Istituto: Digital Centre ARCHiVe

The Giorgio Cini Foundation presents the AOA – ARCHiVe Online Academy courses, six chapters dedicated to the conservation of cultural heritage between analogue and digital.

In December 2018, the Cini Foundation received, as a gift from Barbara Radice, part of the archive of her husband, the architect and designer Ettore Sottsass jr.

In these meetings, the work in progress on the Sottsass fund will be presented, highlighting the shared experiences of those who took part in the project, the result of the collaboration between the Cini Foundation and the Iuav University of Venice.

The lesson of December 10th will deal with the challenges faced in the context of digitization, archival description and archive study, using specific examples and referring to the techniques and tools in use at ARCHiVe.

Teachers:

Andrea Barbon, responsible of ARCHiVe

Marco Scotti, Iuav-ARCHiVe research fellow

Costanza Blaskovic and Alice Vivian, ARCHiVe collaborators

Detailed program of the first part of the course:

10 December, from 5pm to 7pm

• – Ettore Sottsass and his archives
  – Critical issues on the archive: the model developed for the challenge (methodology and tools)
  – Case studies
  – Skills in action

REGISTRATIONS CLOSED
For further information please write to info.aoa@cini.it

ARCHiVe Online Academy

November 2020 – January 2021

Following the success of the AOA – ARCHiVe Online Academy workshops and seminars held from May to July, the Fondazione Giorgio Cini has presented the new training programme for winter 2020-2021 organised by ARCHiVe.

Each workshop session lasts about 2 hours and is free of charge but with a limited number of places. The workshops are addressed to scholars, researchers, professionals and anyone interested in improving their skills in the field of cultural heritage using both digital and analogue technologies. The sessions will be held live on the Zoom platform and will also be available afterwards on the Foundation’s YouTube channel through a private link: in either case, registration on the Foundation’s website is required.

ARCHiVe is a centre devoted to cultural heritage technology and digital preservation on the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore. It was created in 2018 by the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, the Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation, and the Digital Humanities Laboratory of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL-DHLAB), with the Helen Hamlyn Trust as supporting founder.

Full programme:

Transkribus workshop

(5, 6, 10, 16 November 2020)

The first workshop is devoted to Transkribus, a software for the automatic recognition and transcription of handwritten texts, based on the use of machine learning algorithms.

Already employed by the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Transkribus is the result of a project funded by the European Commission and hosted within the University of Innsbruck Digitisation and Digital Preservation Group (DEA).

During the workshop, the potential of the software will be explored not only from a theoretical point of view, but also by providing the opportunity for practical experience and case studies, such as the use of Transkribus in the Alain Daniélou Archive project at the Fondazione Cini.

The teachers will also guide participants step by step in the practical use of the software, from downloading the programme to the training model, the basis for the automatic recognition and transcription of texts.

Teaching will be in English. When watching the workshop on YouTube, users can turn on subtitles in English or other languages.

Teachers:

Transkribus team members

Eloisa Stuparich, ARCHiVe researcher for the Alain Daniélou Archive

Workshop on handling and conserving books and archive items

(23, 24 November 2020)

The second workshop is an introduction to the conservation of books and archive materials. The course will describe the main categories of deterioration often found in books and documents through a series of examples from the antique book collection in the Fondazione Giorgio Cini Library. Good practices for the correct handling and preservation of this type of material will be illustrated by exploring the differences between preventive conservation, conditioning and restoration.

Teachers:

Giulia Barbero and Miriam Rampazzo, cultural heritage restorers of books, archive items, paper artefacts and photographic material

Workshop on dhSegment data extraction from texts 

(27 November, 4 and 11 December 2020)

The third workshop presents the potential and use of dhSegment, a tool developed by the Digital Humanities Laboratory (DHLAB) of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. dhSegment is an innovative system that uses machine learning algorithms to process different types of archive documents and automatically extract information from them.

