University of Brighton: Digital Skills in Visual and Material Culture
Aim.
Our aim is to support individuals and organisations, including Higher Education Institutions (HEI), Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAMs) and the creative industries, to improve their current and future digital skills, in particular those needed to support their medium and long term vision.
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We are working towards establishing a community of practice to support researchers and practitioners, as well as their organisations, to develop their skills in creating, managing, using and sharing data.
We know that communities of practice already play a key role in supporting learning and upskilling.
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We are piloting a range of activities that support the community. In particular, we pilot:
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Training activities: including webinars, workshops and open online learning resources according to identified curricula.
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Creative Placements and Residencies: providing experience-based learning opportunities within organisations including galleries, libraries, archives, museums and heritage sites, as well as creative industries to develop skills and jointly explore the value and role of data.
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Developing skills gap analysis to identify requirements with regards to skills training for digital research and practice in the realm of the Arts and Humanities.
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Promoting open research practices and robust data management practices including enabling access to open data.
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Identifying and signposting infrastructure and equipment which can be useful to develop skills.
Partnership.
The project is developed by an interdisciplinary partnership of academics and practitioners. Our partners include:
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Our network extends beyond this project partnership, and includes the partners involved in the project “Scoping a Complex 3D Data Service for the Arts and Humanities“. This project (Grant No. AH/W007541/1) was supported by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council under the Scoping future data services for the arts and humanities scheme which aims to enhance national data services through a family of linked and interoperable trusted data repositories (TDRs) for capture and analysis of arts and humanities research data.
Team.
Dr Karina Rodriguez Echavarria
Professor of Visual Computing
University of Brighton
Karina is an interdisciplinary researcher, with a background in Computer Science, a PhD in knowledge-based engineering and an MA in Histories and Cultures. Her research interests include the development and application of computing technologies for the digitisation of objects and environments; the information management, analysis, search/browse visualisation of visual representations, including 2D and 3D content; as well as their physical reproduction using digital fabrication.
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A focus of the research is the Cultural Heritage (CH) sector and its related applications such as creative applications, art, culture, education and tourism. She has produced research outputs in interdisciplinary areas such as computer graphics, information and knowledge management as well as cultural heritage. She co-leads the Computing and Mathematical Sciences Research Excellence Group which focuses on both theoretical and practical research in computer science challenges related to software systems, leading on the provision of digitisation and visualisation technologies. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the ACM Journal of Computing and Cultural Heritage, and chairs the Eurographics Workshops Board and the Eurographics Steering Committee on Graphics and Cultural Heritage which organises yearly workshops in this area.
Dr. Claire Wintle
Principal Lecturer
University of Brighton
Dr Claire Wintle is a historian of exhibitions, museums and collections, with a particular interest in curatorial practice, exhibition design and the politics of representation. Her work explores the relationship between museums and processes of nationalism, imperialism and decolonisation, often with a focus on South Asia and the UK.
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Claire is Principal Lecturer in Museum Studies and Art and Design History. She is Co-Director of the University’s Centre for Design History where she leads research, including on the museum as a designed space that is both produced and consumed. She is the Course Leader for the MA Curating Collections and Heritage, a collaborative masters programme developed between the University of Brighton and the Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton & Hove. Her teaching focuses on the ethics of contemporary museum practice, with an emphasis on widening participation in and access to cultural heritage.
Dr Myrsini Samaroudi
Research Fellow
University of Brighton
Dr Myrsini Samaroudi has a background in archaeology and digital humanities, holds a PhD from the School of Architecture, Technology and Engineering of the University of Brighton and is a member of the Computing and Mathematical Sciences Research Excellence Group of the same university. Myrsini has worked as an archaeologist and as an interdisciplinary digital humanities researcher both in academia and industry. Her PhD, held in collaboration with the Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust, examined digitally fabricated replicas of museum artefacts as interpretative “devices” and proposed a framework for their integration and evaluation within experiences for different audience groups.
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Over the last few years, Myrsini has worked on various research projects, investigating creative and technology-facilitated methods to improve children’s wellbeing; the impact of Covid-19 on heritage institutions; the use of 3D printed replicas and digital 3D-games to enhance museum interpretation; digital technologies for documenting and accessing intangible heritage knowledge; and more recently the requirements of the Arts and Humanities research community in the UK with respect to infrastructure as well as digital skills to effectively manage complex visual data for research.