EPOCHThe European Network of Excellence

on ICT Applications to Cultural Heritage

contract no. IST-2002-507382

EPOCH is funded by the European Commission under the Community´s Sixth Framework Programme, contract no. IST−2002−507382. However, the content of this presentation reflects only the authors´ (WP4) views and the

Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein

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What is EPOCHEPOCH is a Network of Excellence under FP6 dealing with ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) Applications to Cultural Heritage

• Kick-Off: April 2004• End of EC funding: March 2008• Partners: more than 80, from most of the

European countries, but also from USA, South Africa, Australia, and the Far East

• Mission:Foster Integration at a European Level

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EPOCH goals• Foster integration

Stimulate cross-fertilization between humanities and technology

Integrate research teams at a European levelCreate an integrated toolkit

• Create a joint research infrastructureDefine research and dissemination standards Create a holistic approach to CH dissemination

• Spread excellence• Provide a training framework• Raise citizen’s awareness towards CH

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Why it matters

Cultural Heritage is an important factor:

• in determining tourists decisions on destination: Heritage is an important motivation factor

Cultural tourism may be a pathway to economic development of less favoured areas

• for education of the citizen and appreciation of cultural diversity Education takes a large portion of national budgets

Understanding each other’s culture will be one of the main challenges of the next generation of EU citizens

• ICT (“Intelligent Heritage”) can significantly enhance both sectors

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Today, one of heritage's major roles is to strengthen cohesion and social ties

in societies disrupted by all kinds of changes.

The cultural and environmental spheres are becoming a preferred terrain for

experimentation with citizenship, voluntary work and partnership." Technology has

a part in delivering the potential benefits of increased understanding of the forces

that have shaped our society, but the way the message is communicated is

likely to determine whether the effects are positive or negative.

Council of Europe report Forward planning: the function of cultural heritage in a

changing Europe

“…Tourism has become a complex phenomenon …UNESCO’s objective is to help

Member States to devise strategies for the long-term preservation of the

cultural heritage, for better promotion and knowledge of the cultural heritage

… thereby contributing to economic, social and cultural development." This

recognises a clear inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural motivation…heritage

and cultural tourism has the potential to add to quality of life - a motivation well

beyond a simplistic economic return of individual visitor centres.

UNESCO report 2001

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Challenges and tensions

• Access vs Preservation Physical access threatens preservation through wear and tear and

environmental exposure Access at some level is a prerequisite for interpretation and to realising

potential

• Facts vs Interpretation Our “knowledge” is almost always interpretation of fragile evidence, and

interpretation is normally ambiguous Events even more uncertain than artefacts Accuracy requires uncertainty to be shown, but too much uncertainty

and/or too many alternatives lead to confused messages

• Culture vs Culture Interpretation needs context for both original circumstance and viewed Much tangible heritage relates to e.g. religion or war – both emotive and

multi-faceted (one culture’s heroic victory may be another’s dictatorial oppression)

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Technological challenges

• Cultural heritage presents very challenging “real-user” requirements

• The challenge of mixing features which are still difficult to achieve in isolation is substantial.

• Example: data acquisition systemsvery low cost rugged for effective work under harsh conditions

(the desert, the North, a dig) portable for use with pieces in museumsuitable for fast deployment in emergency digs.

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Obtaining recognition

Unless action is taken:

• Assessment of interdisciplinary research will be in charge of professionals central to the individual disciplines.

Proposals will often “fall between two stools”.

Substantial evidence for this happening in national programs.

• Research teams likely to form around core values of the independent disciplines and not their synthesis.

• Project teams that pass the assessments likely to become less interdisciplinary and more focused on the independent criteria of the disciplines.

• Cultural Heritage as a sector likely to suffer more than most in this respect since it shares less of its traditional values and skill sets with IST than many other important usage bases (e.g. medicine, chemistry, biology).