The course will take place as a real workshop, during which teachers will assist users step by step in using the software.

Teaching will be in English. When watching the workshop on YouTube, users can turn on subtitles in English or other languages.

Teachers:

Staff from the DHLAB, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Enhancing archives of Italian design: the case of Ettore Sottsass Jr.

(10 December 2020, January 2021)

In December 2018, the Fondazione Cini was presented with the archive of the architect and designer Ettore Sottsass Jr. by his widow Barbara Radice.

The workshop will illustrate work in progress on the Sottsass Archive, highlighting the shared experiences of those who took part in the project, the result of collaboration between the Fondazione Cini and the Iuav University of Venice.

The first session (10 December) will deal with current challenges in the field of digitisation, archival description and archive studies by referring to examples and demonstrating the techniques and tools used at ARCHiVe.

The second session, to be held in January 2021, will focus on the potential offered by the use of Linked Open Data to develop the Sottsass Archive in relation to other archives of designers active in Italy. This will be the starting point for a wider discussion to explore and design new scenarios in the archival and cultural world.

Teachers:

Andrea Barbon, ARCHiVe director

Marco Scotti, Iuav-ARCHiVe research associate

Costanza Blaskovic and Alice Vivian, ARCHiVe collaborators

Giovanni Bruno, Regesta.exe president

Rosanna Pavoni, Fondazione Vico Magistretti scientific director

Digitising three-dimensional items

(15, 18 December 2020, January 2021 to be defined)

The fifth winter workshop will deal with the techniques involved in the digitisation of three-dimensional items, tested and used by Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation.

Theoretical lessons on instrumentation and the digitisation and development process will be followed by a workshop on photogrammetry applied to cultural heritage, enabling participants to become familiar with photogrammetric survey techniques using digital cameras (professional and non-professional).

Teaching will be in English. When watching the workshop on YouTube, users can turn on subtitles in English or other languages.

Teachers:

Carlos Bayod Lucini,  Architect, Project Director Factum Foundation

Guendalina Damone, Project Manager Factum Foundation Italia

Tools and methods for sustainable mass digitisation

(January 2021, dates to be decided)

The course has been created with the aim of sharing the experience of the ARCHiVe Centre and its partners in the field of digitisation, dealing with both our theoretical approach (the model and methodologies adopted) and the hardware and software tools used.

The course includes an in-depth study of Replica, a digitisation project that initially involved one million photographic positives from the Fondazione Cini’s historical Photo Library. This was possible thanks to the use of the innovative Replica 360 Recto/Verso Recording System with a circular scanner, designed and produced by Factum Arte in collaboration with the DHLAB of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

The fifth course of the ARCHiVe Online Academy aims to provide an understanding of Semantic Web technologies by exploring the technical aspects, methodologies and tools for the production, publication and querying of LODs, also by analysing a use case.

The advantages and potential deriving from sharing information for the development and reuse of cultural data will also be discussed.

The course will conclude with a life cycle analysis of Linked Open Data in a use case.

Teacher: Fabiana Guernaccini, knowledge manager and data architect, Regesta.exe

Detailed programme (the course will be held in Italian)

03/06/2020 Modulo 1. Open Data, Linked Open Data e interoperabilità semantica

Il modulo ha l’obiettivo di introdurre i concetti di Open Data, Linked Open Data e interoperabilità semantica, conoscenze propedeutiche per la comprensione del funzionamento del Semantic Web, supportato dalle tecnologie Linked Data.

05/06/2020 Modulo 2. Le tecnologie Linked Data

Il modulo fornirà principi e regole delle tecnologie Linked Data. Il Web Semantico poggia le sue basi su tecnologie preesistenti che insieme ne definiscono la fisionomia. Verranno trattati i seguenti temi: URI, RDF e triple, RDFS, OWL e ontologie.

