Digital Futures 2012 Conference Presentation. Aberdeen, 23/10/12

1. Nicole Beale
Gareth Beale http://ourti.org

2. The Records
• Churches and memorials as
an individual and a national
archive
• Fragile record of our
communities
• History, art, archaeology
• Valuable objects are
frequently placed at risk

3. A Resource at Risk
• Increased weathering risk
• Changing building use
• Changing communities
• Recording is occuring
• Inconsistent documentation
• Access to documentation
limited

4. Project Aims • To enable community
groups to record,
collect, and disseminate
church memorial data.
• To investigate
requirements for all
stakeholders (public
and the sector alike).
• To develop a clear and
simple methodology to
this end.

5. Project Team
• Multi-disciplinary
• Began October 2011
• Based within the
Archaeological Computing
Research Group
http://acrg.soton.ac.uk/
• Funded by Digital
Humanities, University of
Southampton
http://dh.soton.ac.uk/

6. Study Region
• Low population density
• High risk levels due to
coastal location
• Diverse architecture and monuments
• Much interest from local history groups
• High levels of international interest in the region

7. Opportunities
• Community interest
• Global interest
• New technology
• The Web as catalyst

8. Open Approaches
• Open Source
• Open Practice
• Open Access
• Open Data

9. Investigating using Open Source
• RTI Builder & Viewer
• Photogrammetry
• GPS Surveying

10. Focus on RTI
• Highlight Reflectance
Transformation Imaging (RTI)
as the focus for the project
• Dynamically manipulate the
light source of a 2D image
• Allows for enhancement of
surface shape and colour
mathematically RTI of a headstone. Above:
Standard photograph. Below: RTI
with specular enhancement

11. How it works
• Each project is
community led
• Based on assistance
• Diverse technical
response
• Methodology is
flexible and
responsive.

12. Investigating using Open Practice
• Co-operative working
practices
• Decentralisation of
support
• Open to all kinds of
collaborations

13. Differing Requirements,
Differing Contributions
• Lifelong learning
• Artefact conservation
• Digital repatriation
• Fundraising for sites
• Personal historical research
• Collective / community archaeological / historical
research
• Advancement of knowledge
• Dissemination of knowledge

14. Investigating using Open Access
• Project wiki
• Theoretical & technical
publication:
– Raw data
publication
– Research results
publication

15. Investigating using Open Access
• A reusable methodology for recording graveyards using
freely available and low cost technologies
• Technical guidance notes for the use of a variety of
technology solutions
• Data management and dissemination guidelines.

16. Investigating using Open Data
• Releasing data as open
• Providing guidance for
data creation and reuse
• Considering licenses
• Using other open datasets Open Plaques, uses OpenStreetMap
(MapQuest)

17. Open Data for Crowdsourcing
• General public analysis
of data
• Additional data entry

18. So Far…
• 6 churches
• 9 organisations
• 150 RTIs
• 5 community open
days
• 12 workshops
• Other public
engagement events

19. Next Steps
• More churches
• More groups; a wider variety of groups
• Emphasis on extending training
• Expanding to incorporate other needs
• Formal partnership agreement
• Develop online dissemination strategy
• Data repositories (archiving)
• Handbooks for use (OERs)
• Interface for crowdsourcing analysis of data

20. With thanks to:
Friends of Southampton
Old Cemetery
The Branscombe Project
All photographs author’s own. Released on Flickr.com under Creative Commons ShareAlike license.