Digital meets Culture

on 10th June, the closing public event of the RURITAGE project included the Rural Regeneration workshop

INCULTUM at the RURITAGE final event in Paris

INCULTUM was invited to take part as a guest of the public session of RURITAGE Final Conference, that takes place in June at the UNESCO HeadQuarters in Paris.

The programme of the 2-days event includes various session and particularly during the second day the 10th June was organized a public event: the Rural Regeneration Conference, whose first session was dedicated to the EU Regeneration Workshop.

View agenda (PDF, 317 kb)

This first part involved representatives of local communities within rural territories participating in EU funded projects networking with RURITAGE, discussing the aspects of our paradigm (such as heritage as driver for rural development, rural challenges, sustainable tourism, etc.). Focus of this session will be the methodological approach and the local communities, grouping in RURITAGE with projects establishing local hubs and/or living labs, that could inspire RURITAGE consortium.

For this reason INCULTUM was invited as an Inspirational example with regards to cultural tourism, and presented by Network Coordinator Antonella Fresa, Promoter s.r.l.

Download INCULTUM presentation (PDF, 5 Mb)

Overall scopes of the event were:

to present results of regeneration led strategies to Eu regional and national stakeholders, in particular from countries where actions were implemented.
to exchange view on potential uptake of Ruritage innovative solutions in other EU territories
to deliver an information Session on Rural Regeneration Presentation of final major outcomes to UNESCO Member States and to EU/UN representatives

on 17th May 2022, WEAVE organized a consultation event with experts, about Roma heritage collections

WEAVE LabDay, Data Asset and Storytelling

images courtesy TopFoto.co.uk

On 17th May 2022, the WEAVE team held a special consultation event with invited experts from the Roma community to review the beautiful TopFoto’s photographic collection of Roma heritage, which will be delivered to Europeana as part of the new digital contents relating to intangible heritage and minority communities.

In the evening around the camp fire the family sing and play their violins. ©Topfoto.co.uk

Within the scope of WEAVE’s capacity building work and another important strand of the project to improve the quality of collections (in terms of building more representative content and metadata), the consultation investigated potential problematic issues with current Roma heritage collections and tried to find potential solutions to these.

The consultation took place in two parts: Part 1 ‘expert commentary/review’, aims to understand the main ‘problems’ encountered in looking at the collection, the most recurrent metadata/terminology-related corrections and any other issues that may result in offense or misrepresentation of the minoritised community. In Part 2 ‘guided storytelling’, a participatory discussion between our invited experts and project partners, we explored how different images read (e.g. Which images best represent the community? Which images are more nuanced?).

Although a closed event, the process was documented to be able to share our thinking and findings with other content owners and Europeana Aggregators who may hold problematic heritage collections.

1950s: the people who live in the camp earn their living by working on the farms of Kent during the season, and in the hopfields during the short hop harvest. ©Topfoto.co.uk

4-6 May, 2022

MESOC meeting in Athens

These days, from 4 to 6 May 2022, MESOC project is holding a 3-day event in Athens, hosted by DAEM S.A. (City of Athens IT Company), organized in three workshops that explore different topics:

a workshop on the Delphi consultation with invited experts exploring the survey’s results
a public workshop on the toolkit applications developed by MESOC and their objectives for cultural policies
a working session on the results of policy dialogues.

These three workshops allow MESOC to articulate and converge around the results to confirm the evaluation variables. That will be a crucial step for the subsequent activities of the project.

UNCHARTED, as a partner of MESOC, was invited and is present in Athens to participate in the consultation.

Further information
The Delphi consultation is a qualitative technique used to arrive at a group opinion by surveying a panel of experts. This exercise is coordinated by the University of Barcelona in order to validate the results of MESOC activities and provide direction for the next steps, and it provides for three-step consultation.
the first questionnaire was launched in July 2021 and aimed at exploring the typologies of social impacts, the transformative effects of cultural experiences, the elements of local context that affect the impact generation process; a second survey in February 2022, had the aim to go more in-depth in the topics of social impact evaluation. The results of the first and second survey will be corroborated through the presential Delphi workshop in Athens.
Policy dialogues. A qualitative analysis of 35 cases selected by MESOC’s partners was coordinated by Politecnico di Milano and led to identifying elements that help describe the conditions affecting the social impact generation capacity. Furthermore MESOC is conducting a series of conversations with policymakers and cultural operators to explore themes as: the role of cultural experience, the impact of norms and regulation, the dynamics of knowledge and competencies formation and transfer, the relevance of resources and infrastructures, and finally. The results of this exploration will ultimately be used to enrich the testing of the MESOC toolkit.
The MESOC toolkit is a geo-referenced visualization tool developed by the University of Rijeka to assess the value and impact of cultural policies and practices throughout Europe. This Toolkit aims to set up relevant indicators to measure current and future cultural policies, which can become a useful resource for cultural operators, policymakers and researchers.

the presentation illustrated various participatory activities carried out in the Altiplano de Granada

Presenting INCULTUM in scientific conference on sustainable education

images courtesy of Elena Correa Jiménez.

