This book provides an overview of various challenges and contemporary research activities in cultural heritage information focusing particularly on the cultural heritage content types, their characteristic and digitization challenges; cultural heritage content organization and access issues; users and usability as well as various policy and sustainability issues associated with digital cultural heritage information systems and services. Cultural Heritage Information, the first book in the peer-reviewed i-Research series, contains eleven chapters that have been contributed by seventeen leading academics from six countries. The book begins with an introductory chapter that provides a brief overview of the topic of digital cultural heritage information with the subsequent chapters addressing specific issues and research activities in this topic. The ordering of the chapters moves from scene setting on policies and infrastructures, through considerations of interaction, access and objects, through to concrete system implementations. The book concludes by looking forward to issues around sustainability, in the widest sense, that are necessary to think about in order to maximize the availability and longevity of our digital cultural heritage. The key topics covered are: - Managing digital cultural heritage information - Digital humanities and digital cultural heritage (alt-history and future directions) - Management of cultural heritage information: policies and practices - Cultural heritage information: artefacts and digitization technologies - Metadata in cultural contexts – from manga to digital archives in linked open data environment - Managing cultural heritage: information systems architecture - Cultural heritage information users and usability - A framework for classifying and comparing interactions in cultural heritage information systems - Semantic access and exploration in cultural heritage digital libraries - Supporting exploration and use of digital cultural heritage materials: the PATHS perspective - Cultural heritage information services: sustainability issues. Readership: This will be essential reading for researchers in Information Science specifically in the areas of digital libraries, digital humanities and digital culture. It will also be useful for practitioners and students in these areas who want to know the different research issues and challenges and learn how they have been handled in course of various research projects in these areas.

Digital networking will make our global cultural heritage accessible to a widespread audience. To reach this audience, it is essential to create and employ terminology that brings consistency to the language used in information retrieval contexts. Introduction to Vocabularies highlights the crucial role that controlled vocabularies play in the description, cataloging, or documentation of cultural heritage information. The book stresses the importance of standards and the role of authority work in creating and managing vocabularies that would ensure integrated access. The book concludes with descriptions of three vocabulary databases developed by the Getty Information Institute. The Introduction to series acquaints professionals and students with the complex issues and technologies in the production, management, and dissemination of cultural heritage information resources.

There is a complex and contested terrain of cultural heritage in the library, archive and museum context. Information Literacy and Cultural Heritage explores this landscape and covers perspectives from museums, archives and libraries, highlighting the role of memory and contested history in the collection, description and presentation of cultural heritage. The book argues that the convergence of libraries, archives and museums in digital preservation should be extended to include the development of combined lifelong learning programmes, teaching both information literacy skills and awareness of cultural heritage. This title is structured into seven chapters, covering cultural heritage in the library, archive and museum context; digital information contexts; an overview of information literacy models of stages and processes, as well as models of standards, competencies and performance indicators. The book then examines the role of critical thinking and lifelong learning; proposes a generic model of information literacy and cultural heritage for lifelong learning; offers guidelines for adapting the model to local contexts; and offers a conclusion.

Since the 1990s, heritage studies has emerged as a distinct academic field, and practices and rhetoric drawn from mainstream corporate management and strategic planning have become widespread. Based on extensive research, this book is an in-depth investigation of management practices rather than policies, based on a variety of case studies from around the world. The authors take the issue of management in heritage seriously, but also take into account the role of other disciplines within heritage organizations. In particular, they focus on sustainability in terms of financial resources, human resources, knowledge management, and the relationship with the audience and communities of scholars. The book opens with a methodological introduction that discusses what it means to do research on management, and why international comparative research is essential. The body of the text engages issues of heritage and management through five distinct analytical lenses: management and the process of change, institutional settings and business models, change and planning, the Heritage Chain, and the space between policy and practice. Each of these five sections includes a chapter introducing the analytical framework and possible implications, followed by case histories from China, Italy, Malta, Turkey, and Peru. The book ends with a chapter of concluding reflections.

