The Potential of Digital Tools to Enhance the Promotion of Cultural Heritage

The Portuguese Multiplier Event of the S.I.L.V.HER project will take place live & online on Thursday, the 15th of July 2021, from 14:15 till 17:30 Western European Summer Time.

Venue: Aula Magna of UTAD (Universidade de Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro)

Programme headlines

  • 14:15 Official opening
  • 14:30 Presentation of the S.I.L.V.HER project, in general, and two of the projects of the students (BIL’app of UTAD students and COMPLETE).
  • 15:30 5 speakers will talk for 20 minutes each about the digital tools they produce to promote culture and tourism. Some will be with us in Vila Real, others will join us online.
    • 15:30 Sismotur, represented by Augusto Ramos Méndez
    • 15:50 Realizasom, represented by André Coelho
    • 16:10 Critec, represented by Bruno Vide and João Neto
    • 16:30 O Museu Virtual da Lusofonia, represented by Isabel Macedo
    • 16:50 Immersivus Gallery, represented by Margarida Campolargo
  • 17:10   Discussion and closure

Online registration is for free, but obligatory, via this link: https://bit.ly/3B2lMKe

Should you prefer to attend the session online, you will receive an e-mail with the code after your registration.

More information about the SILVHER project is available at:

https://cetrad.utad.pt/verprojecto/33

www.silvher.eu

https://www.facebook.com/silvheritage

Programme details

At 14:15 WECT, the official opening will be done by Carla Amaral, Pro-rector for Education and Quality at UTAD. Since May 2021 UTAD has a new Rectorate and for the first time a team of three persons was nominated to guarantee the quality of education and training and to innovate over the coming years.

At 14:30 WECT, the responsible for the UTAD team, Veronika Joukes will present the S.I.L.V.HER online course and platform. Student groups will present the project through which they contribute to locally safeguard and valorise cultural heritage, using digital tools.

To illustrate the rich potential of this sector, we invited five leading companies and associations, active in our region, to share their outcomes between 15:30 and 17:30 WECT.

Sismotur implements a smart signage information and management service which enables your travellers to consult your touristic offering, build and book customized trips with the app through INVENTRIP, and share them in social networks or using the latest technologies: Beacons, NFC, QR codes. (http://www.sismotur.com/)

Realizasom designs mobile applications, interactive multimedia guides and audio guides to offer memorable visitor experiences, aimed at visitors with different needs and of all ages in places of cultural, historical and touristic interest. (http://realizasom.com/)

Critec created the mobile application ARt (Augmented Reality Technology) that adds life to urban artworks, and thus promotes local tourism and art icons. Recently the spinoff Hubduction was created in order to explore the full potential of not only AR but also VR creating otherworldly experiences. (http://critec.pt/art/pt/) (http://hubduction.com)

O Museu Virtual da Lusofonia or the Virtual Museum of Lusophony is a platform for academic cooperation in science, education and the arts in mainly Portuguese-speaking countries. Citizens are invited to participate actively, in making records available, in commenting on the ‘works’ preserved in the museum, in (re)building a collective memory. (http://www.museuvirtualdalusofonia.com/)

Immersivus Gallery is the first gallery for immersive arts experiences in Portugal. In their spaces in Porto, Lisbon and Vilamoura (Algarve) they develop a wide range of immersive experiences in which national and international artists are free to explore different themes through an eclectic use of arts and technology. (https://www.immersivus.com/)

In the morning Critec/Hubduction will host a workshop for the students of the SILVHER project from 09:30 till 12:00 WECT.

The workshop is about communication, specially about how to pitch the technological product you are creating. As the projects will need funding, you need to reach people, to make them fall in love with your vision. Sometimes you only have a few minutes to convince someone, sometimes even less. What should you focus on? How do you prepare the presentation? How should you behave on stage? In this workshop we will create a one-minute elevator pitch and a three minutes speech. Then we will record these speeches and analyse them so that you will be better prepared to show your dream to the world.

For the filming of the speeches we can also count with the support of the Audio-visual Service of UTAD, namely with their studio with a green screen.

BIL’APP – the application that leads students, residents and visitors to the intangible heritage of Vila Real

The Portuguese students Carolina Branco, Catarina Pantoja, Laura Fraga, Mariana Abreu participate, since 2019, in the international project S.I.L.V.HER (Safeguarding Intangible and CulturaL Values and HERitage).

With the support of the online course “Digital Valorisation of Cultural Heritage” they have meanwhile elaborated a first version of their pilot idea that is called Bil’app.

