Cultural Heritage Informatics

Course Description

(2013- )

Instructor: Marcia Lei Zeng, Ph.D., Professor

Course Description:

Cultural heritage informatics brings a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary approach to supporting the entire lifecycle of cultural information and documentation procedures for the benefit of the preservation, study, and promotion of cultural heritage.  This course is designed to respond to the new initiatives in digital humanities that have demonstrated a paradigm shift in how cultural heritage materials can be searched, mined, displayed, taught, and analyzed utilizing digital technologies. The course covers approaches of creating descriptions, organizing, and presenting the cultural heritage resources including not only the tangible movable objects and monuments but also intangible cultural products of humankind viewed within the framework of time, such as events.  (Preservation, conservation, and digital imaging are covered by other courses.) The course aims to prepare students for careers focusing on or transcending libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and other cultural institutions by introducing them the methodologies and technologies commonly used in cultural heritage informatics.

Goals and Objectives:

After completing the course, the students will be able to (– as demonstrated through their reading reports, product analyses, discussions, and independent projects):

  1. Articulate the needs, theories, and applications and ethics of cultural heritage informatics in today’s digital age.
  2. Apply the most appropriate standards to describe tangible and intangible heritage resources in individual contexts as to make them most accessible by researchers, educators, and public users.
  3. Demonstrate the ability to employ emerging technologies, methodologies, and tools by presenting and delivering the data, information, and knowledge that facilitates the discoverability of cultural heritage.
  4. Analyze and evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of systems and products for organizing and sharing cultural heritage information.
  5. Make recommendations that inform the decision-making of a cultural institution regarding cultural heritage documentation and delivery procedures.