10/06/2020 Modulo 3. Linked Open Data per i beni culturali: ontologie e progetti di pubblicazione

Il modulo ha lo scopo di fornire una panoramica sulle ontologie per la descrizione del patrimonio culturale e i principali progetti di pubblicazione, a livello nazionale e internazionale, evidenziando inoltre i benefici derivanti dalla pubblicazione in formato LOD dei dati.

12/06/2020 Modulo 4. Ciclo di vita dei LOD: dal dato grezzo alla pubblicazione. Il caso del CDEC

Il modulo analizzerà il ciclo di vita dei Linked Open Data esaminando un caso d’uso. Verranno presentate le buone pratiche per la pubblicazione di dati di qualità sul Web, dalla fase di analisi sino alla pubblicazione e alle operazioni di interlinking.

REGISTRATIONS CLOSED
For further information please write to info.aoa@cini.it

The fourth course will explore the notions for a correct post production of images to be used in digitalisation. This involves providing the theoretical tools for the management, development and archiving of image files, as well as illustrating the automatic post production algorithms produced within ARCHiVe.

Teachers

Rosario Terranova and Noemi La Pera, final-year students in photography at the Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche (ISIA), Urbino, and ARCHiVe collaborators, and Remko Bigai, web project manager, Mind@ware and ARC

How to participate

The course will be held in Italian, on 26 and 28 May from 3pm to 5pm.

The lessons will be limited and will take place on the Zoom digital platform after mandatory registration via the following online request form by 12.00 on May 21, 2020.

In the event that the places on Zoom will end you will recive a link to attend the course on YouTube. 
Afrer completing the form you will receive confirmation of immediate receipt, and a response for participation on Friday, May 22.

This ARCHiVe Online Academy course, in four lessons, will analyse some aspects of the main legal issues and possible solutions involved in the digitisation of cultural heritage. The topics will include the impact of copyright on digitisation and making cultural heritage available to the public; and the intersection between personality rights and digitisation and making cultural heritage available to the public. Lastly, the rights to privacy, image and the protection of personal data will be explored in relation to the management of correspondence archives, pictures and documentation of an historical and historiographical nature.

Teachers

Roberto Caso, associate professor at the University of Trento, lecturer in comparative law and delegate for Open Access and anti-plagiarism policies.

Paolo Guarda, researcher at the University of Trento, lecturer in comparative law.

REGISTRATIONS CLOSED
For further information please write to info.aoa@cini.it

As part of its ARCHiVe project, the Fondazione Giorgio Cini has organised AOA – ARCHiVe Online Academy, a programme of 7 free courses focused on digitising cultural heritage. The first course, to be held over 3 days, will be Photography applied to digitalisation (5, 7 and 12 May) with Rosario Terranova and Noemi La Pera, final-year students in photography at the Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche (ISIA), Urbino, and collaborators with ARCHiVe.

The courses in the programme will have a limited number of participants and are addressed to scholars, researchers and anyone wishing to improve their skills in the field of the digital preservation and use of cultural heritage. They will be held on the Zoom digital platform with prior registration required on the Foundation’s website inserire link.

“One of ARCHiVe’s missions is training.” – explains director Andrea Barbon – “At this very difficult time, we have decided to speed up the process of involving the general public by starting online training. Today this is a key tool and we will continue to use it in the future, alternating it with onsite courses. The digital preservation of cultural heritage provides us with a great resource and we want to give future generations useful new tools to be able to explore the works of the past.”

ARCHiVe is a centre dedicated to the technology and digital preservation of cultural heritage on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore. It was set up in 2018 by the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, the Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Preservation, and the Digital Humanities Laboratory of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL-DHLAB), with the Helen Hamlyn Trust as supporting founder.

Complete programme

1. Photography applied to digitalisation (5, 7 and 12 May)

The first course focuses on photography applied to digitisation with a special emphasis on photographing documentation. The first module on Tuesday 5 May will deal with the rudiments of digital photography and will include a brief examination of the fundamental elements of the camera. The second (May 7) will offer an overview of studio photography, including the characteristics of light and its management, while the basics of digital post-production and the rules for correct digitisation will be tackled on the last day (May 12).

