Digital Cultural Heritage Research Articles

Virtual collection of butterflies of Ivan Verhratskyi

The article examines the history of the formation of Ivan Verkhratskyi's collection of butterflies - from the first collections to the transfer to the funds of the State Natural History Museum of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and digitization. In total, as of now, the collection includes 5,278 units of butterflies collected at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. The work uses generally accepted methods of digitizing naturalistic collections. Digitized samples have been included in the database of the web resource of the State Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine - Data Center «Biodiversity of Ukraine». As part of the project, 2,060 specimens belonging to 247 species from 18 families of Lepidoptera were digitized. As a result, the availability of digital data of the author's collection for various target audiences is ensured. The priorities of the "Cultural Heritage" competition program were implemented in two directions, namely: digitization of museum objects and digitization of intangible cultural heritage. The Lepidoptera collection of Ivan Verkhratskyі can be used for long-term monitoring of the state of the diversity of butterflies in the region, chronological analysis of changes in their species composition and distribution, as well as the study of individual imago variability and the accumulation of data on rare protected species. In addition, the digitized collection of butterflies has an important aesthetic and cognitive value.

Decentralising digital humanities: exploring blockchain technology and “web3” for the Sloane Lab and Towards a National Collection (TaNC)

PurposeAdvancements in Internet technologies greatly influence digital humanities, yet research investigating web3 (i.e. the blockchain-based, decentralised web) within that domain remains limited. The purpose of this paper is to address that gap, presenting a state-of-the-art synthesis of web3-related technologies for digital humanities infrastructures and exploring associated risks and challenges.Design/methodology/approachFollowing a review of the literature, the authors scope out ways blockchain technology, peer-to-peer decentralised storage and other web3 technologies could support digital humanities infrastructures, especially in the context of digital cultural heritage. In this discussion, particular cognisance is given to the needs and aims of the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council funded Towards a National Collection programme, which seeks to break down the barriers that exist between the UK’s cultural heritage collections.FindingsWeb3 introduces novel tools and processes that could benefit digital humanities infrastructures, enabling decentralisation and facilitating open access data storage. Yet, significant barriers to adoption remain, such as the requirement for highly specialised technical expertise. Risks and challenges must also be considered prior to any use, including legal, ethical and technical safeguards.Research limitations/implicationsThis study explores opportunities and risks of web3 for digital humanities, through the lens of digital cultural heritage infrastructures and their requirements, including decentralised storage and persistent identification. It does not provide a holistic overview of all web3 technologies.Practical implicationsThe authors identify practical uses of web3 technologies for digital humanities projects, outlining potential applications concerning decentralised storage and persistent identification.Originality/valueThe authors push forward current knowledge and literature on the intersection of web3 and digital humanities, outlining also practical recommendations for scholars, practitioners and funding organisations.

Exploring Collective Identity and Community Connections: An Interpersonal Analysis of Online Visitor Reviews at the Overseas Chinese Museum (2012–2023)

The Overseas Chinese Museum in Xiamen, Fujian, is a cultural historical museum in China that promotes heritage tourism and strengthens the community connection among the overseas Chinese diaspora, international and local visitors. The museum has become a platform for interpreting the immigration experience of overseas Chinese communities around the world. In this study, we examine visitors’ feedback to the Overseas Chinese Museum through a linguistic analysis of their reviews. The visitors’ reviews, 207 English-language online reviews, were collected from various travel forums between 2012 and 2023, totaling 11,584 words. We divided the data evenly into two distinct time periods, Stage I (2012–2017) and Stage II (2018–2023) and used statistical corpus log-likelihood analysis to quantify and understand if there were significant linguistic differences over time. Some of the key differences emerging from the linguistic analysis were related to conjunctions, e.g., also, while, after, and so, evaluative language and how identity was construed through language. Findings adopting an appraisal analysis suggested an increase in visitor satisfaction, possibly due to enhanced exhibits and changes in visitor expectations. The findings from analysing the reviews also showed that visitors shared similar values, developed a social bond with overseas Chinese, and engaged with this cultural historical community. The study contributes to a wider discussion on language in digital communication and cultural heritage. In addition, the visitors’ feedback and preferences could be used to improve communication and promotional strategies that ultimately increase the number of visitors to the museum.