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Grand Challenges

1. To use technology to enhance preservation and scholarship in cultural heritage Accuracy and preservation v data volume Ontologies and searches (organising and representing

knowledge) Digital preservation of CH

2. To bring history to life for the citizen Digital reconstruction Story telling Visitor experiences Internet applications Education and Tourism benefit

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Epoch Domains of Activity• Field recording and data capture

• Data organization and standards• Reconstruction and visualization• Heritage education and communication• Sustainability of heritage projectsin order to produce • A joint research infrastructure • A complete toolkit to create ICT applications

for CH• A training framework

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The pipeline

The key concept is the pipeline:• An integrated system of CH research and

dissemination using ICT• Produce valuable cultural communication by

processing data with ICT

AcquisitionDocumentation

ProcessingArchiving

ManagementCuratorshipPreservation

Image proc.Enhancing

Reconstruct.Story-telling

Communication

INFORMATION

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ActivitiesWP1=Management

• WP1 = coordination is provided by the University of Brighton

• Four core partners• Task forces working on

activities• Stakeholders input and

feedback• Review college formed by

experts• Open, cross-culture

community with permeable borders

Executive CommitteeBrighton

PIN, Ename, KU-Leuven

Board of Directors18 members

representing expertise, constituencies, etc.

General Assembly85 partners+ affiliates

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ActivitiesWP2=Integration

• Co-ordinate partners’ work

• Collect stakeholders needs and feedback

• Watch the technology market and assess the potential impact of forthcoming ones

• Undertake the implementation of showcases

ENAME

Images from EPOCH’s showcases 1 and 2

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Activities WP3=Joint research

• Define and create the common infrastructure

• Lead research activity on “missing rings” in the production chain

• Integrate existing components with new, targeted tools

KU-Leuven

Images from EPOCH showcases 3 and 4

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Activities WP4=Spreading excellence

• Manage a one-stop portal for ICT applications to CH

• Foster standardization• Publish authoritative

reports• Ensure mobility and

training framework• Organize events &

disseminationPIN

Images from EPOCH showcases 7 and 8

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Activities in 2004• Establish the network, setup the

infrastructure and provide services• Create a website offering various services • Produce showcases using existing

technology• Start dissemination• Produce reports

Brokerage Stakeholder needs Training needs and offer

• VAST2004 conference

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www.epoch-net.org

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1. On Site Reconstruction Experience

2. Multimodal Interface Safe Presentation of Valuable

Objects

3. Tools for Stratigraphic Data Recording

4. Multilingual Avatars

5. E-tourism through Cultural Routes

6. Avatar-based Interactive Storytelling

7. Archaeological Documentation for the Semantic Web

8. Image-based Modeling

Showcases list

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Dissemination report

see next slide…

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# Name Date Kind of event Place State Activity Est. contacts

Follow-up

1 Euroindia2004 24-26/3/2004 Exhibition New Delhi IN Stand + presentation

500+ Contacts local researchers

2 EVA Florence 29/3/2004 – 2/4/2004

Scientific Conf.

Firenze IT Presentation 100+

3 Minerva meeting (within EVA Florence)

2/4/2004 Minerva project meeting

Firenze IT Presentation & activity organization

50 CLUSTER initiative

4 Presentation of CAA2004

6/4/2004 Press Conference

Prato IT Presentation of the project

Local press Quotation on newspapers

5 CAA2004 13-17/4/2004 Scientific Conf.

Prato IT Presentation + Cocktail

400

6 HEREIN meeting

2-5/6/2004 HEREIN meeting

Berlin DE Presentation 50 Co-operation for SOTU report

7 Presentation of VAST2004

June 2004 Press Conference

Bruxelles BE Presentation of the project

Local press Quotation on newspapers

8 Int. Conference on Museology

26-28/6/2004 Scientific Conf.