Teachers: Rosario Terranova and Noemi La Pera, final-year students in photography at the Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche (ISIA), Urbino, and ARCHiVe collaborators.

2. Mass digitisation: new approaches and methods (11, 13, 14 and 15 May)

The second course, only for students studying for an ISIA degree at the University of Urbino, will lay the foundations for an understanding of the main issues of mass digitisation and is aimed at building a bridge between the analogical world of archives and the digital world.

Teachers: Guendalina Damone, project manager, Factum Arte Foundation, Andrea Barbon, director ARCHiVe, Remko Bigai, web project manager Mind@ware and ARCHiVe, and Giulia Clera, contact person for archival and digitisation standards and coordinator of ARCHiVe projects.

3. The digitisation of cultural heritage: from Open Access to safeguarding rights (18-21 May)

The third course will analyse some aspects of the main legal issues and possible solutions involved in the digitisation of cultural heritage. The topics will include the impact of copyright on digitisation and making cultural heritage available to the public; and the intersection between personality rights and digitisation and making cultural heritage available to the public. Lastly, the rights to privacy, image and the protection of personal data will be explored in relation to the management of correspondence archives, pictures and documentation of an historical and historiographical nature.

Teachers: Roberto Caso, associate professor at the University of Trento, lecturer in comparative law and delegate for Open Access and anti-plagiarism policies, Paolo Guarda, researcher at the University of Trento, lecturer in comparative law.

4. Photographic post-production: techniques and algorithms (26 and 28 May)

The fourth course will explore the notions for a correct post production of images to be used in digitalisation. This involves providing the theoretical tools for the management, development and archiving of image files, as well as illustrating the automatic post production algorithms produced within ARCHiVe.

Teachers: Rosario Terranova and Noemi La Pera, final-year students in photography at the Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche (ISIA), Urbino, and ARCHiVe collaborators, and Remko Bigai, web project manager, Mind@ware and ARCHiVe.

5. LOD – Linked Open Data (3, 5, 10 and 12 June)

The fifth course aims to provide an understanding of Semantic Web technologies by exploring the technical aspects, methodologies and tools for the production, publication and querying of LODs, also by analysing a use case. The advantages and potential deriving from sharing information for the development and reuse of cultural data will also be discussed. The course will conclude with a life cycle analysis of Linked Open Data in a use case.

Teacher: Fabiana Guernaccini, knowledge manager and data architect, Regesta.exe

6. Audiovisual documentation of events: editing (22, 25, 29 June and 1 July)

The sixth course, only for internal staff who followed the first part of the course in 2019, will deal with the basic theoretical notions of editing in the audiovisual documentation of events; the use of non-linear editing (NLE) DaVinci Resolve (Blackmagic Design) software; and the practical skills required for doing simple audiovisual editing with one or two audio and video sources.

Teachers: Simone Tarsitani, ethnomusicologist and audiovisual specialist at Durham University (UK), and Marco Lutzu, professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Cagliari.

7. Preservation of historical sound documents (23 and 30 June, 3, 7, 10, 14 and 17 July).

The seventh course will deal with the complex topic of the preservation of sound documents. Through seven online meetings, which will alternate professional training and workshops, the various stages in the preservation methodology developed over several decades by the University of Padua’s Centre of Computational Sonology (CCS) will be presented in detail.

Teachers: Valentina Burini, Archivio Luigi Nono, Venice, Alessandro Russo, Department of Information Engineering, University of Padua, Sergio Canazza, Department of Information Engineering, University of Padua, scientific director of the CCS laboratory and CEO of AudioInnova srl, and Niccolò Pretto, Institute of Computational Linguistics, CNR, Pisa.