Neuroscience and Preservation. How Digital Technology Has Been Changing the Experience (And the Way We Take Care) of Heritage (original) (raw)
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What Are Memories Made of? The Untapped Power of Digital Heritage
Why are we here and what are we doing? What is digital heritage supposed to be? We often get so involved in our particular projects and research goals that there is little time to zoom out to see the larger picture in which we-not only the pixels-are a part. So my intention here is to explore the contours of that larger picture, reflecting on recent ideas about the nature of human memory, its relation to cultural heritage, and connections of digital technology to both. For I don't think that it's an overstatement to say that a deeply shared faith in the closely-knit triad of collective memory, heritage conservation, and digital processing animates most of the members of the worldwide digital heritage community to do what they do.
Digital Heritage: New age of learning
“Heritage is not an artifact or site, it is a medium of communication [...] that includes the material, the intangible and the virtual.” (Ashworth, 2007) The intangibility of the internet and the developing digital heritage may compromise the tangible experience of the visitor by the virtual replacement of the original artifact. Nonetheless, there will be an opportunity to gain new interpretation in heritage preservation. However, the physical assets that compromise our tangible experiences of the historic environment are by definition non sustainable over the long term (Cowell, 2010). This paper will argue that the traditional interpretation of heritage has not diminished, but taken a new form of interpretation. There is a need for museums to maintain a link between themselves and the digital technology if it is to maintain and attract new generation of individuals, whilst still keeping its traditional values. This paper will list three key points, the tangibility of the internet experience; participation and preservation and the stereotype of the narrative. We are now in a digital age, increasingly reliant on technology. In 2013, 36 million adults (73%) in Great Britain accessed the internet every day (Office for National Statistics, 2013). The opportunistic value of digital heritage brings a new form of participation. In this instance, by adapting to this digital form, the objects that are exhibited online result in a new form of interpretation and engagement by the individual. By engaging in this new form of digital heritage, we, as a society, receive a difference of perspective in comparison to engaging with exhibits first hand. Over the past couple of decades, digitally created content has come to permeate all aspects of our lives and the life cycle of these objects is increasingly exclusively digital (Semantic Digital Archives, 2014). This new form of experience is an exchange in the enthusiasm of encountering exhibits first hand. Museums have adapted to this virtual form as this new age of learning is the only consistent way of preserving the past. The Institute of Conservation (ICONS) confirms that as a medium for public debates about heritage, the Web has both advantages and disadvantages, such as creating opportunities for participation and multivocality, but it is accompanied by the risk of producing fragmentation and a cacophony of viewpoints (Mason & Baveystock, 2009). Along with other institutions, the museum is no doubt the ideal place where one can imagine the creation of this "alternative heritage" especially when the original installation cannot be preserved (Barblan, 2007: 10). This matter of sustainability including the pervasiveness of digital data and documents has major consequences for this obsession with memory (Habert & Huc, 2010). Especially when one can argue that the main purpose of digital conservation of these artifacts is for that exact purpose. As a result of this, there is a risk of fragmentation in organisations. The ambiguity and fragmentation implied in modern distributed organisation is being increased even further by the growing use of modern digital technologies (Lorezo, 2010: 343). Therefore, the question of sustainability, in regards to digital archiving becomes apparent. Will digital archiving replace the original artifacts in its present form? Not entirely, unless improved ways of preservation are imposed, otherwise the artifacts will follow nature of physical decay at an increased pace. The variations of risk of these artifacts, range from those associated with neglect or unchecked physical decay (Cowell, 2010:34). Why adapt to this ‘new age of learning’, is it a need for the museums to update, itself? Museums have previously been associated as being boring, rather than lively, thriving and exciting (Davies, 1994), which is primarily the reason museums are following the ‘trend’. There has previously been a need to develop a new form of interpreting the artifacts as part of the establishment. As Garcia-Lorezo (2010) states: “The process of telling stories has always been mediated by technology [...] allowing us to reach new levels of innovation, creativity and personal development (p. 331). This new form of heritage, whereby the traditional values of museums, to educate and inform, is still being fulfilled whilst still maintaining its role as the main source of narrative. According to Dalbello (2011), the study of the role of digital tools in the transformation of writing, thinking, and teaching in humanistic fields is within the purview of ‘digital humanities’ (2011: 480). Whereas Kushla-Hulme and Traxler (2007) state that mobile technologies are particularly suited for supporting personalised, situated, authentic and informal learning (2007: 181). As an advantage, by updating itself as an establishment, museums are able to attract a new generation of audiences who have adopted this intangible form of digital heritage. As a result, a new form of engagement from the audience is created and a common bond is established with the digital generation (Mann, et al., 2013) With many museums currently working on the development of Digital Strategies, setting out how they will use digital technologies and channels