e-culture at UC Berkeley: Networked cultural and environmental data Caverlee Cary Staff Research Associate Geographic Information Science Center University of California, Berkeley Asia-Pacific Advanced Networking Conference Digital Resources for e-Culture and Historical Mapping Bangkok, Thailand January 26, 2005

Issues for consideration Art, artifacts, and the digital image From image to e-culture E-culture networking initiatives at UCB Berkeley GIS and networked e-culture: mediating art and the world in the “Mapping Ayutthaya” project

Art, artifacts, and the digital image Authenticity and “aura” Digital technology: a change in the relationship between society and art objects Greater accuracy… greater truth?

From image to e-culture E-culture as the sum of digital product visualizing or expressing aspects of culture Relationship between culture and simulation of culture Interoperable e-culture

Networking initiatives at UC Berkeley The University of California Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive The Museum Informatics Project (MIP) The Berkeley Natural History Museums consortium The Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI)

The University of California Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive: Pioneer in interoperable collections One of the first museums to explore networked visual arts collections Collections: modern art and Asian art Early efforts to integrate collections with libraries and archives through MOAC bampfa.berkeley.edu

Berkeley Art Museum collection query interface

The Museum Informatics Project: Multi-collection network portal Coordinates the application of information technology in museums and other organized, non-book collections of UC Berkeley – data models – system architectures – demonstration systems mip.berkeley.edu

Museum Informatics Project portal to collections websites

The Berkeley Natural History Museums: network for queries across collections Common interface for collection search Unites biological diversity, from molecular evolution to human prehistory Cultural data: the Hearst Museum of Anthropology Uses the Darwin Core version 1 standardDarwin Core version 1 standard DiGIR (Distributed Generic Information Retrieval) DiGIR Database management at the GIS Center um/

Interface for queries across collections

Moving toward geographic search Current: capacity to browse all collections by country, province, or state Future: Grant funding development of an online automated georeferencing tool, “BioGeoMancer,” to assign coordinates to data with location information but without coordinates

The Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative: e-culture networking at the data level Portal to cultural data Data contributors largely beyond the University of California GIS for the humanities Requires contributor registration of datasets (individual as well as institutional participation level) URL: ecai.org

The dataset search interface: ECAI Metadata Clearinghouse

Dataset discovery, retrieval, and visualization using Timemap tools

ECAI Southeast Asia: A case study for regional e-culture Based at the UC Berkeley GIS Center Invites participation by all with cultural data pertaining to Southeast Asia region Sponsors workshops in ECAI technology html

Art and the world: the “Mapping Ayutthaya” project Informational supplement to “Kingdom of Siam” exhibition (Asian Art Museum, San Francisco) Data from exhibition, integrated with other information AAM: a mechanism for education about Ayutthaya GISC: a mechanism for introducing GIS

Using GIS to visualize Ayutthaya as a trading entrepot Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to visualize, not analyze GIS well suited to spatially distributed information GIS well suited to integrating discrete kinds of information

Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to visualize, not analyze Three fixed map-space scales for users: – Global – Siam – Ayutthaya Using Timemap software, a customized, time-enabled GIS viewer, not analysis tool

GIS well suited to spatially distributed information Selected points of contact Image links specific to the exhibition “Global” and “Siam” layers combine exhibition images and datasets from the Southeast Asia Digital Cultural Atlas project

GIS well suited to integrating discrete kinds of geo-referenced cultural data Additional datasets integrated with the exhibition images Datasets culled from the Southeast Asia digital cultural atlas trade routes project

Trade ceramics mapping dataset (data courtesy Dr. Roxanna Brown, Director, Southeast Asia Ceramics Museum, Bangkok University)

Exhibition objects suggestive of Ayutthaya’s international contact (images courtesy Dr. Forrest McGill, Head Curator, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco)

GIS well suited to integrating discrete kinds of spatial imaging Ayutthaya layer includes a range of display options for mapping Ayutthaya User options for interface selection: – historical maps – political maps – topographic maps – satellite images – aerial images (data courtesy Dr. Surat Lertlum, Fulbright Visiting Scholar, GIS Center, and Professor, Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy)

1687 Map of Ayutthaya: original (left), geo-referenced (right)

Contemporary topographic map (left) and ADEOS satellite image (right)

Fine Arts Department map of archaeological sites in Ayutthaya (left); map with GIS layers (right)

Geo-referenced historical map with GIS data layers

Conclusion “Mapping Ayutthaya” is an exemplar of a project that both draws from and contributes to the sum of networked e- culture “Mapping Ayutthaya” is intended to teach not only about Ayutthaya in the narrow context of the “Kingdom of Siam” exhibition, but about Thai history, the dynamics of global cultural connections, and the potential of GIS for the humanities “Mapping Ayutthaya” can continue to grow with fresh contribution and manipulation of its data, or may “morph” into other projects with new internet lives