On 27 April, the project coordinator’s team at University of Granada presented the paper: “From the School to the balate: Education as a tool for the recovery of cultural landscapes” at the Scientific Conference The school in the landscape. Proposals of teaching innovation for a sustainable education.

In this conference, we talked about the recovery activities of the Jérez ravine (Jérez del Marquesado, Granada) that were carried out in past months in the Altiplano de Granada.

Conference website https://www.uax.com/eventos/jornadas-cientificas-la-escuela-en-el-paisaje

the presentation will discuss the role and importance of an old farmhouse and its heritageheme is water, takes place at the University of Algarve, in May 2022

INCULTUM Pilot in Portugal presented at Taller de Arquitectura Iberia Sur

Professors Desidério Batista of University of Algarve delivers a presentation in a seminar at Taller de Arquitectura Iberia Sur on May 13, 2022 with the lecture: “Recreation farms as one of the most recognizable features of the landscape in Portugal. In the case of Quinta da Penha in Faro (Algarve)”.

The talk will include presentation about INCULTUM and the Portuguese pilot, considering the role and importance of the old Quinta da Penha (18th and 19th century farmhouse) and its hydraulic and agrarian heritage in the historical process of construction and transformation of Campina’s landscape.

organized by Project Coordinator the University of Granada, it includes a field trip in a rural environment

INCULTUM second project meeting

all images courtesy of Promoter.

On 2 and 3 June 2022, the second general assembly of INCULTUM partners is happily going to be an old-fashion style project meeting, finally held in person after many months of telcos and virtual gatherings, and including nice side activities on location. The group of partners stayed in a rural tourist complex with caves.

The first day was an intense session dedicated to a global internal review of the project, carefully analysing the challenges in each Work Package. The activity leaders reviewed the progress of the various tasks and present the actions planned for the next period.

[Show as slideshow]

On the second day, the coordinator José Maria Civantos and his team at University of Granada guided the group to a field visit through desert landscapes and medieval irrigation channels in the area of Galera on the Altiplano of Granada.

[Show as slideshow]

Agenda of the meeting (PDF)

Mapping parameters, formats, standards, benchmarks, methodologies and guidelines

EC study on quality in 3D digitisation of tangible cultural heritage

In order to support the objectives of the Recommendation on a common European data space for cultural heritage adopted on 10 November 2021, the European Commission commissioned a study to help advance 3D digitisation across Europe.

The aim of the study was to identify key parameters of the 3D digitisation process of tangible cultural heritage and to further the quality of 3D digitisation projects by enabling cultural heritage professionals, institutions, content developers, stakeholders and academics to define and produce high-quality digitisation standards for tangible cultural heritage.

The study, recently published, was led by Cyprus University of Technology and has identified all relevant elements for successful 3D digitisation of cultural heritage, classifying them by degree of complexity and purpose or use.
It also collected a number of projects and success stories serving as benchmarks for 3D digitisation of tangible cultural heritage.

More information and all downloads are available at https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/study-quality-3d-digitisation-tangible-cultural-heritage

A bridge between opera professionals and specific marginalised communities

Opera co-creation for a social transformation: Traction H2020 Project

TRACTION project, funded by the Horizon 2020 programme, aims to use opera to define new forms of artistic creation through which the marginalised groups can work with artists to tell the stories that matter now.

Opera, a cornerstone of European cultural heritage, has always spoken to both elites and people, expressed both authority and revolution, inspiring generations with its passion, its beauty and its drama.
In recent decades its popular roots and radical edge have been lost and it is often seen as the staid preserve of the elite.

The project intends to design and develop a toolset to foster democratisation of opera, using technology as a means to reach new audiences and to connect artists with audiences.

TRACTION project carries out three trials as experimental activities to test and share new ideas through an opera co-creation: in Barcelona’s inner-city neighbourhoods, Ireland’s rural communities and Portugal’s prison for juvenile delinquents in Leiria.

To support these three trials the projects has created two different tools:

The Co-creation space: a tool that fosters and promotes asynchronous communication during co-creation activities between diverse communities and participants.
The Co-creation stage: a tool to connect communities and individuals in real-time, allowing multiple co-located stages and participants to perform together.

The long-term objective of the project is to define how art can be used and renew to build cohesive societies and a common culture in which everyone can feel that they belong.

More information at: https://www.traction-project.eu/

This Study, addressed to Cultural Institutions and professionals, presents recommendations and all relevant elements for successful 3D digitisation of cultural heritage

Study on quality in 3D digitisation of tangible cultural heritage

This unique study on 3D digitisation demonstrates that complexity and quality are fundamental considerations in determining the necessary effort for a 3D digitisation project to achieve the required value of the output.The overall aim of this study is to improve the quality of 3D digitisation projects for tangible cultural heritage, in support of European Union cultural heritage strategies.

