October 24-26, 2007
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Paper: Heritage 2.0

Gert Nulens, Researcher at IBBT/SMIT, Free University Brussels; and Kris Luyten, Assistant Professor, Expertise centre for Digital Media, University Hasselt, Belgium.

https://projects.ibbt.be/erfgoed2.0/

Abstract

In 2007 the research project ‘Heritage2.0’ started in Flanders, Belgium. In this project research groups and heritage organisations in Flanders will do research on a social, interactive, location-based heritage experience via mobile devices within a network of heritage sites. An often heard critique on the use of ICT in a heritage context focuses on the individualized nature of the experience. The innovative aspect of this project lies specifically in the focus on the importance of social interaction within a cultural experience. The objective is to link that interactive component to a digital environment. The project aims to enrich the visitors’ experience, both during their real visit as well as in the pre and post trajectory.

The specific technical and/or scientific results that are key to this project, are:

  • The development of a metadata- and data exchange model for the Flemish heritage sector, starting from existing (heritage) standards and with inclusion of existing social software applications practices and their bottom-up data description. This part of the research constitutes the foundation for a new form of heritage experience (concerning content-combination) and situates itself on the level of database and metadata.
  • Research on the required network technology to pass location-based information within the specific context of Flemish heritage-sites. The stipulation of the most optimal network configuration is not evident because of the sometimes exceptional conditions on the sites (big concrete walls, old buildings, …). The development of a generic system for the automatic generation of context and visitor related data and for the transformation of these data into appropriate contents and interfaces tailored to specific user profiles. This research must lead to user interfaces that are created on-the-fly ‘during use’ and that can adapt according to the individual preferences and the context-of-use. This personal user interface must also extend toward a group concept where multiple visitors are linked together and where social interactions play a significant role.
  • The development of a generic system for the automatic generation of context and visitor related data and for the transformation of these data into appropriate contents and interfaces tailored to specific user profiles. This research must lead to user interfaces that are created on-the-fly ‘during use’ and that can adapt according to the individual preferences and the context-of-use. This personal user interface must also extend toward a group concept where multiple visitors are linked together and where social interactions play a significant role.

Keywords: mobile, devices, social, multimedia, personalised, heritage

Project Description

Scope: National /Regional

Region: (Flanders: Northern half of Belgium)

Institutional Participants

Heritage sector participants

  • Erfgoed Vlaanderen (Heritage Flanders)
  • Vlaams Instituut voor het Onroerend Erfgoed (Flemish Institute for Tangible Heritage)
  • Vlaams Centrum voor Volkscultuur (Flemish Center for Folk Culture)
  • Toerisme Vlaanderen (Tourism Flanders)

Industrial Partners

  • Synergetics
  • Adlib Software
  • The 8igtht Day
  • Visual Dimension

Research Partners

  • SMIT (Studies on Media Information and Telecommunication)
  • EDM (Expertise centre for Digital Media)
  • MMLab (MultiMedia Lab)
  • IBCN (INTEC Broadband Communication Networks)
  • MICT (Media and ICT)

Individual Participants:

  • Bart De Nil , Project leader
  • Gert Nulens, Research leader
  • Nico Verplancke, Programme manager
  • Jeroen Walteru,s Member Steering Group
  • Bart Debunne, Member Steering Group
  • Christophe Soulliaert, Member Steering Group
  • Mario Stevens, Member Steering Group
  • Bert Degenhart Drenth, Member Steering Group
  • Daniël Pletinckx, Member Steering Group
  • Luk Vervenne, Member Steering Group
  • Philippe Druez, Member Steering Group
  • Kris Luyten, Member Steering Group

Funding Organization(s)

Governmental

  • Interdisciplinary institute for BroadBand Technology (IBBT)
  • Flemish Ministry of Culture, Youth, Sports and Media
  • Flemish Ministry of Urban Policy, Housing and Immovable Heritage

Private

  • Synergetics, Adlib Software, The 8igtht Day, Visual Dimension

Funding Amount

  • 1,427,300 Currency: Euro

Duration

  • Start Date 01/04/2007 End Date 31/03/2009

Project Description

A. Problem Statement

‘Heritage 2.0’ is performing research on a social, interactive, location-based heritage experience via mobile devices within a network of heritage sites. An often-heard critique on the use of ICT in a heritage context focuses on the individualized nature of the experience. The innovative aspect of this project lies, therefore, specifically in the focus on the importance of social interaction within a cultural experience. The objective is to link that component – universally deemed important when experiencing heritage physically – to a digital environment. Group communication can encourage participants to interact with one another and to stimulate each other. Another important aspect is the blending in of the virtual and the real.