Mytilene GR Presentation 100

9 EVA London 26-30/7/2004 Scientific Conf.

London UK Presentation 100

10 EAA 6-10/9/2004 Scientific Conf.

Lyon FR Stand + material + presentation

800+ Cooperation for Training Report

11 EAHTR 9-10/9/2004 Meeting of the Association

Norwich UK Stand + material + presentation

100 Cooperation with city of Verona

12 WTFC 12/9/2004 Meeting of the walled towns

Chichester UK Printed material 50 Project proposals (INTERREG)

Total First semester ~1850 (15% est. duplication)

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Training and Mobility

• Bursaries & mobility

• Training (interim):Assign money to prepare new coursesFund preparation – not teachingSupport less-favoured areas

• Perform surveys and produce reportsTraining needs and offer in EuropeState of the Union: policies, practices & research

• Organize/support/attend events

• Publications

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Epoch PublicationsSee next slides…

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• Identify training needs Evaluate statistics Perform a survey Interview stakeholders

• Identify training offer Perform a survey Detail relevant courses Promote good practices

• Propose strategies & actions CHIRON

EST MARIE-CURIE Project Training project on Cultural Heritage Informatics

Training needs & offer

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EPOCH’s Activity(beyond project deliverables…)

• Europe-wide integration of teamsEurope-wide integration of teams• Implementation of results (showcases)Implementation of results (showcases)• Incubator of new projectsIncubator of new projects• Stakeholders awareness and needsStakeholders awareness and needs• Common standardsCommon standards• Economic sustainability & management Economic sustainability & management

and decision toolsand decision tools• Training frameworkTraining framework

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Success stories 1

An UK team is collaborating with the University of Cape Town on a 3D scanning campaign on endangered rock carvings in South Africa. An Israeli researcher realized that problems are similar to those he is facing in the Negev desert and is going to apply similar methods.

Judy Brown - Past President of ACM SIGGRAPH in front of the rock art

Integration of teams and brokerage

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Success stories 2

Implementation of results/showcasesEPOCH showcases are quickly becoming a “marketing” tool for additional implementations. We have been spontaneously contacted by cultural institutions (towns, museums) to verify the feasibility of similar applications in their case. This witnesses the need of such work and the fair correspondence of our proposal to user needs.

The nymphaeum at Sagalassos – EPOCH’s showcase 1

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Success stories 3

Incubator for new projectsTo develop specific issues, EPOCH is nursing spin-off targeted projects, involving institutions from inside and outside the Network: CHIRON, a successful Marie-Curie EST project

CHIRON is due to start on next 1 December, joining 7 universities and research centres to provide a joint training framework for Early Stage Researchers on Cultural Heritage Informatics

ITER, an INTERREG 3C project ITER, to be submitted in short, joins three EPOCH partners as technology providers; six cities (Verona and Firenze, IT; Piran, SI; Valletta, MT; Pécs, HU; Chester, UK) as content providers, and two European institutions (Marco Polo System EEIG and Institut Européen des Itinéraires Culturels). ITER aims at developing IT applications to military architecture and its exploitation for cultural tourism, together with guidelines for implementation/sustainability

CHIMERA, a Marie-Curie RTN proposal

The CHIRON logo

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Success stories 4

• Creating an interdisciplinary training framework Four courses with 100+ participants

o Busteni, RO

o Szazsalombatta, HU

o York, UK (2)

12 scholarships granted (7 women) in Eastern Europe

Over 3000 person/h of training

Manuals will be available in English and national languages (Hungarian, Romanian)

The logo of the Busteni course

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Interdisciplinarity or “The Best of Both Worlds”: The Grand Challenge for Cultural Heritage Informatics in the 21st Century

The 5th International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage.

- December 6, 2004 - Tutorials and EPOCH meetings

- December 7-10, 2004 - The 5th International Symposium on Virtual Reality,

Archaeology and Cultural Heritage.Incorporating:

Second Eurographics Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage (www.eg.org) EPOCH General Assembly

EPOCH SME meeting

LocationConscience-auditorium, Brussels and Ename Center, Oudenaarde - Belgium

VAST 2004

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VAST 2004

VAST 2004

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Acknowledgement

EPOCH is funded by the European Commission under the Community’s Sixth Framework Programme, contract no. 507382. However, this presentation reflects only the authors’ views and the European Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.

For further informations please contact us at the EPOCH’s info mail address:

info@epoch-net.org