Cultural Heritage Professionals Research Articles

What Needs to be Learned by U.S. Cultural Heritage Professionals? Results from the Digital Preservation Outreach & Education Network

Abstract With the current proliferation of training opportunities available in digital preservation, this study asks: what are the most in demand digital preservation instruction topics? To answer this question, we did a qualitative content analysis of 168 Professional Development Support applications received by the Digital Preservation Outreach and Education Network (DPOE-N) between September 2020 and December 2023. The study finds that the management of digital records and metadata/cataloging standards were the most requested training topics, and that general and broadly applicable skills tend to be the most sought after. This indicates that there is a continuing need to provide education focusing on the core elements of digital preservation and knowledge, and that we have not moved on yet to a place where cultural heritage professionals are solely seeking skills in more advanced or specialized digital preservation topics.

Will Artificial Intelligence Affect How Cultural Heritage Will Be Managed in the Future? Responses Generated by Four genAI Models

Generative artificial intelligence (genAI) language models have become firmly embedded in public consciousness. Their abilities to extract and summarise information from a wide range of sources in their training data have attracted the attention of many scholars. This paper examines how four genAI large language models (ChatGPT, GPT4, DeepAI, and Google Bard) responded to prompts, asking (i) whether artificial intelligence would affect how cultural heritage will be managed in the future (with examples requested) and (ii) what dangers might emerge when relying heavily on genAI to guide cultural heritage professionals in their actions. The genAI systems provided a range of examples, commonly drawing on and extending the status quo. Without a doubt, AI tools will revolutionise the execution of repetitive and mundane tasks, such as the classification of some classes of artifacts, or allow for the predictive modelling of the decay of objects. Important examples were used to assess the purported power of genAI tools to extract, aggregate, and synthesize large volumes of data from multiple sources, as well as their ability to recognise patterns and connections that people may miss. An inherent risk in the ‘results’ presented by genAI systems is that the presented connections are ‘artifacts’ of the system rather than being genuine. Since present genAI tools are unable to purposively generate creative or innovative thoughts, it is left to the reader to determine whether any text that is provided by genAI that is out of the ordinary is meaningful or nonsensical. Additional risks identified by the genAI systems were that some cultural heritage professionals might use AI systems without the required level of AI literacy and that overreliance on genAI systems might lead to a deskilling of general heritage practitioners.

Sustainability Tools in Cultural Heritage: Life Cycle Assessment Examining Crates for Heritage Objects

ABSTRACT The Sustainability Tools in Cultural Heritage (STiCH) https://stich.culturalheritage.org project informs cultural heritage professionals about sustainable choices through life cycle assessment (LCA). This paper focuses on one study https://stich.culturalheritage.org/crates/ that examines the environmental impacts of transporting cultural heritage. The study models four crate types crates single trip, round trip, and reusable. For each crate, three major material categories (exterior, interior, and wrapping) were analyzed, giving each configuration an environmental profile. The study compares these crate options over their life cycles, including impacts from material production, transportation, and disposal. The results show that reusable crate have lower impacts than wooden crates across a broad range of environmental considerations. Transportation dominates reusable crates and is relatively less important for single-trip crates. For single-trip and round-trip crates, foams can be a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Actions that would reduce impacts include reusing the crate itself or its disassembled components. Lowering the weight of the crate, possibly by using lighter materials for the crate shell, would reduce impacts from transport. These findings can encourage further research and exploration of sustainable materials that perform similarly to the items they replace.

Multiculturalism and Digital Heritage: The VR Transformation of Ethnic Folk Games in Malaysia and China

Intangible cultural heritage (which includes traditional folk games) is being lost at an alarming rate, primarily due to globalization and modernization. The object of this study is how to enhanced use Virtual Reality (VR) technology in protection and publicity for traditional folk games, such as a pyramid game shown on Dunhuang frescos. This research is to explores how VR can be used to build a compelling and authentic experience which helps preserve these traditions. Grounded in a qualitative exploratory research design, this study applies semi-structured interviews with VR specialists and cultural heritage professionals (2), case-studies of China and Malaysia (3) conducting focus groups to gather the data. A thematic analysis was conducted on the data to obtain key themes.

