Burnishing the Lamp of Memory
The first colloquium on digital heritage and preservation was held at the Hannah Maclure Centre, University of Abertay Dundee yesterday. Read a report of the conference here:
In a week when Microsoft and Google go head-to-head over plans to digitise thousands of books and other creative works, Scotland today became the focus of international debate on using digital technology to preserve cultural treasures.
Experts from all over the world gathered in Dundee today (Thursday 10 November) for the Inaugural International Colloquium on Digital Heritage and Preservation.
The conference was hosted jointly by the Patrick Allan-Fraser of Hospitalfield Trust and the University of Abertay Dundee. Although planned some months ago, the conference has taken on extra significance in the wake of controversial plans recently announced by internet search company Google to digitise tens of thousands of books from university libraries around the world, and the formation of the Open Content Alliance, including software giant Microsoft, with plans to digitise “the creative output of humankind”.
Conference organiser Dr Kenny McAlpine of Abertay University said: “Digital technology is opening up huge new possibilities for preserving cultural heritage and making it accessible to more and more people. There is so much happening and at such a pace that we decided to create this opportunity for those interested in the issues to meet and share knowledge.”
At today’s conference, around 70 delegates from universities, libraries, galleries, cultural bodies and commercial companies around the world heard presentations from leading figures in digital heritage, such as Paul Gerhardt, Director of the BBC’s Creative Archive Project.
The Creative Archive Project involves Channel 4, the Open University and the British Film Institute, among other, and aims to allow people to download clips of BBC factual programmes from bbc.co.uk for non-commercial use, keep them on their PCs, manipulate and share them, so making the BBC's archives more accessible to licence fee payers. It is seen as a model of digital cultural preservation.
Delegates also heard presentations from leading architectural academic Dr Alberto Sdegno of the University of Venice, talking about the use of new technology to re-create and preserve 16th century architecture, and Vladimir Karen from the Albertina Icome company in Prague, a world authority on CD-ROMs and digitizing historical documents.
Other presentations at the conference represented a very wide variety of cultural sectors: museums, libraries, archives, archaeological monuments and sites, live performances, exhibitions and the World Wide Web. They described recent progress in using digital technology in archaeology, literature, art and historical manuscripts.
Willie Payne, director of the Patrick Allan-Fraser Hospitalfield Trust, said: “It is very interesting to be able to survey the way we see our heritage changing with digital equipment. Not only is this a question of access and storage, but also of retrieval and manipulation allowing a direct creative narrative with digitally captured information. The results can be valuable and also surprising.”
Hospitalfield House in Arbroath is Scotland's artists' residency and project workshop for the promotion of contemporary arts and international exchange. Hospitalfield has enjoyed a unique place in Scotland's architectural and artistic heritage for over two hundred years, and continues to pursue an innovative strategy of support for the emerging artist, balancing increasingly digital artwork within a significant cultural landmark.
Dramatically remodelled by Patrick Allan Fraser from 1850, the mediaeval house was bequeathed 'for the promotion of Education in the Arts' in 1890. Today Hospitalfield is a place of study in all spheres of the arts and for artists from all around the world. Established and aspiring artists alike come visit Hospitalfield to pursue their own research and to study at masterclasses and summer workshops.
Professor Bernard King, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Abertay University, formally opened the conference, saying: “It is particularly pleasing to see how innovation in digital technology – which we at Abertay are pioneering - is constantly evolving and reaching new areas, touching upon and affecting so many different aspects of our lives. Its use in heritage preservation is allowing us to develop new ways to represent, experience and preserve the past for future generations.
“Digital technology in heritage preservation also opens up new economic opportunities. The digitisation of Scotland’s cultural heritage alone would cost an estimated £7-8 billion but Scotland’s digital industries would be well placed to carve out a share, not just of this market, but also of the global heritage asset base.”