Underwater virtual exploration of the ancient port of Amathus

Underwater cultural heritage sites, spanning from submerged settlements to ancient ports and shipwrecks, captivate researchers and the public, providing insight into civilizations along coastlines and riverbanks. However, their accessibility and exploration are hindered by the sea’s physical barrier. Virtual Reality (VR) offers a transformative solution by providing digital accessibility to these underwater artifacts, enabling immersive exploration without physical limitations. VR enables people to embark on virtual tours of these sites, fostering a deeper appreciation of maritime archaeology and cultural heritage. Yet, fully realizing VR’s potential in underwater environments poses challenges, such as realistic virtual reconstruction and accurate simulation of marine life and coral reefs. Photogrammetry emerges as an effective technique for creating detailed 3D models, although underwater conditions often hinder quality outcomes. To address these challenges, our work focuses on digital underwater cultural heritage, presenting a gamified VR exploration of the ancient harbor of Amathus in Cyprus. Through photogrammetry, our VR environment enables users to explore and interact with the historic site seamlessly. Integrated guided tours, procedural generation, and machine learning algorithms enhance realism and user engagement. Evaluation through user studies demonstrates high-quality VR experiences with minimal discomfort, highlighting the efficacy and potential impact of our approach in enhancing underwater exploration and conservation efforts.

Virtual Roaming of Cultural Heritage Based on Image Processing

ABSTRACTWith the digital protection and development of cultural heritage as a focus, an analysis of the trends in cultural heritage digitization reveals the importance of digital technology in this field, as demonstrated by the application of virtual reality (VR) to the protection and development of the Lingjiatan site. The implementation of the Lingjiatan roaming system involves sequential steps, including image acquisition, image splicing, and roaming system production. A user test was conducted to evaluate the usability and user experience of the system. The results show that the system operates normally, with smooth interactive functions that allow users to tour the Lingjiatan site virtually. Users can learn about Lingjiatan's culture from this virtual environment. This study further explores the system's potential for site preservation and development, and its role in the integration of cultural heritage and tourism.

Study on the Approach of Integrating Cultural Heritage into Sustainable Education in the Context of Digitization

Along with the development of the field of digital culture, the preservation and presentation of cultural heritage has begun to transform into a digital paradigm. How to integrate digital cultural heritage with the education of different groups is an important topic. This paper explores the path of digital preservation, utilization and interpretation of cultural heritage, including information acquisition and processing, information storage and management, spatial simulation and analysis, and heritage interpretation and dissemination. Following that, it explores the paths and methods of integrating cultural heritage into sustainable education, taking into account the basic demands of social practice education, general education, professional education and public education. This paper argues that the integration of digital cultural heritage into sustainable education can not only popularize the knowledge related to cultural heritage and enhance the public's digital literacy, but also further improve the level of protection and utilization of cultural heritage. Through the integration of digital cultural heritage and education, the awareness of cultural heritage protection can be raised so that people can jointly guard the cultural treasures of all mankind.

Design of a virtual reality serious game for experiencing the colors of Dunhuang frescoes

With the rapid advancement of digital games, serious games have emerged as a significant medium for engaging with cultural heritage. As a primary visual element in cultural heritage, color plays a crucial role in users’ digital learning. However, there is currently a scarcity of serious game designs that specifically focus on cultural heritage colors, indicating potential for improvement in the user experience. To further enhance users’ perception of color and create a more engaging and enriching digital cultural heritage experience, this study proposes a virtual reality serious game (VR SG) design method specifically tailored to cultural heritage colors. Additionally, it explores the potential of VR SG in enhancing the education, entertainment, and dissemination aspects of these colors within cultural heritage. Specifically, we explore how to integrate relevant knowledge of cultural heritage colors into the application process of VR SG and assess users’ learning performance, engagement, and interactive willingness within these VR SG. The study employs the colors of the Dunhuang cave frescoes as a case study for design practice. A total of 30 participants took part in a between-group comparison experiment, utilizing a mixed-methods approach that combined quantitative and qualitative assessments to compare the performance of a VR SG with a VR exhibition game. The results indicate that both the VR SG and the VR exhibition game effectively enhance users’ understanding and retention of knowledge, with VR SG users demonstrating higher levels of task engagement, emotional engagement, willingness to explore, and willingness to share. This study confirms the potential of VR SG to enhance the education, entertainment, and dissemination aspects of cultural heritage colors and discusses the implications of VR SG in supporting digital cultural heritage experiences.