Hierarchical Modelling of Smart Digital Cultural Heritage Spaces: An XML-Based Approach

Extensible Markup Language or XML was created with the aim of making information self-describing. In contrast to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), XML is not seen as a markup language but rather as a toolkit for creating mark-up languages. Immersive technologies provide Cultural Heritage spaces with the opportunity to implement a smart digital immersive user journey, but an inclusive design should be prioritised as it is a fundamental right for all individuals to participate in cultural life as stated by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). A well-formed XML schema can allow museum curators to implement a smart digital immersive system and strategically position technological devices to optimise interactivity in the user journey. An objective of this paper is to review the theoretical background of XML and determine its suitability to model smart digital Cultural Heritage spaces. Design Science Research (DSR) will also be analysed and applied to the design of an initial XML schema to provide a hierarchical structure for a smart digital immersive user journey. The schema will be applied to an artificial Cultural Heritage setting which is manually designed in this paper to illustrate an example of a smart digital immersive environment and does not represent a real location. The results indicate that XML can support Cultural Heritage professionals to digitise their user experience in a way that is human-centred and harnesses the beneficial aspects of digital technologies.

Digital Cultural Heritage, Cybersecurity, and the Human Factor

Abstract Digital heritage, with its intellectual and cultural identity value, constitutes a significant asset. This also makes it an important asset in the cyber market. Cultural heritage institutions, recognising the vital role of digital assets, confront various information security risks and must adopt cyber threat related strategies to counter potential cyber-attacks. This paper first investigates the susceptibility of digital heritage objects to cyber threats by examining their distinctive characteristics. The study subsequently poses research enquiries concerning the cybersecurity proficiency and general awareness of cultural heritage professionals. A conducted survey in Croatia among these professionals analyses their information and computer practices related to the storage and preservation of digital cultural heritage. Findings reveal that while overall cybersecurity awareness is commendable, there exists a deficiency in cybersecurity and data protection training among cultural heritage professionals, even at the basic level. Additionally, the study highlights insufficient technical support and equipment for cybersecurity within cultural heritage institutions.

THE FIRST ATTEMPT FOR STANDARDISATION IN 3D DIGITISATION. THE EU STUDY ON QUALITY IN 3D DIGITISATION OF TANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE

Abstract. This paper focuses on the exceptional results of the EU Study (Commission et al., 2022) to map the parameters, formats, standards, benchmarks and methodologies relating to the 3D digitisation of tangible cultural heritage (CH). The overall objective of our paper is to further the quality of the 3D digitisation process by enabling cultural heritage professionals, institutions, content developers, stakeholders and academics to define and produce high-quality digitisation standards and sustainable conservation models for the preservation, documentation, understanding, and accessibility of tangible cultural heritage assets. The aim is to achieve high quality results during the 2D and 3D recording process of CH tangible assets. This work identifies for the first time in this domain, key parameters of the digitisation process, estimated the relative complexity and how it is linked to technology, its impact on quality and its various factors. It also presents standards and formats used for 3D digitisation, including data types, data formats and metadata schemas for 3D structures within a holistic documentation approach. Finally, this work presents and describes all the features and parameters of the complexity and quality that influence the methodology and infrastructure to be used for high quality results regarding digital cultural heritage. These complexity and quality factors are illustrated in the form of radial charts with the corresponding relevant information at the end of the paper.

A FLEXIBLE WORKFLOW FOR MULTIMODAL 3D IMAGING OF VAULTED PAINTED CEILINGS IN HIGH DETAIL

Abstract. 3D imaging is an increasingly common tool for the investigation of cultural heritage. Painted ceilings offer particular challenges as the art historical requirements necessitate highly detailed and accurate capture of colour textures with sub-millimetre resolution, even of large areas of 100s of square metres, situated in a wide variety of building environments. Geometrical information is also required to represent fully the three-dimensional nature of these sculpted and vaulted ceilings, again at the resolution necessary for both documentation and use by cultural heritage professionals including conservators, restorers, building researchers, architects and art historians. This paper describes a multi-modal campaign of 3D digitisation of three very different sites undertaken as part of the Franco-German Plafond 3D project. We introduce a flexible and adaptable methodology that allows the detailed imaging of large interiors and ceiling paintings in a short period of time and with varying levels of access.