Students and carefully selected partners will develop an application allowing its users to discover Vila Real from an innovative perspective: what do the places in the city centre mean to students and to residents? The application will improve and facilitate access to information about the history of the city, its culture and traditions, its recent innovations, its sustainable practices, and so on.

Inhabitants, tourists and students, especially juniors, will get to know Vila Real, especially from a perspective promoting immaterial cultural heritage. Thus, so much more than the typical list with museums, churches and all kinds of built cultural heritage will be shared.

The main goals of Bil’app will be to share cultural heritage, to provide information about events and activities, to learn peculiarities about different local spots and also to offer new tourist and historical itineraries, using AR as the main tool. Users will be able to earn points by participating and visiting certain events and places – museums, traditional bars and restaurants, among others – that have a partnership with Bil’app. Points can be converted into discounts and used in the same places, mainly selected to promote local gastronomy and culture.

In order to enhance the dissemination of this application, social media like Instagram and Facebook will be used and agreements with competent entities, such as hotel units, the local university UTAD and the City Council will be elaborated. Bil’app, in addition to supporting local commerce, promotes tourism and encourages tourists, inhabitants and students to discover what Vila Real can offer.

In this city, that is so meaningful to this group of SILVHER-students, Carolina, Catarina, Laura, and Mariana are searching for a solution to improve everyone’s experience, even in COVID times.

DAISSy research group of the Hellenic Open University organised the Greek online multiplier event for the S.I.L.V.HER project

On Monday, June 14, 2021, the DAISSy research group of the Hellenic Open University held the Greek online event entitled “Valorization and promotion of Cultural Heritage”, in order to disseminate the results of the Erasmus+ project S.I.L.V.HER – Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Values and Heritage.

The Director of DAISSy group, Professor Achilles Kameas, opened the event with an introductory speech about the research activities of the DAISSy group, which are related to the promotion of Cultural Heritage.

The outcomes of the project SILVHER were presented by Mrs. Vicky Maratou, researcher and project manager with the DAISSy group. The presentation demonstrated the blended learning course of SILVHER and the e-learning platform, as well as some project ideas of the involved students related to the promotion of their local cultural heritage.

The event continued with two invited speeches for specific initiatives on how storytelling can promote the cultural heritage.

Mrs. Artemis Stamatelou, Public Relations Officer at the European Parliament in the Directorate-General for Translation, presented the open platform “My House of European History”, a digital collection of written personal stories, as narrated by people from all over the world. It is a collaborative and multilingual active project, a mosaic of stories related to Europe, from the past and the present. The platform is available to anyone who would like to share a personal story about Europe.

Mrs. Maria Aivalioti, Tour script editor at Clio Muse Tours, presented the European project RePAST, focusing on the success story of the project: Dark pages of the History in an audio tour. The challenge of how people could discover and learn about their History, was addressed through the creation of eight thematic and interactive audio tours related to specific dark events of the contemporary History in each participating country. The company Clio Muse Tours creates thematic digital audio tours for cultural places in Greece and abroad.

The second part of the multiplier event consisted of presentations of other European projects which DAISSy group either coordinates or participates in, and are related to the tangible and intangible Cultural Heritage, the Cultural Heritage management and Tourism.

The audience of the event consisted of students and graduates of study programmes related to Culture and Tourism, researchers and educators. The event was organized online due to the epidemiological data of the country during that period, and it was broadcasted live on the DAISSy YouTube channel.

panoramic 360

Panoramic 360◦ Sphere: Digitization and Mobilization of Cultural Heritage Site and Story Visualizing of History for Cultural Tourism

With the rapid development of computers, and later computer networks, a new era has begun. At beginning of the 21st Century’, mystical computing devices, which occupied entire rooms, became tools for various fields within a few years. Computer-enforced work processes took a much shorter time and gave different opportunities than the previous traditional methods. Also, technology started to have an impact on tourism such as virtual museums, virtual tours and many following structures that will peak in near future. Alongside that “the new normal Pandemic” causing most of the world to be stuck at home, in-country, many are predicting virtual tourism options will help transform the travel and tourism industry. Thus, this is where the project: Panoramic 360◦ Sphere taking action. The project aims for every cultural heritage site that has enough information about its ancient times. 