to engage with audiences, share their collections and potentially open up new sources of income. (Collections Trust, 2012). The new practices of collection, interpretation and dissemination are required in order to show how history and heritage can be used to rethink the way in which people can approach future difficulties (Tait, et al., 2013; DeSilvey, 2012). As for the traditionalist, with these new practices the lack of contact time and the lack of experiencing objects for the first time is a detriment to the individual, as the original asset is not interpreted. In conclusion, heritage has a longer sustainability if it converts its artifacts digitally. Through this new age of learning, the museum has the ability to produce a narrative through a new form of digital heritage. Significantly, museums are not just for visitors who enter the door; they are also for the new generation of technologically adapt audiences who research mainly through the medium of internet. Through this medium, the museum is able to reach a wider-audience. The advantage of online archives as a source enables the artifacts to be preserved in its original state with no fear of physical decay. However, there is neither a back-up nor a guarantee that the survival of these archives if both the physical and the online artifacts have been damaged either through physical decay or technological fault. Bibliography Ashworth, G., 2007. 'On townscapes, heritages and identities', paper presented at Institute for Advanced Studies Colloquium on Urban-Rural: Flows and Boundaries, Lancaster University. [Online] Available at: www.lancs.ac.uk/ias/annualprogramme/regionalism/docs/Ashworth\_paper.doc [Accessed 27 November 2014]. Barblan, M. A., 2007. Engineering Works and Scaled-down Models Or Industry Laid Bare. In: H. K. Vieregg, ed. Museology and Techniques Muséologie – Les techniques au Musée Museología y Tecnologías. Munich: ICOFOM. Collections Trust, 2012. Digital Strategy. [Online] Available at: http://www.collectionstrust.org.uk/digital-strategy [Accessed 30 October 2014]. Cowell, B., 2010. Why Heritage Counts: Researching the Historic Environment. Culture Trends, 13(4), pp. 23-39. Dalbello, M., 2011. A geneaology of digital humanities. Journal of Documentation, 67(3), pp. 480-506. Davies, S., 1994. By popular demand. London: MGC. DeSilvey, C., 2012. Making sense of transience: an anticipatory history. Cultural Geographies, 19(1), pp. 31-54. Habert, B. & Huc, C., 2010. Building together digital archives for researc in social sciences and humanities. [Online] Available at: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00466352 [Accessed 20 November 2014]. Holmes, K. & Slater, A., 2012. Patterns of Voluntary Participation in Membership Associations: A Study of UK Heritage Supporter Groups. Nonprofit and Volutary Sector, 41(5), pp. 850-869. Kushla-Hulme, A. & Traxler, J., 2007. Designing for mobile and wireless learning. In: H. Beetham & R. Sharpe, eds. Rethinnking Pedagogy for a digital age: Designing and delivering e-learning. London: Routledge. Lorezo, L. G., 2010. Framing Uncertainty: narratives, change and digital technologies. Social Science Information, 49(3), pp. 329-350. Mann, S., Moses, J. & Fisher, M., 2013. Catching Our Breath: Assessing Digital Technologies for Meaningful Visitor Engagement. [Online] Available at: http://name-aam.org [Accessed 20 November 2014]. Mason, R. & Baveystock, Z., 2009. What role can digital heritage play in the re-imagining of national identities? England and its icons. In: M. Anico & E. Peralta, eds. Heritage and Identity: Engagement and Demission in the Contemporary World. New York: Routledge, pp. 15-28. Mason, R. & Baveystock, Z., 2009. What role can digital heritage play in the re-imagining of national identities?: England and its icons. In: M. Anico & E. Peralta, eds. Heritage and Identity: Engagement and Demission in the Contemporary World. New York: Routledge, pp. 15-28. Office for National Statistics, 2013. Statistical Bulletin: Internet Access - Households and Individuals, 2013. [Online] Available at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778\_322713.pdf [Accessed 30 October 2014]. Semantic Digital Archives, 2014. SDA Workshop Information. [Online] Available at: http://sda2014.dke-research.de/ [Accessed 30 October 2014]. Tait, E. et al., 2013. Linking to the past: an analysis of community digital heritage initiatives. Aslib Proceedings, 65(6), pp. 564-580.
Future Heritages. Digital as New Doc-Humanity and In-Tangible Materiality
PAD Journal, 2023
Archives, on the other hand, are the main players in the process of digitisation and digitalisation of past documents, sources and artefacts to be then studied, preserved and transmitted to future generations as cultural and human heritages in a virtual form as an alternative, duplicate or substitute of the original ones. Fragments potentially dispersed, even if not almost lost, perishable, hidden to be preserved or otherwise forgotten, are translated in a new paradigm of existence to be further passed down, discovered again, and brought to new lives. Alternatively, vice versa, entire collections are progressively remastered through digital formats, devices and tools and reconfigured thank the opportunities-in terms of languages and interactions-offered by the technology revolutions in a planned and progressive process of transmission, transduction and migration, to complex communication ecosystems aimed to translate information into experience, communication into storytelling and implicit knowledge in accessible understanding. Digitisation, considered as an opportunity to indefinitely preserve documents and artefacts otherwise ephemeral, perishable, fading or missed-surviving just through indirect sources-is facing a possible questioning phase (Ferraris, 2009) if not an actual crisis according to Vincent Cerf's statement referred to the morality of contemporary digital photographic heritage (Sample, 2015). The concept of heritage itself is deeply connected, on the one hand, to the idea of the past, i.e. memory, and on the other hand, to the idea of unknown, foreseeable, possible, probable or desirable future experiences, which is still in a potential and developing dimension of human exploration/time.
