EPOCHThe European Network of Excellence

on ICT Applications to Cultural Heritage

contract no. IST-2002-507382

What is EPOCH

EPOCH 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 85, from most of the

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

• Mission:Foster Integration at a European Level

Which needs we address

ProliferationToo many “bricks”, but how many “houses”?

Foster cross-fertilization

Think globally

Re-use results

Adopt a holistic view

Aim at durability and sustainability

Give young people a chance

Lack of coordinationOverlapping (duplicating?) projects

Fragmentation• Lots of big projects on small issues• What happens to project consortia when

the project ends?

Insufficient communication• Do culture professionals trust technology? • Do engineers understand culture?

Limited opportunities for training

Sensitivities – what makes Cultural Heritage unique?

• Physical Cultural Heritage Lasting legacy of human experienceRepresents lives and aspirations of the past

• Everyone has heritage (cf health, education)• All elements unique, vulnerable and fragile• BUT there are few votes (and hence tax

support) in preservation• Revenues require access (education,

tourism, entertainment)

Embedded interdisciplinarity

• Definition of success depends upon perspective (heritage v technology)

• Tension between access and 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

• Technologists should try to ease tension

Facts v interpretation

• Our “knowledge” is almost always interpretation of fragile evidence

• Interpretation is normally ambiguous• Events even more uncertain than artefacts• Accuracy requires uncertainty to be shown• Too much uncertainty and/or too many

alternatives lead to confused messages• This is another challenge

Cultural Interpretation

• Beyond the factual• Interpretation needs context for both original

circumstance and viewed• Much tangible heritage relates to religion or

war – both emotive and multi-faceted• One culture’s heroic victory may be

another’s dictatorial oppression• In general the older the artefacts or events

the less emotive the interpretation

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)

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

Epoch 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

Integrate EEC into the EC – standards, Integrate EEC into the EC – standards, knowledge transfer and cooperationknowledge transfer and cooperation

The pipeline

The key concept is the pipeline:• Produce valuable cultural communication by

processing data with ICT

AcquisitionDocumentation

ProcessingArchiving

ManagementCuratorshipPreservation

Image proc.Enhancing

Reconstruct.Story-telling

Communication

INFORMATION

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

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

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

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

Activities in 2004• Establish the network, setup the infrastructure and

provide services• Produce showcases using existing technology

1. On Site Reconstruction Experience2. Multimodal Interface Safe Presentation of Valuable Objects3. Tools for Stratigraphic Data Recording4. Multilingual Avatars5. E-tourism through Cultural Routes6. Avatar-based Interactive Storytelling

7. Archaeological Documentation for the Semantic Web8. Image-based Modeling

• Start dissemination• Produce reports

Dissemination & training

• 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

State of the Union Report

• Yearly report onPoliciesPracticesResearchNeeds

in Europe, to be printed and circulatedAvailing of correspondents Interviewing stakeholdersSelected articles on specific issuesCreating an on-line database

• 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

Training activity in Summer 2004

• Four courses planned with 100+ participantsYork, UK (2)

Busteni, RO

Szazsalombatta, HU

• 12 scolarships granted (7 women)

• Over 100 h of training

• Manuals will be available in English and national languages

More information

www.epoch-net.org

AcknowledgementEPOCH 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.