Proposal 

Not everyone has a chance to travel halfway around the world, allocate a budget, or create enough time to meet their cultural interests, gain knowledge, enrich its life and the project offers this in a  new form. “Panoramic 360◦ Sphere” project aims to create a viable spherical heritage site possibly for every cultural heritage site after design and implementation of digital visual content construction. Website and mobile application will serve to the community as info sources and promotional area of these spheres where users can reach details, where to find, what is offered and what to expect also ticket sales will be operated.  

Objective 

The project offers the ability to take a full virtual experience of a site that portable to move/set in countries instead of visitors who could not travel for countries or the places. The combination of videos and still images with multimedia, such as narration, music, and sound effects, a character who lives regular life back in time and storytelling of character narrated by the user in daily life,  offers an immersive experience for the user. Inside of Panoramic 360◦ Sphere, The user will get into an atmosphere while narrating character for a walk at agora meantime hearing all those crowds at the background, observing goods sold in markets then narrates character to the theater of the city for taking a look to the event, a thrilling experience like it never became an ancient ruin.  Checkpoints around the city to learn more that both in readable and audio accessibility versions.  Observe the environment, built structures as one piece by reference to archaeologists’ digital reconstruction and experience a day by reference of historiographers in high definition.  Uninterrupted, comprehensive aspect front, back, side visual display; boosted with cinematic surround sounds and moving audios to advance a feeling of realism. Cooperation with cultural heritage sites is essential, in this context these sites can open archives, contribute information to project and excavators and archeologists can advise the building phase of content. Thus, being a stakeholder in this project can benefit heritage sites, for workers and labor. Capital depended archeological excavations could raise fund sources by share of budget income.

Outcomes 

Alternatively, Panoramic 360◦ Spheres’ augmented experience, adapted opportunities to era will bring interest and importance to heritage sites that are unknown and cannot be visited for some obstacles. Thus, culture and history will spread more easily and for anyone because easy to access and costs less. This virtual tourism technology gives travelers the ability to see what they are getting into before they take a trip if they decide to visit the site and essentially more than they can observe at the actual heritage site. New or ongoing excavations need reasonable funds though not all can be funded enough, the project will stimulate capital sources and repute the site recognition will accelerate field works, upwards worldwide promotion. While it’s impossible to replace the in-person experience, users can still enjoy a very immersive experience with this technology’s additional facts such as the experience of ancient daily life, the character, the story and interactive narration. On the other hand, it will promote the region and the city to people far away from its location. That is beyond limitations. 

Project Team 

Ilker Karaoglu
Özge Bayhan

hologram

Hologram of The Extinct Ancient Mysteries

Would you like to see ancient cities in their magnificent state, not as they are now, but as they were in previous years? If you want this too then you should follow our project closely. Our goal is bringing the ancient buildings damaged or lost for various reasons in ancient cities to the surface with hologram technology. For example, earthquakes unfortunately destroyed many ancient cities partially or completely. We want to realize this project in order to sustain future generations seeing these cities like real. They shouldn’t see these places just from the internet, they should see like real.

We would like to use our project especially in ancient cities, but we would like to state that it can be used in other buildings that were built alone and that have not survived until today.

For this project, technologies such as drone and lidar data are planned to be used. In addition, we will use the technologies we have learned such as digital storytelling and AR-VR-MR in our project. In addition, theoretical assistance will be sought from those working in the fields of history and archaeology in making a hologram of these structures.

If we talk about the benefits of our project, it will provide employment opportunities for experts in technology, archaeology and art history while under construction. When our project is implemented, it will contribute to the tourism of that country, even people who are not interested in these issues will come to visit, wondering how this technology was implemented.

We think that it will support the local people living in the region economically as we think it will attract many tourists. It will also be socially positive for the region where the project will be built.

The region will gain vitality as many tourists will come to the region where the project is implemented. However, we will cooperate with local governments in order to remove the negative effects (damage to the region, solid waste pollution, and noise pollution).

In our project, we will use the promotion and access power of local governments, the ministries of the country, and social media. “We will make an agreement with a well-known and good company in this field to run the promotional campaign on social media. We want to reach more people by using the sharing and distribution power of social media.

For example, we want to agree with YouTube content producers with very high subscriber numbers, to interview the project team, and then to introduce our ancient city made of the hologram on the video with the project team and benefit from their access power. Our project addresses all age and professional groups and we will use various communication channels to direct them to the project we have done.

The project has been developed by Batuhan Furtana, Mustafa Azboy and Yasin Pekel.

localloreshunters

LocalLoresHunters

LocalLoresHunters is a marketplace of local and traditional stories that can be bought by museums and institutions in order to preserve the intangible heritage made of stories that are orally handed down. On LolalLoresHunters marketplace, museums or institutions can buy one or more experiences, becoming part of this important project which aim is to preserve a particular intangible heritage for our territory.