The study, led by Cyprus University of Technology, has identified all relevant elements for successful 3D digitisation of cultural heritage, classifying them by degree of complexity and purpose or use. The study also looked at what determines the quality of a 3D digitisation project and made an inventory of existing formats, standards, guidelines and methodologies used by the industry.

This study will enable cultural heritage professionals, institutions, content-developers, and academics to define and produce high-quality digitisation standards for tangible heritage.
The elements of the framework include:
+ The technical parameters that determine the level of quality of 3D digitisation.
+ Existing digital formats, standards, benchmarks, methodologies and guidelines for 3D digitisation.
+ Past or ongoing 3D digitisation projects and existing 3D models and data sets that can serve as benchmarks.

Dr. Marinos Ioannides of the Digital Heritage Research Lab (DHRLab) at Cyprus University of Technology and Director of UNESCO Chair on Digital Cultural Heritage (CH) led this complex and all-encompassing project, working with nine important players in the industry and a number of external experts providing their research contributing to this exceptional study.

Access the Study and all Annexes

View the study: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/study-quality-3d-digitisation-tangible-cultural-heritage
Download Leaflet (PDF)

Summary

The 3D digitisation of movable and immovable cultural heritage can be an exceptionally complex process.
Factors such as the stakeholder requirements (available budget and time, expected use, required quality/accuracy), the characteristics of the object (size, geometry, surface, texture, material composition, state of conservation, location), the level of competence of the personnel involved and the type of equipment used, condition the production effort and have a direct impact on the quality of the final output.
There are no internationally recognized standards or guidelines for planning, organising, setting up and implementing a 3D data acquisition project.
As acquisition technologies and software systems become increasingly accessible, with photorealistic renderings now commonplace, it is even more crucial to understand the physics behind the hardware, the fundamentals of data capture and processing methodologies.
The definition of the complexity of a 3D digitisation project should cover both data capture and data processing (point cloud/modelling), should be calculated objectively, should be estimated before the data acquisition phase, should connect quality, technology and the purpose of use.
In cultural heritage projects, image-based data acquisition is usually preferred to other methods, such as laser scanning, because it is efficient, non-intrusive, easily deployable indoors and outdoors and low cost.
Quality parameters refer to different stages of the 3D digitisation process and vary depending on the type of tangible cultural heritage and the equipment and methodology used and the possible purposes or uses of the resulting 3D material.
There is no generally accepted standard for specifying the detail and accuracy requirements for geometric recordings of tangible objects. Accuracy refers to how close a measurement is to the true or correct value, whereas precision is how close the repeated measurements are to each other. A reliable survey instrument is consistent; a valid one is accurate.
There are no guidelines on ways and minimum amounts of data to be collected or the quality to be achieved during data acquisition, which entirely depends on the stakeholder requirements.
There is a pressing and urgent need for a technical specification to ensure interoperability and longer term sustainability of 3D data metadata and paradata, defining among other harmonised means to annotate 3D content, to combine 3D with audiovisual content, or to embed additional dimensions (e.g. time, material and story).
Advancements in 3D data acquisition software leveraging artificial intelligence will make 3D digitisation easier, faster, more accurate, and more informative. Faster connections, bigger bandwidth and lower latency, will improve real time global use and long-term availability and preservation, allowing to work with larger data volumes and bigger 3D models of higher resolution.

Learning from practice, 9-13 May 2022

RURITAGE Summer School dedicated to heritage-based regeneration at regional level

RURITAGE is an EU H2020 project which aims to regenerate rural areas through heritage.
Starting from the assumption that the cultural and natural heritage of European rural areas needs not only to be safeguarded, but also promoted and sustainably enhanced for regional and community development, RURITAGE intends to regenerate rural areas with the help of 5 Systemic Innovation Areas (SIAs) framework which identifies unique heritage potential within rural communities: Pilgrimage, Resilience, Sustainable Local Food Production, Integrated Landscape Management, Migration and Art and Festivals.

The project organized its next Summer School on May 9-13, 2022.
The event, titled “Heritage-based regeneration at regional level: learning from practice”, is arranged within the RURITAGE project by Savonia University of Applied Science.

It will be delivered in presence at the Savonia University, Kuopio Finland and include both lectures, study visits and interactive workshops with the participants.

The course will introduce to the RURITAGE methodology supporting rural areas to co-develop through their local heritage.
Savonia will give lectures based on their expertise on local development, especially as the Region of Gastronomy 2020-21.

The objectives of the Summer School are:

To learn from other regional development projects throughout Europe through a landscape, pilgrimage, local food, and art & festival perspective as a driver
To take part and learn from practical experiences and reflect on how they could be further adapted to your own local context
To exchange knowledge, experiences, and further network for future opportunities.

More information and the programme are available at https://www.ruritage.eu/summer-school-finland-2022/