to share and explore content about a particular dance aspect.
DancePro focuses on the needs of researchers and dance experts (e.g. dance artists, choreographers) who need a set of much more powerful tools for accessing dance content and creating extensive metadata.

In addition to these tools, the Dance Pilot is proud to announce the release of the Dance Gateway, a special space in the E-Space Portal dedicated to performed dance and to other digital resources related to dance.

The featured collections in the Dance Gateway are a form of virtual exhibitions.

Discover the Dance Gateway: http://espaceportal.eu/#/custom/dance/

Learn more on the Dance Pilot: http://www.europeana-space.eu/dance-pilot/

Venice (italy), 28-29 June 2017

Linked Open Data in Libraries Archives and Museums 2017 Summit

The Fourth International Linked Open Data in Libraries, Archives and Museums (LODLAM) summit will be held in Venice, Italy, at the Fondazione Cini June 28-29 , 2017.

LODLAM stands for Linked Open Data in Libraries, Archives and Museums. Linked data is a combination of techniques, tools and web standards that enable the World Wide Web to evolve from a web of documents to a web of data. When applied to libraries, archives, and museums, linked data transforms the way we discover, analyze, and visualize cultural, scientific and government information.

The LODLAM Summit brings together thought leaders from around the world working in digital cultural heritage, eScience, and the digital humanities to debate, network and share their ideas, latest projects, hacking skills, data management methods, and to participate in the LODLAM Challenge.

Entries for the technical challenge can be submitted and updated from now until midnight on Friday April 07th (somewhere in the world).

Each of 5 finalist teams will be awarded a seat at the 2017 LODLAM Summit in Venice and a travel grant of USD$1,000 thanks to the support of all of the Summit sponsors.

The five finalists will pitch their project in a Challenge lightning round at the Summit and to a panel of judges who will choose winning teams for the following prizes:

-2017 LODLAM Open Data Prize – A winner will be awarded this USD$1,000 prize where making cultural heritage material openly available has been a core aspect of a linked open data project. Synaptica provides continued support for making data openly available and have provided the sponsorship for the prize.

-2017 LODLAM Grand Prize – A winner will be awarded this USD$2,000 prize because they have demonstrated significant impact (a mix of social, cultural, and technical factors).

For full details please visit the challenge page on the LODLAM website: https://summit2017.lodlam.net/challenge/

Apply now: http://summit2017.lodlam.net/apply/

On show for students, teachers and passers-by, two photographic exhibitions on the Belle Époque: “Man meets world”, and “Cuisine”

Pop-Up exhibitions at KU Leuven university

By Clarissa Colangelo, KU Leuven.

As the new semester begins here at KU Leuven, we have kicked it off with a small surprise for the students: from the 13th until the 15th of February, two Pop-Up Museum photographic exhibitions have been on display in Agora, the learning centre for the students and staff of the university.

Pop-Up Museum (https://www.mupop.net/) is an outcome of the Europeana Space project and offers an innovative yet simple way to easily create pop-up digital exhibitions anywhere you want. In fact, you only need a screen with an HDMI minicomputer and a browser in kiosk mode to set up your exhibition. Users will then do the rest by controlling the exhibitions with their smartphones.

In our case, we showcased two photographic exhibitions on the Belle Époque: “Man meets world” about travels and must-see places of the time, and “Cuisine” on kitchen discoveries, eating habits and favorite dishes. As our aim was to display photographs and unveil their stories, we picked for both exhibitions the same main feature: a slide show of a selection of photographs illustrating the main themes (cuisine and travelling) accompanied by audio fragments describing the narratives behind the images on screen and placing them in their historical context. For every photograph, additional audio fragments can be unlocked by pointing to specific details in the images.

Full blog originally published at https://espacephotography.com/

Deadline 30th April 2017

Call for PAPERS, VIDEOS and e-EXHIBITIONS in the area of INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE and e-ARCHIVES

MEMORIAMEDIA (MI/IELT) has a peer reviewed e-journal dedicated to promote, communicate and document projects, studies and archives of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH).

Authors are now invited to submit unpublished papers, videos or e-exhibitions about all the domains of ICH: oral traditions, performative practices, celebrations, traditional craftsmanship and knowledge concerning nature and the universe.

The e-journal will be written and subtitled in English and Portuguese. MEMORIAMEDIA can finance the translation of the contents selected for publication (from Portuguese to English or vice versa).

Important dates:
Deadline for submission – 30th April 2017
Publication – 31th July 2017

MORE INFO AND SUBMISSION: http://www.memoriamedia.net/index.php/submission

Specific areas of interests include (but are not limited to) the following topics:
• e-Archives, e-inventories, e-repositories and e-exhibitions of intangible cultural heritage (and associated heritage – tangible and natural);
• Community involvement in safeguarding ICH – e-archives, types of participation and interaction;
• Intangible cultural heritage, e-archives and sustainable development;
• Open access to digital cultural heritage;
• Sharing and exchange of research data;
• Aggregators of digitised ICH within the European and global digital environment;
• Use, efficiency and design of interfaces for websites and applications about ICH;
• Digital storytelling, memory and oral history in e-archives of cultural heritage;
• Issues of the protection of intellectual property and rights in digital content and e-archives.

All papers, videos and e-exhibitions will be peer-reviewed by editors and 2 members of the editorial council. Editors can request the opinion of peer-reviews that constitute an ad hoc list. All submissions are reviewed on the basis of relevance, originality and clarity.

Paper types:
• About 2500 words (5-7 pages);
• Word file (.doc, .docx) or Plain text (.txt) – up to 4MB;
• The paper must be written in English or Portuguese.

Videos and e-Exhibitions:
• Communications/demonstrations of a digital content management system, digital archives, libraries and repositories preserving ICH or Oral History;
• Up to 10 minutes’ video;
• Link to the video with access reserved – YouTube or Vimeo. For e-exhibitions: link to video; Power Point file (. ppt, .pptx) or other format for editors’ consideration – up to 4MB;
• The video and e-exhibition must be subtitled/written in Portuguese or English – Up to 2500 words in subtitles Word file (.doc, .docx) or Plain text (.txt).

ISSN 2183-3753 Memória Imaterial e Instituto de Estudos de Literatura e Tradição (FCSH-NOVA)