Archeomatica International 2017

AGORÀ
The Italian Archaeometry Society turns 25...
and the 10th Congress is looking very youthful
indeed!-The Italian Archaeometry Society (Associazione
Italiana di Archeometria - AIAr) is presently
the main Italian association of scholars and
researchers involved in the scientific investigation
of the tangible Cultural Heritage. The Association
aims at promoting and developing research, education,
training and professional activities addressed
to further the knowledge and the preservation
of Cultural Heritage through scientific methods
and techniques. Within this framework, it encourages
synergies between the sciences and the
humanities in order to face the various emerging
issues in the conservation and the study of materials in the Cultural Heritage domain, from archaeological
sites to modern art museums”.
The 10th AIAr National Congress will be held from the 14th to the 17th of February in Torino
(Italy) and will be a celebration of the 25th anniversary of AIAr’s constitution. The organizer of
such a unique event is a team of researchers from Universities and Institutions of the Italian
North-West that are already involved in the field of archaeometry: five departments of the Università
di Torino as well as the Politecnico di Torino and the Università del Piemonte Orientale,
and several research institutions (CCR, INFN, CNR-INRiM and the scientific laboratory of the
Valle D’Aosta Region). TecnArt srl, a past-spin off of the Università di Torino and presently active
member of the AIAr network of enterprises, is also among the organizers.
More than 150 contributors will participate to the congress, which is expected to be very rich,
judging from the high scientific level of the abstracts that have been submitted. In the afternoons
and after the closing remarks, a number of social events will provide an informal environment
to share ideas and experiences among participants. As a side event, twenty young graduates
in either the sciences or the humanities will attend the 2nd AIAr school “Archaeometry
and/is multidisciplinarity: common issues and different approaches”. The title is a pun - and it
does work in Italian! -, because it highlights the synergy among various fields of expertise involved
in the study, conservation and enhancement of the material cultural heritage.
Three invited lecturers will open each of the three days of the congress. They will illustrate
their research activity in a multidisciplinary environment, from museums to informatics. In more
detail, dr Christian Greco (director of the “Museo Egizio” of Torino, the second most relevant
museum in the world entirely devoted to the ancient Egyptian Culture) will report on the “archaeology
of the invisible”, Sofia Pescarin (Institute for Technologies Applied to Cultural heritage)
will discuss state-of-the-art digital technologies in museums and prof Matthew Collins (University
of Copenhagen and York) will give a lecture on the “Ancient Biomolecule Revolution”.
Importantly, early-stage researchers will be central in the congress. Several oral presentations
are scheduled for young researchers and professionals who are presently involved in the Cultural
Heritage sphere. These young minds contribute strongly to the development of the field,
adding value and novelty with their ideas, and yet they are still lacking a clear professional/
institutional recognition.
Info: http://www.associazioneaiar.com/wp/eventi/x-congresso-nazionale/
Visual Heritage 2018 - Digitize: Research – Record - Reactivate - Reconstruct
The next edition of CHNT (Cultural Heritage and New Technologies – www.chnt.at) will be organized
in cooperation with the EG GCH (Eurographics Symposium and Graphics Cultural Heritage)
and other partners (will be announced soon) in the City Hall of Vienna Austria.The aim of this
federated event is again to bring different communities in the same venue, to share experiences
and discuss methodologies concerning digital visual media and their use in the context of
heritage applications, to document digitally on at-risk archaeological sites, historical buildings,
museums… and their texts, books, paints, pictures, objects …all records of through collecting
original image collection’s source.
The 2018 edition will be a special event, since 2018 has been declared by the European Commission
the “European Year of Cultural Heritage”. The event will also take place during the Austrian
Presidency of the Council of the European Union, at 2nd half of 2018.
Therefore, Visual Heritage 2018 will be an ideal context for discussing European policies on
digital heritage and digital humanities.
Visual Heritage 2018 hosted by CHNT 23 2018 - (Vienna, Austria – November 12 – 15, 2018)
The eye tracker as a potential natural
interaction device in a museum
audioguide system - Scholars
Moayad Mokatren, Tsvi Kuflik and
Ilan Shimshoni used and examined
a mobile eye tracker, as a natural
interaction device, in an audioguide
system for museum visitors. Use as a
pointing device allows the system to
reasonably reflect on user attention
and provide relevant information as
needed.
To accomplish this goal, the researchers
integrated a technique based
on image matching for indoor positioning
and an eye-gaze detection
technique to identify the focus of
user attention in two different versions
of a mobile audio guide: (1 ) a
proactive version that automatically
provides the information whenever
a user’s interest is detected and (2)
a reactive version that notifies users
of the availability of informations,
thus giving it greater control over
the transmission of information. In
addition, they have developed a
mobile guidance system for visitors
to conventional museums using a
smartphone and low-energy Bluetooth
beacon for positioning; this
guide has been used as a reference
system.
The three visitor guides were evaluated
in realistic settings at the
Hecht Museum, a small museum
located at the University of Haifa,
which has both archaeological and
artistic collections. The experimental
evaluation compared the contribution
of the three versions of the
audio guide to the visiting experience.
The results showed that the mobile
eye tracking technology, although
not familiar and perhaps even
immature, was accepted by the
participants. The mobile eye tracker
audioguide was perceived as preferable
to the traditional museum
guide, particularly as regards learning
during the visit. Moreover, as
regards the proactivity in contextaware
systems, the results showed
that participants like to have control
and that most of them preferred the
reactive version of the mobile eye
tracker audio tracker compared to
the proactive one.
44 ArcheomaticA International Special Issue
44 ArcheomaticA International Special Issue