The Concept Of Cultural Heritage

The Concept Of ethnic inheritanceTo understand heathenish inheritance and interpretation, it is crucial to understand the various definitions and theories in relation to the concept of heathen heritage.The marge pagan heritage refers to the things, places and practices that define who we be as individuals, as communities, as nations or civilizations and as a species (Wedenoja, 2010). In other words, it is the cultural legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that atomic number 18 inherited from old generations, preserved in the present and bestowed for the benefit of hereafter generations. It is a legacy which we often want to recognize and reserve beca enjoyment it strengthens our cultural identity of sense of who we are as peck. However, what is considered cultural heritage by star generation may be rejected by the nigh generation, only to be revived by a succeeding generation.Cultural heritage is not limited to material manifesta tions. It to a fault allow ins living expressions and the traditions that groups and communities well-nigh the universe of discourse pack inherited from their ancestors and transmitted to their descendants. Thus, cultural heritage crumb be grouped into broad categories tangible and intangible. Tangible cultural heritage pile refer to move adequate to(p) objects and immoveable sites. These include archaeological sites, artifacts, buildings, diachronic sites, monuments, graves, and culturally momentous landscapes deal sacred places. Landscapes are considered heritage when they book natural features that may have cultural attributes including flora and fauna. Heritage sites like these often serve as an important component in a countrys tourist industry, attracting umpteen visitors from abroad as well as locally. UNESCO1defines intangible cultural heritage as the non-physical characteristics, practices, representations, expressions as well as noesis and skills that identify a nd define a group or civilization (UNESCO, 2010). These include language, oral histories, beliefs, practices, rituals, ceremonies, customs, traditions, music, dance, crafts, and other arts.Heritage that survives from the past is often unique and irreplaceable. This places the duty of preservation on the current generation. Safeguarding cultural heritage has become one of the priorities of international cooperation since 1972 when the General Conference of UNESCO adopted the Convention Concerning the Protection of being Cultural and Natural Heritage. There are 878 conception Heritage Sites as of 2008. They are located in 145 countries and 678 cultural, 174 natural, and 26 mixed sites (UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 2010). The preservation of living heritage has only become signifi trampt in 2003 when UNESCO adopted the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.(This is the short chance variable still have a split up of dilate to add because the bound cu ltural heritage is very detailed and has meant different things in the past decades. Unless the professor thinks this is enough.)Cultural Heritage and the Challenges of TourismIn recent years, get wind heritage sites have seen a remarkable increase poorly manoeuvre or unguided tourists. Tremendous pressure has been forced upon areas like Angkor Wat, Luang Prabang or Halong Bay the growing number of visitors and the general growth in Tourism. outside(a) agencies such as the World Tourism Organization have predicted that touristry numbers give continue to rise all over the next 10 years, predominantly so for the continent of Asia. Such growths in visitor numbers worsens existing problems at World Heritage sites which include vandalism, lack of sensation of cultural and heritage significance of sites, congestion and destination and cultural commodification. As global tourism increasingly interface with heritage sites, the pressures of meeting challenges bequeath be more pron ounced. In addition to the negative effects of unguided mass tourism at heritage sites, a rise in street corner cultural tourism as well prompts the need for the training of cultural heritage specialist guides for World Heritage sites. The development of such niche groups of culturally-sensitive and learning-seeking tourists is constituted within the broader developments of what has been considerationed by tourism academics as special relate tourism and the diversification of the tourism market. However, the development of niche cultural tourism is hampered by the widespread lack of cultural heritage specialist guides in Asia-Pacific. In the APETIT meeting in 2002, the training of professional guides was highlighted by UNESCAP and UNESCO as key to improvements in the tourism system and industry.What is digitization?We use the term digitization to refer to the process of converting physical resources or information into a digital format (Digitization, 2007). In other words, digi tizing means simply capturing an elongate guide in digital form. Photos taken with a digital camera, or information collected by an electronic measuring device are automatically converted into digital form. However, text and images that are in a tangible