Integration of Digital Repositories and Spatial Design within the Metaverse: the Evaluation of Features and Narratives to set Learning Environments on Cultural Heritage

Abstract. The Metaverse is rapidly advancing across cultural, professional, and service sectors, enhancing data compatibility and interaction. Its architectural design supports both visual interaction and information layers, characterising an ideal platform for the promotion of Digital Heritage. The digitisation of Cultural Heritage and the creation of Digital Repositories find complementarity in the Metaverse, which enables social interactions between Digital Heritage contents and virtual communities. This integration is pivotal for developing Learning Environments, where accessible virtual products can be combined with original digital storytelling and narratives.The paper presents methods and results from an Erasmus+ international school, which focused on using digital communication and 3D modelling tools to create immersive narratives on Mediterranean architectural modernity. Students from various Cultural Heritage disciplines designed virtual exhibitions within the Metaverse platform Spatial and open repository materials. The research concentrated on the application of Metaverse platforms for their spatial design and educational utility within the Heritage sector. The activities included developing digital narratives and interactive exhibitions enriched with multimedia data from digital repositories. The study discusses the limitations of customising visual materials, the importance of repository connections, user experience design, and the potential for future developments in Metaverse applications for Cultural Heritage learning environments and storytelling.

Styled and characteristic Peking opera facial makeup synthesis with co-training and transfer conditional styleGAN2

Against the backdrop of the deep integration of culture and technology, research and practice in digitization of intangible cultural heritage has continued to deepen. However, due to the lack of data and training, it is still very difficult to apply artificial intelligence to the field of cultural heritage protection. This article integrates image generation technology into the digital protection of Peking opera facial makeup, using a self-built Peking opera facial makeup dataset. Based on the StyleGAN2 network, we propose a style generative cooperative training network Co-StyleGAN2, which integrates the adaptive data augmentation (ADA) to alleviate the problem of discriminator overfitting and introduces the idea of cooperative training to stabilize the training process. We design a Peking opera facial makeup image transform conditional generation network TC-StyleGAN2 which is transferred from unconditional generation network. The weights of the unconditional pre-training model are fixed, and an adaptive filtering modulation module is added to modulate the category parameters to complete the conversion from unconditional to conditional StyleGAN2 to deal with the training difficulty of conditional GANs on limited data, which suffer from severe mode collapse. The experimental results show that the proposed training strategy is better than the comparison algorithms, and the image generation quality and diversity have been improved.

Community Partnerships in Digital Cultural Heritage: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACTCommunity partnerships with libraries, archives, and museums are increasingly recognized as essential to developing and stewarding complete, accurate, and equitable digital cultural records. While research and practice in this area has burgeoned, there is limited empirical research characterizing the state of the field. This study offers preliminary findings of a systematic, state‐of‐the‐art review of community‐institutional partnerships in digital cultural heritage collections and initiatives. This review systematically identifies wide‐ranging, active community partnerships among relevant institutions and their high‐level objectives, and a correlated array of approaches taken in pursuit of those objectives. The resulting conceptual framework and open access dataset form the base of a toolkit supporting community‐institutional partnerships for a more sustainable, community‐centered cultural record.

Han Dynasty Portrait Image Feature Extraction and Cloud Computing-supported Symbolic Interpretation: A New Approach to Cultural Heritage Digitalization

The study introduces the Cloud Computing-based Cultural Heritage Digitization (CCBCHD) framework, a groundbreaking approach that utilizes advanced convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and transfer learning techniques for digitizing and analyzing Han Dynasty portraits. This innovative method addresses the challenges associated with extracting features and symbolically interpreting these culturally significant artworks. CNNs play a crucial role in the CCBCHD system, enabling the efficient extraction of complex features and patterns inherent in the Han Dynasty portraits. These features are essential for understanding the historical and cultural context of the artworks. The integration of transfer learning is another pivotal aspect of this framework. It allows the model to leverage pre-existing knowledge from extensive image datasets, thereby enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of the system in recognizing and interpreting the unique characteristics of these portraits. Moreover, the incorporation of cloud computing within the CCBCHD framework provides scalable computational resources. This scalability is vital for handling extensive data processing and enables real-time analysis, a critical factor in the digitization process. The synergy of deep learning with cloud computing not only ensures precise feature extraction and interpretation but also plays a significant role in preserving and making cultural heritage accessible in the digital domain. This accessibility is particularly important for artworks like the Han Dynasty portraits, which hold immense historical and cultural value. In essence, the CCBCHD framework represents a significant advancement in the field of digital preservation of cultural artifacts. It offers a solution that is not only scalable and efficient but also intelligent, ensuring that the rich legacy of cultural heritage can be preserved and appreciated in the digital era. By adopting such technologies, the study underscores the potential of AI and cloud computing in transforming the ways we preserve, study, and interact with cultural heritage, opening new avenues for exploration and understanding in the realm of art history and conservation.

