[General] Grand Challenge 9: Bringing the Past to Life for the Citizen: Call for Participation

Grand Challenge 9: Bringing the Past to Life for the Citizen Workshop: 18th March 2008 Location: British Computer Society, Southampton Street, London Call for Participation Since UKCRC approved progression of Grand Challenge 9 to the next stage in 2006, the topics covered in the Grand Challenge have been considered mainly within the community drawn together by the EPOCH NoE in FP6; the community based around the VAST series of conferences (see the EUROGRAPHICS Digital Library at www.eg.org) and; the EUROGRAPHICS working group on Graphics and Cultural Heritage. The activities have resulted in the production of a first version of an EPOCH Research Agenda (http://www.epoch-net.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=… ) which overlaps the remit of this Grand Challenge considerably, at least for the earlier stages of its progression. The EPOCH research agenda only seeks to address research targeted at the tangible heritage associated with monuments, sites and museums. Formal progress within the Grand Challenge community has been somewhat slower and it is now time to address this. We are therefore calling for participants at a workshop tasked with fleshing out a research agenda and intermediate stages for the advances required to rise to the challenge. In technical terms these can be grouped into a number of themes: . Digital Asset capture and representation (sites, artefacts, reconstructions, stories etc. including very specific and complex issues to do with legacy data - museum catalogues, archaeological records etc) . Cultural Informatics (Metadata, knowledge and belief system representation, ontologies, thesauri, multi-lingual technologies, AI, search and research, co-referencing, etc) . Interactive and communication technologies (including interactive gaming, graphics, multi-modalities, user interfacing, speech technologies, displays, mobile technologies, haptics, augmented and virtual reality, story-telling, etc) The Cultural Heritage sector spans many distinct sub-areas, which may be divided into two major classifications: ? Tangible heritage, represented by the discovery, documentation, organisation, interpretation and communication of artefacts, monuments, sites, museums and collections (including digital archives, catalogues and libraries). ? Intangible heritage, represented by performance, stories, myth and mythology. At the interface between these two areas lies the area of historical and cultural interpretation. The increasing volume of digital cultural artefacts and collections is becoming an important body of heritage content in its own right. Finally the area of collections, their organisation, catalogue management and interrogation is also a valid topic. We seek participants who seek to define the scope of the Grand Challenge and the constituent research agendas further so that the roadmap for GC9 may advance to the next stage with perhaps some emerging research projects targeted as outcomes of the workshop and leading to bids for funding. Those wishing to participate should email D.Arnold(a)brighton.ac.uk in the first instance or contact any of the Steering Group members below. Important Dates: Expressions of interest in participation: Jan 18th 2008 (optional but of great help in planning) Position papers: Feb 15th 2008 Final Programme: Feb 29th 2008 Workshop: March 18th 2008 GC9 Steering Group David Arnold (University of Brighton) Alan Chalmers (University of Warwick) Andy Day (UEA, Norwich) David Duce (Oxford Brookes University) Phil Willis (University of Bath)