Digital Heritage at Digital Past: Part 2
Digital Past’s first Digital Heritage session, held on the 7th February, will focus on Digital Heritage projects in Wales.
Rebecca Evans is Interpretation Officer for the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, and will be at Digital Past to talk about the Authority’s project Changing Coasts. This project was launched at the beginning of 2016 and aims to use crowd sourcing to capture changes to the coastline of the county, brought about by both natural weather events and human interaction. With a focus on low cost, low impact and sustainable technology, camera posts were set up at key points and people asked to contribute digital photographs to a growing image bank that can chart both sudden impact events and long-term changes. Rebecca will discuss the project’s success, and look at the lessons learned, including whether the push from funders for high tech digital innovation is resulting in engagement taking a second place to technology. Read her abstract.
Historic Place Names of Wales was also launched in 2016, following the Historic Environment (Wales) Act and in response to concerns over the loss of historic names across the country. Dr James January McCann, Place Names Officer at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monument of Wales, will talk about this ground breaking and innovative resource that contains hundreds of thousands of place names drawn from maps, crowd sourcing and existing place name research. As well as recording and preserving these historic names, the List aims to raise public awareness of the rich heritage of Wales contained within them and the importance of maintaining these important elements of the nation’s heritage. Read James’ abstract.
Dr Jenny Kidd is senior lecturer at the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural studies at Cardiff University and works with a wide range of cultural heritage institutions to explore the possibilities of immersive and participatory media practices. Alison John is Producer at yellobrick, a creative marketing agency specialising in engaging and participatory experiences. They will be talking about Olion/Traces: Creating a bilingual subtle mob for Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. Traces was created in partnership with the National Museum Wales as a ‘site specific storytelling audio encounter’ allowing visitors to experience the St Fagans National Museum of History in a new way, and Jenny and Alison will, in particular, discuss their perspective on creating a truly bilingual creation.
Fluttering fairies, Pokémonuments and other digital delights delivered by Cadw will be delivered by Erin Lloyd Jones, Heritage Interpretation Manager at Cadw, Welsh Government. Erin will be presenting a roundup of the different digital methodologies and technologies Cadw has been engaging to ensure that its interpretation evolves to keep pace with technological development and public expectations. From fairy spotting at Castell Coch to baby dragons at Harlech, Erin will discuss recent projects to inspire people’s passion for heritage and Cadw’s ambitions for future development.
19/01/2018