EPOCH The European Network of Excellence on ICT Applications to Cultural Heritage contract no. IST-2002-507382 EPOCH is funded by the European Commission under the Community´s Sixth Framework Programme, contract no. IST−2002−507382. However, the content of this presentation reflects only the authors´ (WP4) views and the Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein
What is EPOCH EPOCH is a Network of Excellence under FP6 dealing with ICT ( Information & Communication Technologies ) Applications to Cultural Heritage • Kick-Off: April 2004 • End of EC funding: March 2008 • Partners: more than 80, from most of the European countries, but also from USA, South Africa, Australia, and the Far East • Mission: Foster Integration at a European Level 2
EPOCH goals • Foster integration Stimulate cross-fertilization between humanities and technology Integrate research teams at a European level Create an integrated toolkit • Create a joint research infrastructure Define research and dissemination standards Create a holistic approach to CH dissemination • Spread excellence • Provide a training framework • Raise citizen’s awareness towards CH 3
Why it matters Cultural Heritage is an important factor: • in determining tourists decisions on destination: Heritage is an important motivation factor Cultural tourism may be a pathway to economic development of less favoured areas • for education of the citizen and appreciation of cultural diversity Education takes a large portion of national budgets Understanding each other’s culture will be one of the main challenges of the next generation of EU citizens • ICT (“Intelligent Heritage”) can significantly enhance both sectors 4
Council of Europe report Forward planning: the function of cultural heritage in a changing Europe Today, one of heritage's major roles is to strengthen cohesion and social ties in societies disrupted by all kinds of changes. The cultural and environmental spheres are becoming a preferred terrain for experimentation with citizenship, voluntary work and partnership." Technology has a part in delivering the potential benefits of increased understanding of the forces that have shaped our society, but the way the message is communicated is likely to determine whether the effects are positive or negative. UNESCO report 2001 “…Tourism has become a complex phenomenon …UNESCO’s objective is to help Member States to devise strategies for the long-term preservation of the cultural heritage , for better promotion and knowledge of the cultural heritage … thereby contributing to economic, social and cultural development." This recognises a clear inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural motivation …heritage and cultural tourism has the potential to add to quality of life - a motivation well beyond a simplistic economic return of individual visitor centres. 5
Challenges and tensions • Access vs Preservation Physical access threatens preservation through wear and tear and environmental exposure Access at some level is a prerequisite for interpretation and to realising potential • Facts vs Interpretation Our “knowledge” is almost always interpretation of fragile evidence, and interpretation is normally ambiguous Events even more uncertain than artefacts Accuracy requires uncertainty to be shown, but too much uncertainty and/or too many alternatives lead to confused messages • Culture vs Culture Interpretation needs context for both original circumstance and viewed Much tangible heritage relates to e.g. religion or war – both emotive and multi-faceted (one culture’s heroic victory may be another’s dictatorial oppression) 6
Technological challenges • Cultural heritage presents very challenging “real-user” requirements • The challenge of mixing features which are still difficult to achieve in isolation is substantial. • Example: data acquisition systems very low cost rugged for effective work under harsh conditions (the desert, the North, a dig) portable for use with pieces in museum suitable for fast deployment in emergency digs. 7
Obtaining recognition Unless action is taken: • Assessment of interdisciplinary research will be in charge of professionals central to the individual disciplines. Proposals will often “fall between two stools”. Substantial evidence for this happening in national programs. • Research teams likely to form around core values of the independent disciplines and not their synthesis. • Project teams that pass the assessments likely to become less interdisciplinary and more focused on the independent criteria of the disciplines. • Cultural Heritage as a sector likely to suffer more than most in this respect since it shares less of its traditional values and skill sets with IST than many other important usage bases (e.g. medicine, chemistry, biology). 8
Grand Challenges 1. To use technology to enhance preservation and scholarship in cultural heritage Accuracy and preservation v data volume Ontologies and searches (organising and representing knowledge) Digital preservation of CH 2. To bring history to life for the citizen Digital reconstruction Story telling Visitor experiences Internet applications Education and Tourism benefit 9
Epoch Domains of Activity • Field recording and data capture • Data organization and standards • Reconstruction and visualization • Heritage education and communication • Sustainability of heritage projects in order to produce • A joint research infrastructure • A complete toolkit to create ICT applications for CH • A training framework 10
The pipeline The key concept is the pipeline : • An integrated system of CH research and dissemination using ICT • Produce valuable cultural communication by processing data with ICT INFORMATION Acquisition Processing Management Image proc. Reconstruct. Communication Documentation Archiving Curatorship Enhancing Story-telling Preservation 11
Activities WP1=Management • WP1 = coordination is Executive Committee provided by the University of Brighton Brighton PIN, Ename, KU-Leuven • Four core partners • Task forces working on activities Board of Directors 18 members • Stakeholders input and representing expertise, feedback constituencies, etc. • Review college formed by experts • Open, cross-culture General Assembly community with permeable 85 partners borders + affiliates 12
Activities WP2=Integration • Co-ordinate partners’ work • Collect stakeholders needs and feedback • Watch the technology market and assess the potential impact of forthcoming ones • Undertake the implementation of Images from EPOCH’s showcases 1 and showcases 2 ENAME 13
Activities WP3=Joint research • Define and create the common infrastructure • Lead research activity on “missing rings” in the production chain • Integrate existing components with new, targeted tools KU-Leuven Images from EPOCH showcases 3 and 4 14
Activities WP4=Spreading excellence • Manage a one-stop portal for ICT applications to CH • Foster standardization • Publish authoritative reports • Ensure mobility and Images from training framework EPOCH • Organize events & showcases 7 and 8 dissemination PIN 15
Activities in 2004 • Establish the network, setup the infrastructure and provide services • Create a website offering various services • Produce showcases using existing technology • Start dissemination • Produce reports Brokerage Stakeholder needs Training needs and offer • VAST2004 conference 16
www.epoch-net.org 17
Showcases list 1. On Site Reconstruction Experience 2. Multimodal Interface Safe Presentation of Valuable Objects 3. Tools for Stratigraphic Data Recording 4. Multilingual Avatars 5. E-tourism through Cultural Routes 6. Avatar-based Interactive Storytelling 7. Archaeological Documentation for the Semantic Web 8. Image-based Modeling 18
Dissemination report see next slide … 19
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