B. Objectives

The specific technical and/or scientific objectives that are key to this project, are:

  1. The development of a metadata- and data exchange model for the Flemish heritage sector, starting from existing (heritage) standards and with inclusion of existing best practice in social software applications and their bottom-up data description. This part of the research constitutes the foundation for a new form of heritage experience (concerning content-combination) and situates itself on the level of federated digital repositories and metadata structures. On the one hand the model needs to allow that Flemish heritage databases can be linked with each other and with internet applications. On the other hand heritage databases need to be able to contain (besides expert-data) data introduced by cultural participants themselves.
  2. Research on the required network technology to pass location-based information within the specific context of Flemish heritage-sites. This includes a study on the most important network technologies and their configuration for the opening up of historical heritage locations. The stipulation of the most optimal network configuration is not evident because of the sometimes exceptional conditions on the sites (big concrete walls, old buildings, …). Because there is no square and ready solution for localization methods, a demonstrator-platform will be developed for the collection of relevant location-based userdata.
  3. The development of a generic system for the automatic generation of context and visitor related data and for the transformation of these data into appropriate contents and interfaces tailored to specific user profiles. This research must lead to ‘individual adaptable’ interfaces, created on-the-fly ‘during use’. This individual interface must also fit in a group concept where multiple visitors can in some way be linked together and where social interactions play a significant role. The challenge consists in supporting the whole visitor-process in an optimal manner.

    Around the central research aspects mentioned above, an integrated demonstrator will be constructed which can be used by and is extendable to the larger heritage sector. In the preparation of the more technical work packages, an international State-of-the-Art will be made up around the implementation and use of new media in the heritage sector. This includes a requirement analysis about digital heritage, an analysis of the possibilities, best-practices and pitfalls of the mobile opening up of heritage. Furthermore, research will be done about the roles social interaction and group communication can play in an online and offline heritage setting.

C. Methods

  • focus group interviews (for needs assessment of heritage particpants and heritage experts)
  • best practices analyses
  • application development

D. Milestones

Milestones Date Deliverable
Start project 01‑04‑2007
End Project 31‑03‑2009 Demonstrator + Final report
Milestones WP1 31‑11‑2007 1.1 Needs assessment digital heritage
31‑11‑2007 1.2 Mobile e‑culture: role of mobile devices in heritage experiences
31‑11‑2007 1.3 Role of social interaction and communication in experiencing heritage
Milestones WP2 31‑01‑2008 2.1 State‑of‑the‑art online heritage, bottom‑up heritage experiences
30‑11‑2008 2.2 Model interfaces heritage sector Flanders
31‑03‑2009 2.3 Prototype metadata model
Milestones WP3 30‑06‑2007 3.1 Technical requirements for location based information
31‑07‑2008 3.2 Network technologies and configuration for digital distribution of heritage content
31‑09‑2008 3.3 Methods for location based content distribution
31‑01‑2009 3.4 Demonstrator Integration in Context management platform
31‑03‑2009 3.5 Demonstrator
Milestones WP4 31‑01‑2008 4.1 Report Context‑Acquisition and process
30‑04‑2008 4.2 Report user profiling
31‑09‑2008 4.3 Prototype interface generation linked to context and user
31‑03‑2009 4.4 Prototype with social interaction
Milestones WP5 31‑03‑2009 5 Integrated demonstrator

E. Products

31-03-2009

  • Metadata model for Flemish cultural heritage (movable/immovable heritage, tangible/intangible heritage)
  • Demonstrator for location based heritage information distribution
  • Demonstrator for user and context generated heritage content

Cite as:

Nulens, G., and K. Luyten, Heritage 2.0 , in International Cultural Heritage Informatics Meeting (ICHIM07): Proceedings, J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds). Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics. 2007. Published October 24, 2007 at http://www.archimuse.com/ichim07/papers/nulens/nulens.html