To complement today’s Colloquium, Hospitalfield Trust and Abertay have also organised an international exhibition of digital heritage and preservation featuring exhibits from, amongst others, the Universities of Stanford and Venice. The exhibition will open next week. Meanwhile, plans are already in hand to make the Colloquium an annual event.
Experts from all over the world gathered in Dundee today (Thursday 10 November) for the Inaugural International Colloquium on Digital Heritage and Preservation.
The conference was hosted jointly by the Patrick Allan-Fraser of Hospitalfield Trust and the University of Abertay Dundee. Although planned some months ago, the conference has taken on extra significance in the wake of controversial plans recently announced by internet search company Google to digitise tens of thousands of books from university libraries around the world, and the formation of the Open Content Alliance, including software giant Microsoft, with plans to digitise “the creative output of humankind”.
Conference organiser Dr Kenny McAlpine of Abertay University said: “Digital technology is opening up huge new possibilities for preserving cultural heritage and making it accessible to more and more people. There is so much happening and at such a pace that we decided to create this opportunity for those interested in the issues to meet and share knowledge.”
At today’s conference, around 70 delegates from universities, libraries, galleries, cultural bodies and commercial companies around the world heard presentations from leading figures in digital heritage, such as Paul Gerhardt, Director of the BBC’s Creative Archive Project.
The Creative Archive Project involves Channel 4, the Open University and the British Film Institute, among other, and aims to allow people to download clips of BBC factual programmes from bbc.co.uk for non-commercial use, keep them on their PCs, manipulate and share them, so making the BBC's archives more accessible to licence fee payers. It is seen as a model of digital cultural preservation.
Delegates also heard presentations from leading architectural academic Dr Alberto Sdegno of the University of Venice, talking about the use of new technology to re-create and preserve 16th century architecture, and Vladimir Karen from the Albertina Icome company in Prague, a world authority on CD-ROMs and digitizing historical documents.
Other presentations at the conference represented a very wide variety of cultural sectors: museums, libraries, archives, archaeological monuments and sites, live performances, exhibitions and the World Wide Web. They described recent progress in using digital technology in archaeology, literature, art and historical manuscripts.
Willie Payne, director of the Patrick Allan-Fraser Hospitalfield Trust, said: “It is very interesting to be able to survey the way we see our heritage changing with digital equipment. Not only is this a question of access and storage, but also of retrieval and manipulation allowing a direct creative narrative with digitally captured information. The results can be valuable and also surprising.”
Hospitalfield House in Arbroath is Scotland's artists' residency and project workshop for the promotion of contemporary arts and international exchange. Hospitalfield has enjoyed a unique place in Scotland's architectural and artistic heritage for over two hundred years, and continues to pursue an innovative strategy of support for the emerging artist, balancing increasingly digital artwork within a significant cultural landmark.
Dramatically remodelled by Patrick Allan Fraser from 1850, the mediaeval house was bequeathed 'for the promotion of Education in the Arts' in 1890. Today Hospitalfield is a place of study in all spheres of the arts and for artists from all around the world. Established and aspiring artists alike come visit Hospitalfield to pursue their own research and to study at masterclasses and summer workshops.
Professor Bernard King, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Abertay University, formally opened the conference, saying: “It is particularly pleasing to see how innovation in digital technology – which we at Abertay are pioneering - is constantly evolving and reaching new areas, touching upon and affecting so many different aspects of our lives. Its use in heritage preservation is allowing us to develop new ways to represent, experience and preserve the past for future generations.
“Digital technology in heritage preservation also opens up new economic opportunities. The digitisation of Scotland’s cultural heritage alone would cost an estimated £7-8 billion but Scotland’s digital industries would be well placed to carve out a share, not just of this market, but also of the global heritage asset base.”
To complement today’s Colloquium, Hospitalfield Trust and Abertay have also organised an international exhibition of digital heritage and preservation featuring exhibits from, amongst others, the Universities of Stanford and Venice. The exhibition will open next week. Meanwhile, plans are already in hand to make the Colloquium an annual event.