(Im)possible History? Digital Ecology as an Approach toTransmit Memory and Cultural Heritage
Digital Classics Online, 2022
Classics constantly endeavour to investigate the links a society builds with its history,memory and cultural heritage. With the development of digital technologies, new research methods, knowledge, and a plethora of data have emerged so as to create an environment with its own mythology and rhetoric, where there is no place for loss. In this essay, the authors question the (im)possibility of writing history in such a digital environment where the credo of dematerialisation and unlimited preservation of data has become the rule. In response, the authors posit the digital environment as not distinct nor distanced from the natural environment, whose resources are limited.Therefore, in order to meet academic as well as public needs, we pledge an ecological approach to a sustainable, reasonable and ethical world to preserve memory and cultural, and natural heritage.
The Future of the Past: New Developments in Computer-Based Cultural Heritage Research
The First International Symposium on Digital Humanities for Japanese Arts and Cultures. DHJAC 2009., 2009
In recent decades, computer-based visualisation technologies have extended still further our capacity to conjure the past and its heritage. They do so not only because they can with ever-increasing power evoke the essential elements of sight, sound, space, and - through movement in space - time, but most potently of all, because they can suggest, to our minds' eyes, our own immediate presence in the past, through our capacity to interact with virtual environments. The advent of avatars has of course given such interaction the additional stimulus of mentally evoked bodily awareness. By doing this, computers have vastly extended our capacity to visualise, hear, perceive, spatially explore and, through virtual empathy, "feel" past environments.
Mindfulness and the Museum: Can Digital Delivery of Cultural Heritage Contribute to our Wellbeing?
DigItalia, 2021
L’arte può contribuire al benessere personale, anche attraverso esperienze digitali? Questo articolo esplora l’argomento esaminando iniziative culturali e prodotti commerciali basati sulle tecnologie digitali, progettati per trasmettere emozioni positive. Dopo aver esaminato l’impatto di queste esperienze sugli utenti durante il recente lockdown, il contributo pone alcuni interessanti quesiti sul futuro di queste iniziative, che offrono spunti per ulteriori indagini scientifiche.
Life is increasingly being conditioned by the widespread digital technology and the internet. They have also entered the field of historic heritage and conservation for a long time, with academical researches, high-skill job opportunities in the field of 3D survey and modeling, dissemination and services to the public. To what stage is the relationship between digital technology and historical heritage?
ACM SIGGRAPH 2018 Art Gallery
Natural and cultural heritage, the common wealth of human beings, are keys to human understanding of the evolution of our planet and social development. The protection and conservation of natural and cultural heritage is the common responsibility of all mankind. Spatial information technology provides a new applied theory and tool for the protection and utilization of natural and cultural heritage. This chapter is divided into four parts. The first part elaborates the connotation of digital heritage, the differences and connections between digital heritage and physical heritage, the technology of digital heritage formation and the research objectives and content of digital heritage. Parts 2 and 3 discuss the contents and methods of digital natural heritage and cultural heritage, respectively, and some practical case studies. In the fourth part, the future development trends of digital heritage research in protection and utilization are described, as well as six research directions that deserve attention. Keywords Digital heritage • Spatial information technology • Remote sensing • Archaeology • Heritage conservation • Case study 17.1 A Brief Introduction to Digital Heritage Natural and cultural heritage, with unique value in the realms of science, culture, history and art, are like jewels emerging from a wide variety of ground object types that shine on the surface of the Earth. Heritage is defined as our legacy from the past, what
The Role of Digital Technologies in the Preservation of Cultural Heritage
Muzeológia a Kultúrne Dedičstvo, 2017
The Role of Digital Technologies in the Preservation of Cultural Heritage This paper considers the advantages and disadvantages of digital technologies in the field of preservation of cultural heritage. The methods of creating of virtual cultural storages do not always allow to preserve the true reflection of memory, history and tradition the same way a real museum does and consequently, the axiological meaning of the term heritage is lost. In contrast, virtual museums and digital reconstructions of cultural artefacts help to protect and preserve information which otherwise would be lost. In this paper, we analyze the properties of virtual forms of cultural heritage preservations in the context of interaction between contemporary society and cultural tradition.