Digitization of Intangible Cultural Heritage in China – Visual analysis based on research themes from 2003 to 2023

Digitization of Intangible Cultural Heritage in China – Visual analysis based on research themes from 2003 to 2023

Administrative Law in the Era of Digital Technologies: New Opportunities for the Saving of Cultural Heritage and Public Education

The rapid development of digital technologies has transformed various aspects of human life, including the save and promotion of cultural heritage. The present article explores the intersection of administrative law and digital technologies in relation to the protection of cultural heritage and public education. The study aims to analyze the role of administrative law in providing a legal framework for the utilization of digital technologies to safeguard cultural heritage, address the challenges arising from the adoption of new technologies, and promote public education on the importance of saving historical values. The article begins by examining the innovative methods employed in the save of cultural heritage, such as virtual museums, augmented and virtual reality technologies, and artificial intelligence. The role of administrative law in facilitating the integration of these technologies into the save process is emphasized, as it provides the necessary legal support and guidance to ensure their effective and responsible use. Next, the article delves into the primary challenges and problems faced by the cultural heritage sector in adopting digital technologies. These include issues related to data privacy and security, intellectual property rights, and the need for harmonization between national and international legal frameworks. The article highlights the importance of administrative law in addressing these challenges and ensuring a balanced approach that respects the rights of all stakeholders. The study then discusses the interaction between technology and law in the context of heritage protection. It analyzes the existing legal frameworks governing the use of digital technologies in the cultural heritage sector and identifies areas for improvement and potential legal developments. The role of administrative law in facilitating international cooperation and collaboration in the save of cultural heritage is also explored. Finally, the article presents an overview of the prospects for the development of digital cultural heritage management. It outlines the potential benefits of integrating digital technologies into the save process, such as increased accessibility and awareness of cultural heritage, as well as the opportunities for public education and engagement. The article concludes by emphasizing the crucial role of administrative law in ensuring that the digital transformation of the cultural heritage sector is carried out responsibly and sustainably.

Assessing Creativity and User Experience in Immersive Virtual Reality with Cultural Heritage Learning

Virtual reality (VR) technology is widely used in the field of education and cultural heritage learning. However, few studies have focused on the impact on creativity regarding the use of different interaction modalities by users in cultural heritage learning. Furthermore, it is controversial whether VR can enhance user experience and learning outcomes. The study utilized a mixed research approach combining qualitative and quantitative methods, where qualitative data was collected using open-ended interviews, simultaneously quantitative data was collected using learning outcomes, intrinsic motivation, workload, self-report of creativity and expert assessments of creativity. A mixed research approach combining qualitative and quantitative methods was used; creativity self-reports were used to collect qualitative data, and learning outcomes, intrinsic motivation, and workload data were collected for the quantitative findings.90 university students were randomly assigned to the text group (TG), the video group (VG), and the immersive virtual reality group (IVRG), with 30 students in each group. The study assessed whether creativity, user experience and learning outcomes differed when using different interaction modalities in a cultural heritage context. The results demonstrated that the text interaction modality outperformed the other two groups in learning outcomes and expert assessments of creativity performance, while the IVRG performed better in self-report of creativity and user experience. In addition, participants in TG had higher workloads and poorer user experiences compared to the other two interaction modalities. This study encourages that different interaction modalities should be selected more appropriately depending on the purpose. The study found that interaction modalities creativity can be applied to digital cultural heritage and education and informs interaction design for the HCI community.

