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)