EPOCH Research Agenda for the Applications of ICT to Cultural Heritage
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EPOCH Research Agenda for the Applications of ICT to Cultural Heritage Full Report David Arnold, University of Brighton Guntram Geser, Salzburg Research With contributions by Jaime Kaminski, University of Brighton on issues of the valuation of heritage impact May 2008 EPOCH Research Agenda – Final Report Disclaimer This report was produced by the EPOCH Project with the financial support of the European Commission. The content is the sole responsibility of EPOCH and its project partners. Furthermore, the information contained in the report, including any expression of opinion and any projection or forecast, does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission and in no way anticipates any future policy plans in the areas addressed in this report. The information supplied herein is without any obligation and should be used with the understanding that any person or legal body who acts upon it or otherwise changes its position in reliance thereon does so entirely at their own risk. EPOCH 2 May 2008 EPOCH Research Agenda – Final Report Table of content 1 EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW ............................................................................................. 7 1.1 Context and purpose of the Research Agenda ...................................................................... 7 1.2 Overview of Recommendations ............................................................................................ 7 2 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 19 2.1 EPOCH’s contribution to a Research Agenda for Applications of ICT to Cultural Heritage 19 2.2 Why a research agenda?...................................................................................................... 20 2.3 Research topics and priorities for future research ............................................................... 21 2.4 Methods used in the development of the Research Agenda ............................................... 22 2.5 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 22 3 CONSIDERATIONS ON RELEVANT AREAS, TYPES AND HORIZONS OF RESEARCH FOR CH ICT APPLICATIONS .................................................................... 25 3.1 Definition of relevant areas of CH ICT .............................................................................. 25 3.2 A framework based on CH business processes ................................................................... 26 3.3 Types and horizons of research addressed in the Research Agenda ................................... 27 3.3.1 Types of R&D and their specificity to CH ICT ............................................................ 27 3.3.2 Time horizons of different research challenges ........................................................... 28 3.4 Use-inspired basic research – “Pasteur’s Quadrant” and CH ICT research ....................... 30 3.5 Interdisciplinary research: Incorporating contributions by the humanities ........................ 33 3.6 Research needed for understanding CH operational and user situations ............................ 35 3.7 Appropriate approaches of sharing results of R&D ............................................................ 36 3.8 Leverage in CH ICT relevant education ............................................................................. 37 3.9 From research prototypes to solutions that work in practice .............................................. 37 3.10 Summary on important basic components of research for cultural heritage ICT applications 38 4 EUROPEAN FRAMEWORKS AND PROGRAMMES FOR R&D IN CULTURAL HERITAGE APPLICATIONS ............................................................................................. 40 4.1 The EU Lisbon Strategy, and i2010 initiative .................................................................... 40 4.2 The 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (2007-2013) 41 4.3 Important related instruments ............................................................................................. 42 5 SCENARIOS FOR FUTURE ICT SYSTEMS FOR CH PRACTITIONERS .......... 44 5.1 Scenario 1: Site excavation – virtual excavation support teams ......................................... 45 5.1.1 Scenario – story ........................................................................................................... 45 5.1.2 Commentary and implications ..................................................................................... 46 5.1.3 Overview of specific technologies/applications and processes implied in Scenario 1 47 5.2 Scenario 2: Community museums – hybrid eco-museum and community memory .......... 48 5.2.1 Scenario – story ........................................................................................................... 48 5.2.2 Commentary and implications ..................................................................................... 50 5.2.3 Overview of specific technologies/applications and processes implied in Scenario 2 51 5.3 Scenario 3: Educational experiences – heritage classrooms without walls ........................ 53 5.3.1 Scenario – story ........................................................................................................... 53 5.3.2 Commentary and implications ..................................................................................... 53 5.3.3 Overview of specific technologies/applications and processes implied in Scenario 3 55 EPOCH 3 May 2008 EPOCH Research Agenda – Final Report 5.4 Scenario 4: Heritage management in the context of major events ...................................... 56 5.4.1 Scenario – story ........................................................................................................... 56 5.4.2 Commentary and implications ..................................................................................... 57 5.4.3 Overview of specific technologies/applications and processes implied in Scenario 4 58 5.5 Scenario 5: Environmentally endangered sites: A large-scale industrial heritage site ....... 59 5.5.1 Scenario – story ........................................................................................................... 59 5.5.2 Commentary and implications ..................................................................................... 60 5.5.3 Overview of specific technologies/applications and processes implied in Scenario 5 62 5.6 Drawing together the threads from the scenarios ............................................................... 62 5.6.1 Technology needs identified in the scenarios .............................................................. 62 5.6.2 Grouping of the needs .................................................................................................. 64 5.6.3 Current state of the art and research challenges ........................................................ 65 6 TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH TOPICS AND PRIORITIES ............................. 67 6.1 Data capture ........................................................................................................................ 67 6.1.1 Activities and processes in onsite data capture ........................................................... 68 6.1.2 Different circumstances in the digitization of cultural heritage objects...................... 69 6.1.3 3D data capture ........................................................................................................... 72 6.2 Documentation of digital objects: Focus 3D objects .......................................................... 76 6.2.1 Short-term, urgent open research problems ................................................................ 76 6.2.2 Longer-term issues: Non-textual vocabularies and semantic 3D objects ................... 79 6.3 User-created content ........................................................................................................... 82 6.4 Intelligent tools ................................................................................................................... 85 6.5 Semantic and multi-lingual processing ............................................................................... 87 6.5.1 Ontologies, taxonomies and thesauri .......................................................................... 87 6.5.2 Folksonomies ............................................................................................................... 89 6.5.3 Multi-lingual and multi-cultural knowledge bases ...................................................... 90 6.5.4 Digital memories for cultural information integration ................................................ 93 6.6 Visualization and presentation ............................................................................................ 96 6.6.1 Procedural Modelling .................................................................................................. 96 6.6.2 More general research topics in visualization and presentation............................... 100 6.6.3 Additional ICT support in environmental assessment, restoration and reconstruction 104 6.6.4 Specific issues for Web access and dissemination ..................................................... 106 6.7 Information systems for CH monitoring, risk assessment and damage prevention .......... 107 6.8 Distributed and mobile systems for CH tasks ..................................................................