Periodic Reporting for period 1 - InTaVia (In/Tangible European Heritage - Visual Analysis, Curation and Communication)
Reporting period: 2020-11-01 to 2021-10-31
A treasure trove of objects, knowledge, and texts in museums, galleries, archives, and libraries documents Europe’s history from a variety of angles. However, countless connections between cultural objects and corresponding cultural (hi)stories have not been established at the current state of the digitization of Europe's cultural heritage. In this context, the InTaVia project draws together the information from multiple national databases on intangible assets - such as biographical data about historical persons - and from databases on tangible cultural objects. Its overall aim is to develop an information portal for the integration, visual analysis, and visual communication of these assets. It will also develop new means of visually supported data creation, curation, and storytelling. Thereby, the riches of European culture will become more accessible globally - for experts and the public alike.
In the first project year, InTaVia focused on the identification, enrichment and coordination of the complex requirements of the project. On the one side, we discussed our aims with cultural heritage experts in innovation workshops, delineated central user requirements and identified typcial user profiles. On the platform side, we (1) developed the system structure and the data models, which can automatically link existing data on cultural objects with data on cultural actors; (2) set up the technical infrastructure necessary for the development of all platform modules; and (3) began to develop first interfaces for the visua analysis and communication of the data.
With its focus on the assembly of the project infrastructure, the initial project year was characterized by the elicitation and documentation of the conceptual and technological state of the art in all its related fields for project-based decision making. The corresponding knowledge has been documented with a variety of project deliverables and publications and will provide the basis for all further technological developments aiming to extend the state of the art. The InTaVia consortium expects these developments to have a notable and measurable impact on the local and global promotion of Europe's cultural heritage, on the analysis and understanding of cultural history, on future practices of curating digital assets, and on their future use and re-use in various fields including Academia, education, cultural tourism, cultural journalism, and creative industries.