Patreon is the crowdfunding platform choose for the project because it gives the opportunity to collect money through a patronage system. On Patreon you can subscribe to a specific topic or a specific artist and pay it/him/her when it/he/she produces content.

The planning provides:

• The project casted on PATREON;

• The design of logo and the creation of social network identities;

• The research of 3 local lore stories to write as novel and to design as game;

• The awareness campaign and the implementation of playable events in local museums;

• The market analysis;

• Public relations with cultural institutions;

• A mantaining campaign;

• An online browsable repository;

• A printed platform and a playable one;

• 10 museums in 2022.

Similar campaigns have been launched successfully already on Patreon:

  • folklorefellows.fi is a federation of association that works with local lore by collecting it in books;
  • localslore.com is a marketplace where to book local experiences leaded by local guides;
  • CityLore is a non-profit organization that offers educational programs, workshops and events to recognize grassroots cultures and ensure their living legacy.

The main target are:

  • families with kids: the experiences are addressed in particular to kids aged 3-12 and they can be with their parents;
  • Citizens working or living abroad: those people that would like to live again part of their history and traditions;
  • Schools: groups of young students that can learn more about their origins.

Thanks to LocalLoresHunters, in the ticket offices of the museums they will propose two different options: the classic one and the interactive one (an immersive and a playable experience). Even more, LocalLoresHunters will make old stories live again.

LocalLoresHunters is an idea by:

  1. Aldo Campanelli, Tou.Play and Fleet Save Games founder, he works with game based activities dedicated to cultural promotion and non formal learning.
  2. Francesca Cantatore, student in Public, Social and Business Communication, she took her bachelor in Linguistic and Intercultural Communication. She wants to become an Event Manager.
  3. Valeria Sblendorio, she restores frescos, mosaic, stones materials, stucco. She loves music and she cares about enviroment.
abbey_silvher

DRAW YOUR ABBEY – YOUR IDEAS IN (E)MOTIONS

The project will focus on the safeguarding of local traditions and folklore, such as religious rites, popular legends and evocative landscapes surrounding the Abbey of Barsento in Noci (Bari), giving value to the tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

This site, that tradition dates back to the 6th century, is a local pilgrimage destination, on May and September 8th, in honor of the Virgin Mary, whom it is dedicated to. The project idea would emphasize the abbey’s uniqueness since it represents the coexistence of two traditionally opposite themes both characteristic of our culture: sacred and pagan.

The main objective is increasing the number of young visitors and their accompanying people to the Barsento site with educational activities supported by digital, eventually integrating them with lectures, musical and folk dance events as well. In addition, the project aims to attract especially children, providing a didactical and sensorial experience, alternative to traditional classroom methods, through a drawing video wall: the idea is teaching with funny and extremely captivating technologies.

In conclusion, the intangible cultural heritage of Barsento will be digitally valorized through the creation of an interactive video mapping system: the young visitors have to draw their own ideas about sacred and profane themes and then their sketches will come to life, thanks to a “special” projector. It will screen the drawings on an empty wall inside the Abbey and kids will be surrounded by their animated, colorful and dynamic creations. The project can be implemented by the augmented reality and 3D designated positions, to make children’s drawings three-dimensional.

The challenge is inserting Noci in a tourist network nearby Alberobello, Castellana Grotte, Putignano, Gioia del Colle, the archaeologic park of Monte Sannace; besides, at the same time, we would enjoy to involve local stakeholders and create an economical movement in favour of regional professionists.

Team members: Lorenza Capece, Angela Stefania Lamanna, Damiana Patimo, Francesca Ricciardi

pamukkale

PAMUKKALE Thermal Route

The Idea was born to add Pamukkale and the surroundings to the EU Cultural Routes. So Turkey will have three routes in the EU Cultural Routes. For the bureaucratic procedure to submit our request to EU, the project needs to be supported by local municipalities, local authorities and the government. So after that with the support of the EU’s Association of Thermal Route, we will have a better opportunity to promote the thermal resources and other activities of the Denizli.

What is the project’s mission?Adding Denizli to the list of EU’s Thermal Route.