Empowering cultural heritage professionals: designing interactive exhibitions with authoring tools

ABSTRACT This paper advocates for the involvement of Cultural Heritage Professionals (CHPs) such as curators, staff, and volunteers, in the design process for creating engaging museum exhibitions. The paper presents two prototypes: a desktop system that assists CHPs in creating interactive tools easily and intuitively, and a mobile application that allows museum visitors to enjoy interactive experiences created by museum curators. The system supports CHPs in creating interactive exhibitions that engage museum visitors by making the process easier, efficient, and effective. The paper discusses four case studies involving three museums in Madeira, Portugal, with 9 curators and 59 visitors participating; and it concludes by emphasizing the importance of involving CHPs in creating interactive museum exhibitions and providing guidance on using authoring tools. This approach can improve museum management and curatorship practices, leading to engaging exhibits, better learning outcomes, reduced costs, and innovation for visitors.

Outside Inn: Exploring the Heritage of a Historic Hotel through 360-Panoramas

This research project investigates the potential of 360-panorama tours to improve the situated and contextual interpretation, virtual visitation, and spatial understanding of recorded or simulated built heritage sites. Our chosen case study was the Subiaco Hotel, a significant heritage building designed by Summerhayes Architecture, which we documented using 360-degree photographs and linked with other media to create an interactive 360-panorama tour. Today, 360-degree panorama tours such as Google Street View enable the virtual exploration of heritage sites and historic buildings. They demonstrate limited interaction and immersion across a range of platforms and devices, without the requirement of expensive virtual reality headsets, but typically do not integrate other media to leverage spatially richer ways to communicate the historical developments of architectural interiors and exteriors. The primary goals of this study were to establish a comprehensive step-by-step workflow for creating an interactive tour of a significant heritage site, demonstrate how other media such as text, videos, and 3D models can be linked, gather feedback from cultural heritage professionals, and offer future research directions and development guidelines. Apart from detailing an optimized workflow for developing interactive 360-degree virtual tours for heritage buildings, we also offer guidelines for optimal panoramic tour creation and implementation.

Learning with a purpose: a metals chemistry course centered on objects conservation

Abstract Corrosion is the visible result of redox reactions on multiple substrates, “rust” being the known, although this term only applies to iron and iron alloy objects. Using corrosion as a relatable example to teach redox eases this concepts’ understanding because its results are visually identifiable; both in everyday objects like door hinges, and in cultural heritage objects like cannons. This article concerns the latter class of objects, as they have the potential to engage people interested in fields that seem unrelated to chemistry. The reality is the opposite, as cultural heritage professionals assess objects used in humanities disciplines like archeology and history through the lens of science. This article discusses how conservators approach corrosion on cultural heritage objects and provides experiments for any base-knowledge and age-level students to learn about the process of corrosion and electrochemistry.

Mental health risks for cultural heritage professionals within the framework of disaster risk reduction: An exploratory study on the emotional impact of ruins after the 2016 earthquake in central Italy

Across the disaster risk reduction (DRR) community, there is a growing recognition that protecting cultural heritage has a key role in strengthening community sense and resilience. Despite this, however, cultural heritage first aiders, that is, heritage professionals managing the activities of securing movable and immovable cultural heritage in emergencies after disasters, are not adequately recognized in the DRR framework with respect to the mental risks they face, working in the field of emergencies. This study aims to explore the specific quality of mental health risks for cultural heritage first aiders, analyzing the emotional impact of the sight of cultural heritage ruins on a sample of cultural heritage first aiders, compared with a sample of emergency psychologists and earthquake victims, together with exploring the possible role of collateral variables, such as personality traits. Participants were 30 Italian adults who have been involved, to different degrees and roles, in the 2016 Central Italy (Marche region) earthquake or immediately after, for post-disaster emergency activities. Results showed an interesting gradient of the emotional impact of heritage ruins, with heritage professionals at the apex of it. Moreover, heritage professionals showed a higher aesthetic-artistic sensitivity together with the presence of post-traumatic stress long after the disaster event, thus highlighting a specific profile of risk for mental health, which should be taken into serious account by the scientific community. A suggestion is finally proposed on the potential usefulness of including pre-disaster psychological training for cultural heritage aiders in the DRR strategies, also in light of the increasing need for a person-centered approach integrating Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in the DRR framework.