form can be digitized with a scanner (Ibid). When see texts or images, an optical character recognition program, as well kn let as OCR, analyzes a text image for light and dark areas in ordinate to identify each(prenominal) alphabetic letter or numeric digit, and converts each character into an ASCII code (Ibid). Audio and videos can also be digitized by a process in which an analog signal is changed, without changing its meaty content, into a digital signal (Ibid). The process of sampling measures the amplitude, or signal strength, of an analog waveform at level(p)ly spaced time markers (Ibid). It also signifies the samples as numerical values for input as digital information (Digitization, 2007). Objects and sites on the other hand require a more mingled process. A 3D scanner is utilized to analyze an object or environment. The 3D scanner creates a point of cloud of geometric samples on the ascend of the object or site and these points can then be used to digitally reconstruct the object or site (3D image scanner, 2010). Digitized resources can be easily grantd through digital devices, equipment, and networks. Despite its many advantages, digital resources still need special care and preservation as they can become obsolete. Therefore, everything must be digitized at the highest quality and migrated to the latest storage and formats.Digitization of an object victimisation a 3D Scanner (Scribe It, n.d.)Why Should We Digitize Cultural Heritage?Cultural Heritage should be digitized for the following reasonsPreservation of Tangible Cultural HeritageDigitization can help preserve tangible cultural heritage including objects and buildings. All objects and the precious information they contain will be available without jeopardizing their integrity by handling or by exposure to the elements. For instance, the Stonehenge in Great Britain is using technological interpretation to conserve the heritage site. Brian tubful states in his proceeds The Use of New Technology in the Interpretation of Historic Landscapes (2006) that a massive number of visitors wanted to see every angle of the Stonehenge and if the equivalent number of visitors came to the site constantly it would a threat exposed surface archaeology and to the protected lichens on the stone surfaces at ground level. Bath (2006) also added that it was hard interpreting the site without explaining the preservation process as well. People wanted to see everything but what they didnt understand was the effect they would have on the site. The solution for this matter was engineering science. Various forms of Medias like CDs with 3 models and web-based practical(prenominal) museums were developed in response to assist tou rists understand about the conservation and interpretation of the site.3D/ practical(prenominal) Reconstruction of StonehengeBroadened AccessA lot of people cant actuate to museums or actual sites whenever they want and even if they could, space constraints imposed on museums would only allow them to see a little partage of available collections. Therefore, digitizing cultural heritage greatly increases earth memory entrance money. Furthermore, it also advances the work of scholars and researchers worldwide, and opens new opportunities to educators in every setting. Often, objects reside in multiple places even if they are related. Thus, digitizing entire collections allows museums to assimilate their resources, make it executable for scholars working externally to see at a glance their complexness and extent of holdings in a given area. Moreover, digitization also allows museums to share their resources more broadly by integrating collections that have been separated by lo cation across many cultural heritage institutions and research centers. And lastly, digitized materials also help museums reach underserved audiences, as well as those not propel to see museums as a source of information. For instance, twenty years ago, students had to travel to uppercase, D.C. to research in the Library of sexual congress and it was an expensive matter. Now, high instruct students from around the world have nictitation access. In 2003, the Library of Congress reported that approximately 15 million people visited American Memory. That is more than the number of people who have worked in the librarys reading rooms over the past 200 years and 1,500 times the number who annually use the manuscript reading room (Cohen Rosenzweig, 2006).New AccessDigitization allows access to historical resources that are inaccessible because of their fragility (Cohen Rosenzweig, 2006). As an example, the original 1791 broadcast for the city Washington is so deteriorated and brittl e the Library of Congress does not allow researchers to examine it (Cohen Rosenzweig, 2006). But now anyone can view the digital copy on the librarys website. Not all Library of Congress documents are quite this fragile, but like many other sources, they cant be browsed easily in analog form.LEnfants Original City Plan of Washington 1791 LEnfants Revised City Plan of Washington 1792Support Education other benefit of digitizing cultural heritage is that it supports education. Digitization impacts learning in classrooms and