What is the project’s target? The local municipality, local authorities, Turkish government, EU Thermal List Association, European Union

What are the Stakeholders&Partners? Municipalities, Tourism Ministry, provincial tourism directorate and government, universities, educational ınstitutions, travel agencies, professionals on projects, EU Thermal List Association

What are the beneficiaries? The local municipality and local authorities, locals who need job, students who are eager to learn, government, hotels, cinemas, local shops, transportation services

In the next few years, Turkey will be on the list of EU and the country will be getting lots of tourists from abroad and it is important to safeguard the tangible and intangible heritage of Denizli’s province.

What are the solutions proposed by the developed project? The local authorities must focus more on the things Denizli has for tourism. The project wants to establish a good connection and communication among stakeholders and then it will be possible to attract people’s attention and adding Denizli to the EU’s List Of Thermal Route.

What are the outputs? Thanks to a good communication campaign and an advertising activity people will come to Pamukkale for thermal water and see its surroundings. So after that with the support of EU’s Association of Thermal Route, the area will have the opportunity to promote and safeguard the thermal resources and other activities of the Denizli.

What are the main social channels that will be used to promote the project? The idea will be launched on social media accounts (e.g. Instagram, Facebook, Youtube), on a web page that will be created.
These are the main first activities that will be implemented to get people’s attention and support the project. Also an application will be developed to reach as many people as possible.
Furthermore, to afford the expenses, the project will be promoted on a crowdfunding platform named ”Kickstarter”.

There is a similar Project named “Denizli Tourism Routes’’. You can connect it via downloading the application or from the web site. If you are planning to visit Denizli, you will enter the duration and your goal of visit (food, shopping, wellness etc.), and the platform will give you an alternative list. The touristic places are tagged at Google Maps in the platform. The site&app will direct you there and you will easily see those places on the map and go there with navigation. So the difference of our project is; our project is focusing on the more specific segment of Denizli’s tourism. And it includes fewer places than the app we mentioned above. Also, the explained project’s main mission is to add the Pamukkale and its surroundings to the EU Cultural Routes. So it will be different and more specific than this exemplary project.

Sustainable Development Goals of UNWTO Indicators:

GOAL 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

GOAL 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

The project has been developed by Murat Duyar and Ferhat Ozaydin.

folklorapp_silvher

FolklorApp

Let me introduce you, FolklorApp, an Augmented Reality application useful to promote cultural events like the carnival event held yearly in Venice.

This application is free to use for everyone and downloadable from both Android and IOS devices. That said, everyone can benefit from this project, both tourists interested in visiting the event and event organizers looking to improve their revenues.

Someone may ask how the app was born or the purpose of AR on this particular occasion. The application was born because we felt that most cultural events seem dull without some interaction, so adding some could considerably improve the event’s beauty. That’s where AR comes in: with the help of this technology, users can interact with a lot of things around and discover new Infos in a new way, not with the classic guide or physical installations.

Beware, the Carnival Venice’s event is just an example because, being this a scalable project, it can be applied to everything.

Have you ever happened to speak with an object? Or have you ever seen something talk with it? The questions could be sound crazy or strange, but these are the check to explain to you our project.

Imagine you like a tree, ok? How many stories has it seen in his life? How many people and how many cultures have it met in his life? Surely a lot of information, but it cannot tell to us!

Imagine you, now, a carnival mask. How many faces has it covered? How did it feel to be worn and touched by everyone, both children and adults? Or more simply: what it thinks about Carnival?

To know the answers to all these questions, we have to use Augmented Reality!

With your smartphone or tablet, you’ll be able to interact and know something directly with your mask.

With FolklorApp, you’ll be able to personalize your mask and receive it by mail directly by us! For example, if you want to wear a dog’s mask, you can send some pictures and reply to them with a face mask like your dog. Your task is only to print it and cut it and wear it in Carnival!

The project has been developed by Behlul Akgun, Ezgi Kabukcu, Davide Sgaramella and Davide DeCandia.

S.I.L.V.HER. TRAINING COURSE

New planning of training activities and focus on student projects

The Covid-19 emergency had a significant impact on the implementation of the S.I.L.V.HER. project, leading to a reshaping of the timing of transnational mobilities.

However, S.I.L.V.HER.’s online activities resumed at full speed, with the launch of Module 3, available on the project’s learning platform, which offers various educational and interactive contents to support the training path.

Through the 7 Units of this module, which focuses on the relationship between Augmented and Virtual Reality and the cultural sector, students will have the opportunity to explore issues that will be crucial in the conceptualization of their projects, especially with respect to the possibilities offered by new technologies for enhancement of cultural heritage.

Continue reading “S.I.L.V.HER. TRAINING COURSE”