Discussing the future of Digital Cultural Heritage

 

http://www.digitalmeetsculture.net/article/discussing-the-future-of-digital-cultural-heritage/

During the brainstorming meeting…

A brainstorming meeting about the European initiatives for the development and value improvement of Cultural Heritage was recently held in the Tuscan town of Peccioli, near to Pisa. The two-days event (Saturday 26^th and Sunday 27^th October 2013) was organized as an initiative  by Promoter S.r.l., leader company in the field of information technologies, research and communication, managed by Dr. Antonella Fresa, coordinator of many European projects.

The meeting fostered discussion of a panel composed of  high-level experts, coordinators of important EC projects in the area of cultural heritage preservation and enjoyment and in particular related to the digitization, cataloguing, aggregation and creative reuse of digital cultural contents – projects where also Promoter is partner with the role of Technical Coordinator and communication and dissemination manager, such as Linked Heritage, DCH-RP, EuropeanaPhotography; new projects are also ready to start in 2014.

In particular, Prof. Sarah Whatley, Prof. Neil Forbes and Dr. Marion Doyen, representatives of Coventry University (UK) took part in the event, as coordinators of two ever-new research-projects aimed at investigating the methods for the transmission and value improvement of cultural heritage, the socio-economic impact which cultural heritage should and must have on the civil society, best practices for public-private partnerships and the relation between cultural institutions and creative industries.

Another very important challenge discussed during the meeting was the long-term preservation of digital archives. About this topic, particularly interesting was the report presented by Borje Justrell, Director at the Swedish National Archives and coordinator of a project devoted to the management of a pre-commercial procurement, for a global amount of over 2.800.000 Euro in the next 4 years.

from left, Pietro Masi (CEO at Promoter), Sarah Whatley (Professor of Dance and Director of C-DARE, Coventry University), Borje Justrell (Director at the Swedish National Archives), Monika Hagedorn-Saupe (Professor at the Prussian Culture Foundation of Berlin), Marion Doyen (Business Development Manager, Coventry University), Neil Forbes (Professor and Director of Research, Coventry University), Antonella Fresa (Director and Project Manager at Promoter), Fred Truyen (Professor at the Faculty of Arts, KU Leuven).

Prof. Monika Hagedorn-Saupe of Prussian Culture Foundation of Berlin and Prof. Fred Truyen of KU Leuven (Belgium) brought their testimony about the role played by cultural institutions in the era of the transformations generated by the advent of digital technologies.

Main aim of the meeting was to compare experiences and ideas, to promote synergies and collaborations among the projects led by the attendees and to identify research spaces in the light of the upcoming new EU programme Horizon 2020.

This event was also an occasion for the delegates to closely “meet” the important traces of Etruscan Culture preserved at the Guarnacci Museum in Volterra, and also the artworks of the Tuscan Renaissance painting school displayed at the Civic Gallery.

In Peccioli the experts, as guests of the Municipality, had then the occasion to visit the local museums of the Polo Museale, welcomed by the Councilor for Culture Andrea Petresi, President of the Foundation PeccioliPer.

The experts visited the ancient town of Volterra.