Adapting Machine Translation Engines to the Needs of Cultural Heritage Metadata

The Europeana digital library features cultural heritage collections from over 3,000 European institutions described in 37 languages. However, most textual metadata describe the records in a single language, the data providers’ language. Improving Europeana’s multilingual accessibility presents challenges due to the unique characteristics of cultural heritage metadata, often expressed in short phrases and using in-domain terminology. This work presents the EuropeanaTranslate project’s approach and results, aimed at translating Europeana metadata records from 23 EU languages into English. Machine Translation engines were trained on a cleaned selection of bilingual and synthetic data from Europeana, including multilingual vocabularies and relevant cultural heritage repositories. Automatic translations were evaluated through standard metrics and human assessments by linguists and domain cultural heritage experts. The results showed significant improvements when compared to the generic engines used before the in-domain training as well as the eTranslation service for most languages. The EuropeanaTranslate engines have translated over 29 million metadata records on Europeana.eu. Additionally, the MT engines and training datasets are publicly available via the European Language Grid Catalogue and the ELRC-SHARE repository.

Digitalization and Protection of Cultural Heritage by Establishing a Sustainable Legal Framework

The regulatory framework for protecting cultural heritage implies the need to implement an adequate international legal framework for achieving better care and preservation of our historical and cultural heritage as part of the world heritage. Looking up to rapid developments in digitalisation, in the light of regulating complex management processes, requires the establishment of sustainable legal and regulatory framework in comply with the highest standards of protection of cultural heritage.

Digitization and Protection of Cultural Heritage in Crises and Conflicts

The research focuses on digitization as a mechanism to protect cultural heritage in crisis and conflict situations, emphasizing technologies such as 3D scanning and virtual reality. The application of these methods in projects such as CyArk, Anqa and The Aleppo Project illustrates their potential to protect priceless cultural assets, highlighting the importance of global cooperation and innovation in technology as key factors in protecting cultural heritage for future generations.

Emotion Recognition Through Analysis of Speech – A Review

The feature extraction is very important for emotion recognition through speech. There are several approaches when dealing with emotion recognition. In this paper, we present different feature extraction approaches as well as different models used to differentiate between a neutral speech versus an emotional speech sample. This research is instrumental for the digitization and preservation of cultural heritage, as it allows us to capture and analyze the emotional nuances in historical audio recordings, ensuring their accurate representation for future generations. We have selected two works consisting of a total of four different methods for emotion recognition. In the first paper by Jacob (2017), we look at Decision tree and Logistic Regression. Decision tree attains an 84.45% accuracy on the test class whereas logistic regression is able to achieve an accuracy of 66.85% after stepwise regression. These methods contribute to the digital archiving of cultural heritage by providing robust tools for analyzing and preserving the emotional content of spoken artifacts. In another paper by Bhatti et all. (2004), sequential forward selection (SFS) was used to create subsets from the given features and relevance of the subsets of features. General regression neural network was used to evaluate the accuracy which was found to be 80.69%. As a complementary purpose, modular neural network was performed with an accuracy of 83.31% with the same dataset. These techniques enhance our ability to maintain the integrity and emotional depth of cultural heritage recordings in digital archives.

Sustainable Development of Digital Cultural Heritage: A Hybrid Analysis of Crowdsourcing Projects Using fsQCA and System Dynamics

Cultural heritage crowdsourcing has emerged as a promising approach to address the challenges of digitizing and preserving cultural heritage, contributing to the sustainable development goals of cultural preservation and digital inclusivity. However, the long-term sustainability of these projects faces numerous obstacles. This study explores the key configurational determinants and dynamic evolutionary mechanisms driving the sustainable development of cultural heritage crowdsourcing projects, aiming to enhance their longevity and impact. An innovative integration of fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and system dynamics (SD) is employed, drawing upon a “resource coordination–stakeholder interaction–value co-creation” analytical framework. Through a multi-case comparison of 18 cultural heritage crowdsourcing projects, we identify necessary conditions for project sustainability, including platform support, data resources, knowledge capital, and digitalization performance. The study reveals multiple sufficient pathways to sustainability through configurational combinations of participant motivation, innovation drive, social capital, and social impact. Our system dynamics analysis demonstrates that crowdsourcing project sustainability exhibits significant nonlinear dynamic characteristics, influenced by the interaction and emergent effects of the resource–participation–performance chain. This research offers both theoretical insights and practical guidance for optimizing crowdsourcing mechanisms and sustainable project operations, contributing to the broader goals of sustainable cultural heritage preservation and digital humanities development. The findings provide a roadmap for policymakers and project managers to design and implement more sustainable and impactful cultural heritage crowdsourcing initiatives, aligning with global sustainability objectives in the digital age.

The Copyright Challenges of Cultural Heritage Digitization and its Countermeasures

The Copyright Challenges of Cultural Heritage Digitization and its Countermeasures