Advances in the knowledge of the tangible components (position, size, shape) and intangible components (identity, habits) of an historic building or site involves fundamental and complex tasks in any project related to the conservation of cultural heritage (CH). In recent years, new geotechnologies have proven their usefulness and added value to the field of cultural heritage (CH) in the tasks of recording, modeling, conserving, and visualizing. In addition, current developments in building information modeling (HBIM), allow integration and simulation of different sources of information, generating a digital twin of any complex CH construction. As a result, experts in the area have increased the number of available sensors and methodologies. However, the quick evolution of geospatial technologies makes it necessary to revise their use, integration, and application in CH. This process is difficult to adopt, due to the new options which are opened for the study, analysis, management, and valorization of CH. Therefore, the aim of the present Special Issue is to cover the latest relevant topics, trends, and best practices in geospatial technologies and processing methodologies for CH sites and scenarios as well as to introduce the new tendencies. This book originates from the Special Issue “Data Acquisition and Processing in Cultural Heritage”, focusing primarily on data and sensor integration for CH; documentation/restoration in CH; heritage 3D documentation and modeling of complex CH sites; drone inspections in CH; software development in CH; and augmented reality in CH. It is hoped that this book will provide the advice and guidance required for any CH professional, making the best possible use of these sensors and methods in CH.

This book explores and substantiates the role of cultural heritage as an engine for local socio-economic development. Starting from the assumption that cultural heritage represents a valuable, unique and irreplaceable resource for European regions, it identifies and quantitatively analyzes tourism and territorial identity as two different channels through which cultural heritage can influence local socio-economic development. The book highlights the fact that cultural heritage not only has a positive influence on local cultures, societies and environments, but also plays a role in the process of local economic growth. Providing comprehensive empirical evidence that explains and discusses whether and how the endowment of cultural heritage benefits local socio-economic growth, it will appeal to scholars and students of cultural economics and regional science, and anyone interested in sustainable socio-economic development.

Cultural heritage is material – tangible and intangible – that signifies a culture’s history or legacy. It has become a venue for contestation, ranging in scale from protesting to violently claimed and destroyed. But who defines what is to be preserved and what is to be erased? As cultural heritage becomes increasingly significant across the world, the number of issues for critical analysis and, hopefully, mediation, arise. The issue stems from various groups: religious, ethnic, national, political, and others come together to claim, appropriate, use, exclude, or erase markers and manifestations of their own and others’ cultural heritage as a means for asserting, defending, or denying critical claims to power, land, and legitimacy. Can cultural heritage be well managed and promoted while at the same time kept within parameters so as to diminish contestation? The cases herein rage from Greece, Spain, Egypt, the UK, Syria, Zimbabwe, Italy, the Balkans, Bénin, and Central America.

Lowentahal looks at the benefits and burdens of the past, how we study the past, and how we change it.

The central purpose of this collection of essays is to make a creative addition to the debates surrounding the cultural heritage domain. In the 21st century the world faces epochal changes which affect every part of society, including the arenas in which cultural heritage is made, held, collected, curated, exhibited, or simply exists. The book is about these changes; about the decentring of culture and cultural heritage away from institutional structures towards the individual; about the questions which the advent of digital technologies is demanding that we ask and answer in relation to how we understand, collect and make available Europe’s cultural heritage. Cultural heritage has enormous potential in terms of its contribution to improving the quality of life for people, understanding the past, assisting territorial cohesion, driving economic growth, opening up employment opportunities and supporting wider developments such as improvements in education and in artistic careers. Given that spectrum of possible benefits to society, the range of studies that follow here are intended to be a resource and stimulus to help inform not just professionals in the sector but all those with an interest in cultural heritage.

4e de couv.: From international law to artifact preservation to site interpretation, this book provides a much-needed diversity of voices and perspectives from people steeped in the issues that directly affect the future of the past.