​The Directorate of the National Archive of Monuments of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture is organizing a three-day Conference on

“Digital Heritage in the new knowledge environment:
shared spaces & open paths to cultural content”.

31 October – 2 November 2008

New digital media and the robust developments of web 2.0 have enabled and are continuously shaping a fluid and dynamic knowledge environment. Collaborative and creative ways of web-based authoring, editing and publishing, allow for the co-creation of content, the dissemination of knowledge and the self-regulation of social networks. Researchers, experts and practitioners are already taking advantage of these new possibilities while at the same time are concerned about the longevity of applications and the preservation of digitised or ‘’born digital” cultural content. Issues of interoperability, accessibility and public use of digital content have become urgent for contemporary museums, archives and heritage institutions.

The Directorate of the National Archive of Monuments, under the General Directorate of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, undertakes and supervises digital projects for collections and monuments nationwide. Given its coordinating role, the Directorate invites you to attend and contribute to a three day presentation and exchange of views and ideas on the challenges of digital heritage focusing on ways of convergence, collaborative practices and potential fields of common action. By providing an opportunity to share ideas and experience the Conference intends to promote a dialogue that will address both knowledge preservation and diffusion.

The Conference is going to be held in Athens on 31 October – 2 November 2008.

The Directorate of the National Archive of Monuments coordinates several projects of digital documentation, including the Movable Monuments Collections of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, the Historical Archive of the Hellenic Archaeological Service, and the Catalogue of Listed Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Greece.

Sessions:

Redefining the research field: digital applications and new media in archaeological practice and heritage management (databases and information systems, audiovisual media, GIS, etc.)

Shaping a common language: documentation standards, metadata, compatibility, interoperability, data mining and knowledge engineering, language support, etc.

Exploring the web 2.0 potential: collaborative authoring and instant-publishing tools (e.g. blogs, wikis), social networks, audiovisual content, copyright issues etc.

Widening the audience: new roles and ways of producing and sharing knowledge for the public.

Theorizing Digital Heritage: critical / theoretical approaches to cultural heritage and digital culture.

As part of the above sessions, introductory talks have been invited and will be presented by notable researchers and specialists, including:

Dr Adam-Veleni, Director, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki
Dr Arvanitis Κ., Lecturer, Centre for Museology, Universitry of Manchester
Dr Dallas C., Assistant Professor, Panteion University
Dr Constantios D., Director, Byzantine & Christian Museum
Dr Constantopoulos P, Professor, Athens University of Economics & Business
Dr Kollias S., Professor, National Technical Univesity of Athens
Dr Kotsakis K, Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Dr Tourta A., Director, Byzantine Museum of Thessaloniki
Mr Farmakis G., Chief Executive Officer, Agilis S.A.
Dr Ashley M., Executive Director, OKAPI, Multimedia Authoring Center for Teaching in Anthropology, UC Berkeley
Dr Brogan T., Director, Institute for Aegean Prehistory Study Centre for East Crete (INSTAP)
Dr Doerr M., Institute of Computer Science, Foundation for Research & Technology
Mr Ducke B., Senior Applications Support and Development Officer, Oxford Archaeology
Dr Elliott T., Associate Director for Digital Programs, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University
Mr Eve S., Director, L-P Archaeology
Mr Isaksen L., Doctoral Student at School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Αntiquist Community Moderator
Dr Kansa E., Executive Director, Information and Service Design (ISD), School of Information, UC Berkeley
Mr Poole Ν., Chief Executive, MDA (Europe)

We invite all interested to participate with a 15-minute original presentation in Greek or English to send the title and a 350-word abstract of their talk until 23 June 2008, including the title of the thematic session under which they wish to be considered. The selection of papers will be based on the extent of the abstract, the abstract consistency with the conference theme, and the post date. The conference presentations will be published in a volume by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. Please send abstracts to Ms Kappa by email to evkappa@gmail.com, by post to the Directorate of the National Archive of Monuments offices, Ag. Asomaton 11, Athens, GR-105 53, Hellas, by fax to +30 210 322 5628. Participants will be notified by 15 July 2008.

We are looking forward to hearing from you, and please do not hesitate to contact us for any further enquiries.