Is dc:subject enough? A landscape on iconography and iconology statements of knowledge graphs in the semantic web

PurposeIn the last few years, the size of Linked Open Data (LOD) describing artworks, in general or domain-specific Knowledge Graphs (KGs), is gradually increasing. This provides (art-)historians and Cultural Heritage professionals with a wealth of information to explore. Specifically, structured data about iconographical and iconological (icon) aspects, i.e. information about the subjects, concepts and meanings of artworks, are extremely valuable for the state-of-the-art of computational tools, e.g. content recognition through computer vision. Nevertheless, a data quality evaluation for art domains, fundamental for data reuse, is still missing. The purpose of this study is filling this gap with an overview of art-historical data quality in current KGs with a focus on the icon aspects.Design/methodology/approachThis study’s analyses are based on established KG evaluation methodologies, adapted to the domain by addressing requirements from art historians’ theories. The authors first select several KGs according to Semantic Web principles. Then, the authors evaluate (1) their structures’ suitability to describe icon information through quantitative and qualitative assessment and (2) their content, qualitatively assessed in terms of correctness and completeness.FindingsThis study’s results reveal several issues on the current expression of icon information in KGs. The content evaluation shows that these domain-specific statements are generally correct but often not complete. The incompleteness is confirmed by the structure evaluation, which highlights the unsuitability of the KG schemas to describe icon information with the required granularity.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this work is an overview of the actual landscape of the icon information expressed in LOD. Therefore, it is valuable to cultural institutions by providing them a first domain-specific data quality evaluation. Since this study’s results suggest that the selected domain information is underrepresented in Semantic Web datasets, the authors highlight the need for the creation and fostering of such information to provide a more thorough art-historical dimension to LOD.

Protocols to Prevent Transmission of the Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome: Three Case Studies

The goal of the paper is to explain the risk posed by rodent contaminated materials and environments to cultural heritage professionals, to provide sound information from professional literature and reputable sources, to offer standardized protocols gleaned from these sources, and to view the protocols through case studies from three projects. By spelling out the affinity that rodents have for historic sites, museum collections, archives holdings, records repositories, library collections, and cultural heritage infrastructure it will be clear the risk is paramount. By making clear the widespread habitat of rodents that can spread viruses the case is made for wide adoption of protocols. Diverse professionals, working in conservation and allied fields, can utilize information in this paper as a starting point in planning projects to assess, handle, and treat rodent impacted items, storage areas, and sites.

History and Approaches to Heritage Studies, Pedagogy and Practice in Heritage Studies

History and Approaches to Heritage Studies, Pedagogy and Practice in Heritage Studies

Life cycle assessment of anoxic treatments for cultural heritage preservation

Cultural heritage professionals want to better assess sustainability in order to make environmentally conscious choices in the conservation of art and historic objects. Anoxia is commonly used for pest remediation or long-term storage to slow the degradation of oxygen-sensitive materials or objects. In this work, the environmental impacts of three popular methods for achieving anoxia were compared using life cycle assessment, including product or gas manufacturing, packaging, transportation, and incineration waste management. Scenarios with an oxygen scavenger, nitrogen gas, or argon gas were compared for 4-weeks of pest remediation and one- and five-years of long-term storage. Across all settings and treatment lengths, scenarios exclusively using argon gas to reach anoxia had the greatest environmental impacts, while scenarios that used the oxygen scavenger were typically environmentally preferable. The sensitivity of the results to various treatment design parameters was tested, providing guidance to preservationists in designing new methods and choosing among treatment options.