everywhere learning takes place. Studies of cultural heritage can come alive with instant access to images, sound files and text extracts. People will be able to experience things not normally possible in a museum, e.g. exploring the wrong of a space shuttle in 3D. Furthermore, educators working with cultural heritage can interact virtually with audiences and cultivate forums for exploring topics in more reasonableness and from varying perspectives. Lifelong lea rners will be able to guide their own learning with help from museums digitized collections. Overall, digitization will give public access to a much greater percentage of museums immense resources, providing separate tools with which to sparkle learning. Brian Bath (2006) stated that the Museum of London set-up a web-based virtual museum and 40 percent of the people who visited the site including students actually came to the museum. As you can see, some people who may have never had interest in going were appealed.Enhances Museums engagementDigitization can kick upstairs museums competitiveness by enhancing visitors experience. A have was carried out by the SITI Research Center of the Queen Margaret University College (Reino, S., Mitsche, N. Frew, A., 2007) in the UK by comparing live interpretation and traditional interpretation at 2 sites, which were Beamish and the Bowes. The result was that ICT improved competitiveness of heritage sites by enhancing learning, sport and v isitors experience. Beamish which used technology for interpretation had an average of 4% better outcomes in each category.Ease of Access for ResearchersIn the past, researchers and scholars had to endure the positive process of ordering up boxes of items in order to find what they were feeling for. Sometimes researchers or scholars could not study the archival documents (e.g., glass nursing home and film negatives) without the prior conversions into readable or viewable media like prints. On the other hand digitization allows quick and easy browsing of huge collections of material.Enrich ContextDigitization will help enrich place setting of cultural heritage because everything relevant to an object including details, records, and other interpretative data can be shared. This will enable a richer interaction and enhance users understanding of an object or sites context and meaning. In addition, digitization will enable allows experts to compare artifacts and specimens against t hose of the digitized museum, substantially increasing information about these holdings at a greater rate remotely. Equally important, it allows people around the world to add additional impressions, associations, and stories to the permanent record. (Will add an example)Infinite ReachDigitization allows infinite reach. It helps people draw multi-media resources from science centers, programs, and museums. Drawn resources could be have in a way that it could transport an audience back in time. An audience could potentially see how Thai people were living three hundred years ago, or witness battles. On the other hand, digitization could also let people experience the present as scientists do. For instance, an audience could be accessing data from Bangkok and could be in the Arctic the next subtle learning about ice. And last but not least, people could possibly travel virtually through space, with a view so clear, making them feel as though they could touch the stars from their a rmchair. As aforementioned, with digital assets, people would truly have infinite reach.What is Heritage Interpretation?The Basic Principles of Heritage InterpretationThe Evolution of Heritage Interpretation and New MediaMuseums and Their FunctionsWhat are virtual(prenominal) Museums?Still missing but will be addedHow can cultural heritage material be digitized?Optical Character Recognition (OCR)Digitizing sound recording videoCultural Heritage in ThailandHeritage Interpretation in ThailandExamples of Heritage Interpretation and New Media in Other CountriesWhat is the possibility for Thailand? Is it worthy it? Assesing Cost and Timelines.Problems with Digitizing Cultural Heritage (Has to be explained in more detail and more examples)Three major problems impede the use of digital technology from being a major tool in preserving cultural heritage. The premiere one is the enormous amount of financial resources needed for the scanning process, the act one is the quick obsolescence of hardware and software, and the third is the need for standardization of tools and interfaces. As a result, the work done in this area is mostly on a pilot basis, where researchers study the various aspects of certain subjects, build and test with modest projects, debate on standards and establish coordinating bodies.Forms of Digitization and Their Advantages and DisadvantagesVirtual Museums3d TechnologyThe origins of heritage interpretation date back to the moment of the creation of the first natural parks at the end of the nineteenth century in the United States. However, it was not until 1957, with publication by freeman Tildens Interpreting our Heritage that the foundation of the discipline were established.Although in the early days this interpretation was essentially