Case studies

The INDICATE case studies aim to analyse the potential for e-Infrastructures to be used to overcome long-standing problems in e-Culture. Three key problems are considered, namely: long term digital preservation, virtual exhibitions and management and processing of geo-coded digital cultural
content.

The results of the analysis are important inputs to the best practice work.

Digital preservation using e-Infrastructures

This case study investigates how e-infrastructure enabled long term preservation can ease the transfer the cultural heritage to future generations. The main objective of this study is to review the current situation of digital preservation process and policies in Europe, the state of the art of the technology used or in development, the relation between preservation institutions and e-Infrastructure providers and to describe which actions can be taken in a feasible way to initiate the coordination of a European eco-system of data repositories for the long term preservation of the digital cultural resources.

Usage of e-infrastructure may assist to solve challenges like storage, access, data security and integrity and copyright protection in the long term. Therefore integrating digital preservation systems to large capacity networks or international NREN or Grids might rapidly become widespread worldwide.

The first step of this process would be to develop national and global preservation policies and strategies and to provide to the interested institutions a set of guidelines on how to build a preservation system (including selection, acquisition, conversion, storage, backup, preferred file formats, etc.).

Workhops

Deliverables

  • D3.3 Workshop proceedings – digital preservation (.pdf, 203kb)
  • D5.1 Case study report - Long Term Preservation (.pdf, 2441 kb)

Survey template

  • Preservation survey template (DOC, 138 kb) 

 

Virtual exhibitions using e-Infrastructures

Digitisation allows memory institutions to exhibit their holdings in a wide variety of configurations.
The case study, through a survey among partners and the analyses of current practices, investigates such configurations, - e.g.: shared exhibitions, virtual performances, thematic routes - and their possible connections with e-infrastructures. The results of such investigation will be made available in a report targeted to memory institutions willing to investigate the potential of use of the e-infrastructures for their virtual projects.

Workhops

Deliverables

  • D3.2 Proceeding virtual exhibitions (pdf, 1037kb)
  • D5.2 Case study report - Virtual Exhibitions (.pdf, 2855kb)

Survey template

  • Virtual exhibitions survey template (DOC, 148 kb)

Geocoded digital cultural content using e-Infrastructures

Aim of this case study is to define the requirements and to investigate how geo-location services could be applied to discover cultural content for education, long-life learning, and creative industry. On the one hand the research reviews the current approaches and new R&D activities on geocoding of cultural content in digital libraries, cultural tourism, cultural heritage, e-learning, living arts and other cultural areas, indentifying the possibilities and benefits of using the e-infrastructures. On the other hand it provides a testing of geo-parsing and geotagging e-services in digital culture, preparing the recommendations for the content providers. The focus will be primarily on cloud and grid computing and data infrastructures when dealing with geocoded digital cultural content. 

Workhops

Deliverables

  • D3.4 Workshop proceedings - geocoded digital cultural content (pdf, 521 kb)
  • D5.3 Case study report - Geocoded digital cultural content (Part 1 .pdf, 1469kb) - (Appendices .pdf, 2422kb)