Memes, youth and memory institutions

ABSTRACT Through the collection of digital media and engagement with underrepresented groups, memory institutions aspire to preserve and interpret a range of contemporary perspectives on culture and identity. These institutions simultaneously seek to provide experiences that foster civic identities and cultural citizenship. This article explores the potential of collecting internet memes, a specific form of digital media, to further these institutional aims. Through an empirical study of a youth engagement program at a Norwegian folklore archive, we conclude that collecting and contextualizing image macros in collaboration with young people is an institutionally viable and inclusionary approach to documenting new expressions of culture and everyday life. The project further created a context in which young people could exercise competencies related to the development of a civic identity. These findings are relevant for cultural heritage institutions which aim to diversify the forms of digital media, knowledge practices and perspectives represented in their collections, and for cultural heritage professionals who aim to engage youth or marginalized communities. Extending recent research on internet memes as resources for meaning-making the study also underscores the value of participatory research methodologies which deliberately invite individuals’ interpretations of digital culture and analytical approaches that account for the richness of internet memes and image macros as semiotic resources for narrating identity.

Safeguarding traditional theatre amid trauma: career shock among cultural heritage professionals in Cantonese opera

ABSTRACT Cantonese opera was inscribed as a Human Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2009. The closure of world heritage properties and performance venues due to the global pandemic has resulted in a global employment crisis and the subsequent departure of many seasoned Cantonese opera artists, inarguably threatening the sustainability of cultural heritage development and disrupting the transmission process. This paper investigates the intertwined relationship between transmission, traumatic crisis, and cultural heritage professionals (CHPs) through the lens of 56 Cantonese opera artists in Hong Kong. Utilising the transactional theory of stress and coping, this paper critically examines the role, psychological responses, and subsequent actions of Cantonese opera artists amid traumatic crisis. The findings contribute to the scholarship on cultural transmission by documenting the impact of social mobilisation, paradigm shifts on tradition, career crisis, vocational behavioural changes, and digital transformation on safeguarding intangible cultural heritage amid trauma. This paper argues that positive coping is related to post-traumatic growth and industrial transformation, highlighting the urgency for Hong Kong and the world to develop preparedness for a road map of cultural heritage transmission to coexist with the pandemic or other traumatic crises in this age of global challenges.

Finding Aid Aggregation: Toward a Robust Future

ABSTRACT Over the last twenty-five years, cultural heritage professionals have formed aggregations—of finding aids, digital object metadata, or related forms of description—in order to overcome barriers to creating and presenting structured, consistent, and interoperable description and to enable expanded access. Now most of these aggregators are struggling to update their infrastructure, meet user needs for access to archival collections, and engage with some of the most promising conceptual, technical, and structural advances in the field. In 2018–2019, the “Toward a National Archival Finding Aid Network” planning initiative identified what aggregation has accomplished, articulated the key challenges facing aggregators, identified which areas could benefit from collaborative work, and created a vision for that work. With the near-completion of a research and demonstration by the California Digital Library, “Building a National Finding Aid Network” (NAFAN), the project and the archival profession have an opportunity to learn from the past and transform access to cultural heritage. However, none of the large-scale aggregations in the United States present a viable model for sustainability. Sustainability will become possible if they overcome the factors that have limited the success of aggregation so far. These include an over-focus on implementing new technical standards and infrastructure and under-focus on the real limitations: lack of knowledge of end user needs and attempting to accomplish too much without the needed resources. By drawing on both the background research described in this article and the further research conducted during the current NAFAN project, this and other cultural heritage enterprises have an opportunity to create a future in which access to cultural heritage is equalized and expanded for both institutions and end users.

Designing mobile museum experiences for teenagers

ABSTRACT While museums are often designed to engage and interest a wide variety of audiences, teenagers are a neglected segment. This article describes a set of findings that aids in designing enjoyable interactive experiences inside natural history museums for teenagers (15–19 years old). For this research, 223 teenagers have been involved through co-design sessions and testing of Augmented Reality prototypes (130 of these teenagers took part in a focus group as well). This work also involved 3 museums from Portugal, 12 cultural heritage professionals, and 17 master's students as sources of information who took part in different research studies. Through qualitative analysis, the findings from the studies provide a strong foundation to inform and inspire work within the emerging research field concerning museum offerings and the current teenage generation.