Museum Digital Sustainability Talks

This year, the ICOM SAREC Committee is supporting a project jointly conducted by ICOM Italy, ICOM Europe, and AVICOM, which aims at providing hybrid training on sustainable digital practices in museums. It aims to explore the integration of new technologies in the cultural landscape with an emphasis on sustainability and durability.

Cultural and museum professionals will be guided through the latest digital trends during a period divided into online talks and a final on-site meeting. The project offers three free English-language workshops, for which participants can submit their questions on the respective workshop topics in advance.

The reports and results of the workshops will be incorporated into a hybrid project conference to be held on October 16, 2024, one day before the start of the AVICOM annual conference in Turin. The program of the project conference is still being developed and will be announced in due time, among other channels, on the AVICOM website avicom.mini.icom.museum.

Please note that the number of workshop participants is limited. Therefore, early registration is recommended! Please use the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScNsJOxMWkWfUXfKnfcBg25wFaCnCu1uW3S3JsBTFGIGaejcg/viewform
Do you have technical problems with the registration or further questions? Please contact: info@icom-italia.org

Workshop Participants: Advanced students, young professionals, and experienced experts in the fields of museology, museum research, museum education, curation, media production, museum management, public relations …

Workshop Duration: approximately 2 hours

Workshop Format: English, online, via Zoom

Participation is free of charge.

Registration deadlines: 1st workshop: July 20; 2nd / 3rd workshop: July 31

For the workshop topic, please submit your questions using the online registration form. Your questions will then be reviewed and addressed during the workshop.

July 23, 2024, 12 PM (CET): Workshop:

What emotions can do for museum engagement

Despite the well known relationship between emotions and aesthetic experience acknowledged since the classical age, top down approaches to visitors’ engagement tend to leave them to personal appreciation of art. Emotions, in fact, still represent an uneven and slippery terrain for designing methods that ensure predictable and controllable experiences.

Today, however, computational technologies provide a variety of methods for dealing with emotions, ranging from natural language processing tools for detecting, extracting and analysing emotions to face expression recognition techniques that allow measuring the emotional response of the audience using non-intrusive, portable devices. 

Partly a response to the pervasiveness of emotions in social media languages and codes, these technologies can help create novel applications for engaging museum visitors with relatively simple tools. In this talk, I will review and discuss a set of case studies that illustrate this opportunity, with an eye on inclusion and sustainability. 

Workshop Leader: Prof. Rossana Damiano

Rossana Damiano is an associate professor of Computer Science at Università degli Studi di Torino (Department of Computer Science), Turin, Italy, where she teaches Web Programming and Semantic Technologies. Her research interests mainly concern artificial intelligence for cultural heritage, with a focus on affect and storytelling. She has taken part in several applicative projects, ranging from social semantic environments for learning and cultural dissemination, to semantic annotation of cultural heritage, and artificial characters.

August 22, 2024, 12 PM (CET): Workshop:

How can emergent technology help Museums contribute to Sustainable Communities?

Emerging technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence offer engaging and novel ways of communicating. This workshop will address the challenges, opportunities, threats, and barriers associated with museums realizing the potential of these emerging technologies. Augmented reality offers the possibility of extending the walls of the museum and taking digital representations of heritage into the surrounding landscape. Virtual reality enables virtual time travel, supporting exploration of the past and potential climate futures. Artificial intelligence offers the prospect of personalized interpretation, connecting heritage with sustainable development and sustainable communities. By considering these technologies from the perspective of contributing to sustainable communities, we will draw on positive experiences and case studies and explore how this knowledge can be disseminated.

Workshop Leader: Dr. Alan Miller

Dr. Alan Miller is a lecturer at the School of Computer Science, University of St Andrews, Scotland. He has been involved in the use of virtual world technologies for cultural heritage for over 10 years. He is a member of the Open Virtual Worlds (OVW) research group at the University of St Andrews and co-CEO of Smart History and Smart Heritage.

August 30, 2024, 12 PM (CET): Workshop:

Navigating Copyright and AI in Virtual Museum Offerings 

Join us for a comprehensive workshop led by an experienced attorney, focusing on the intersection of copyright and exploitation rights in virtual museum offerings and the use of artificial intelligence. Over two hours, we will explore crucial aspects of copyright law and data protection in the digital realm, with a particular emphasis on AI applications. Participants will engage in hands-on assignments and develop recommendations for citation practices in the context of AI usage. The workshop will also cover the implications of the EU AI Act for the museum sector, providing a solid foundation for legal and ethical AI integration in museums.

Workshop Leader: Yasmin Mahmoudi

Ms. Yasmin Mahmoudi is partner at the law firm Dr. Mahmoudi & Partner Rechtsanwälte mbB, Cologne, specialist lawyer for intellectual property, lecturer at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Chairwoman of the Board of the Society for the Promotion of ZADIK e.V. (https://zadik.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/zadik-ev/vorstand). She advises museums, galleries, auction houses and collectors as well as artists, also pro bono through her involvement with Kölner Kulturpaten e.V..