Building the project's foundation

An intense linguistic reflection work

On 13th May i2CAT Foundation, in collaboration with the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC), organised the first RICHES open to all activity in Barcelona.

The workshop brought together representatives of the RICHES project, academics and students from the UIC, representatives of the Network of Common Interest affiliated in the project and several external experts. This activity focused on building the project's foundation and establishing an initial agreement of basic definitions and frameworks which will delineate RICHES' fields of research and further study on the context of change and the role of Cultural Heritage (CH) in the economic and social development in Europe.

More than 50 participants had registered to be part in the several discussion sessions proposed in the workshop's programme in order to discuss the taxonomy that will represent the common ground of understanding and research of the project.

Although it is impossible to capture the full extent of discussions and perspectives, all the Workshop's presentations and discussions served to analyse in depth all the topics that RICHES is addressing and proved to be extremely insightful and beneficial both to the attendees and the project's representatives and researchers.

The final discussion

The workshop opened with the welcome speeches of Sergi Fernandez, Head of the Audiovisual Unit of i2CAT, and Teresa Vallès, Dean at the UIC's Faculty of Humanities; Prof. Neil Forbes of Coventry University, RICHES Coordinator, introduced the project's framework to the audiences. After a coffee break offered by the University, the participants divided in different groups, each one referring to one of the specific panels that structured the research activity:

• Discussion session 1 - General common terms related to Cultural Heritage/Digital Cultural Heritage - chaired by Neil Forbes of Coventry University (UK). This global and common field of definitions provides the basis to identify the existing practices in the domain of ICT for digital CH;


• Discussion session 2 - Understanding the context of change for tangible and intangible CH - chaired by Laura Van Broekhoven of Leiden's National Museum of Ethnology (NL). How digital practices are transforming the traditional CH practices of cultural institutions;


• Discussion session 3 - Digital copyrights framework - chaired by Charlotte Waelde of Exeter University (UK). Copyrights laws developed in the analogue era are now causing challenges in the era of the digital;


• Discussion session 4 - Visualisation and Interaction.
  Digital presentation and output - chaired by Monika Hagedorn-Saupe of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz (DE). Understanding the new technologies and the changes in the process of distribution, circulation, creation and sharing of CH and the practices in which CH is revaluated and reinvigorated;


• Discussion session 5 - Digital Cultural Heritage - chaired by Bahadir Aydinonat of the Turkiye Cumhuryieti ve Turizm Bakanligi (TR). E-books, online catalogues, digital libraries, metadata records and their means in order to respond to current and new users demands;


• Discussion session 6 - Role of CH in European social development - chaired by Dick Van Dijk of WAAG Society (NL). New directions for digital CH in order to contribute to social cohesion, inclusion and represent multicultural practices;


• Discussion session 7 - Impact of CH on European economic development -chaired by Antonella Fresa of Promoter Srl (IT). Defining the many factors and “actors” that constitute the changing context of CH in the economic field and its impact on employment, new economic strategies and alliances in the EU.

The panel sessions carried on the discussion on the various terms definitions for the all morning. In the afternoon, all the group participants brought back together and the chairmen/chairwomen shared their agreed definitions with the public during a final discussion, in order to validate them.

The audience had a lively participation and made several suggestions that will be taken into consideration in order to further elaborate and agree on a Taxonomy of Terms and Definitions which will support the project's research in the future.

The RICHES Partners's social dinner

The analysis of different prospective scenarios on the context of change in which European CH is transmitted, its implications for future CH practices and the frameworks that will be put in place - from cultural, legal, financial, educational, technical perspectives - rendered valuable information for future progress in the design of the roadmap for Cultural Heritage practices in the digital age within the project.

In addition to the workshop's celebration, the RICHES Consortium Partners joined for internal Plenary Meeting, one day before and after the workshop in order to discuss the work so far undergone, value the workshop's results and plan their future research and management activities.

For more information visit the RICHES website 

RICHES on Twitter: #richesEU

RICHES on YouTube: www.youtube.com/richesEU