1. System Simulation www.ssl.co.uk Mono to Multi – Reflections on the Evolution of Digital Cultural Heritage Dr George Mallen System Simulation Ltd george@ssl.co.uk

2. SSL - the simple facts Emerging from research work on learning and decision making, founded in 1970 to do contract research on applications of interactive computing Early projects on system modelling, decision support and educational gaming Then visualisation and animation Then IR, museums, ePublishing, image libraries and higher education

3. Current business 20 people based in Covent Garden, London Market sectors: Cultural heritage Higher education Image libraries Publishing & information services Collaborative R&D

4. Selection of clients and partners The British Museum, the V&A, the Royal Academy, London’s Transport Museum, the Courtauld Institute, JISC, the 24 Hour Museum, SCRAN, Getty Images, Haymarket Medical, IFIS, MA, BFI, BBC, RTE, EC, Wellcome Trust … EU Framework projects – FPs 4, 5 and 6 on cultural heritage projects

5. System Simulation www.ssl.co.uk Some recent implementations The British Museum's Merlin and Compass systems The V&A's CIS, CSIP (Core Systems Integration Project) and DAM (Digital Asset Management) Royal Academy Courtauld Institute London’s Transport Museum SOPSE Croydon Clocktower Museum 24 Hour Museum

6. System Simulation www.ssl.co.uk Current concerns Information systems are becoming the main repositories of externalised knowledge and cultural history. This raises loads of questions eg: What are the processes which have got knowledge from inside our heads to outside? How will our little market sector in museums react to the opportunity to become online knowledge repositories? Do we have governance institutions which can use such systems for benefit?

7. System Simulation www.ssl.co.uk Knowledge Management – a 60000 year odyssey Showing

8. System Simulation www.ssl.co.uk Knowledge Management – a 60000 year odyssey Showing Telling

9. System Simulation www.ssl.co.uk Knowledge Management – a 60000 year odyssey Showing Telling Proving

10. System Simulation www.ssl.co.uk Knowledge Management – a 60000 year odyssey Showing Telling Proving Simulating

11. System Simulation www.ssl.co.uk Knowledge Management – a 60000 year odyssey Showing(Internal – in our minds) Telling Proving Simulating

12. System Simulation www.ssl.co.uk Knowledge Management – a 60000 year odyssey Showing(Internal – in our minds) Telling Proving Simulating(External – in our machines)

13. System Simulation www.ssl.co.uk Culture as Externalised Knowledge Survival after near extinction 70000 years ago largely based on ability to pass on skill and knowledge - “show and tell” Transition from hunter gatherer to settled communities demanded agreed or imposed rules and conventions. Set down as laws, ie externalised Religions as accepted beliefs with externalised texts and iconographies Scientific method as means of building external knowledge base Electronic information systems now main repositories for scientific knowledge and cultural history

14. System Simulation www.ssl.co.uk Museums as guardians and teachers of cultural history Broadly we can see universities becoming the creators of new knowledge (high end knowledge markets), and industry/commerce becoming the creators of new technologies Will museums then become the guardians of history with a key educating/mediation role advising governance, policy formation and decision? The big question – is there a role for cultural history in tempering the application of knowledge and technology?

15. System Simulation www.ssl.co.uk Information Systems and the Democratisation of Culture Information systems as repositories New communication technologies as means for enlarging social groups, communities of interest and constituencies Scientific knowledge warning of dangers – ecological, geological, economic, extraterrestrial Issues of governance and decision

16. System Simulation www.ssl.co.uk Multimedia Knowledge Management - Challenges and Opportunities for Industry/Academia Partnership The technology challenge - MMKM as step towards Automatic Knowledge Generation The opportunity – to present cultural history as data for interpretation by AKG systems

17. System Simulation www.ssl.co.uk System Simulation George Mallen george@ssl.co.uk