Digital heritage objects: co-design, communities and significance

PRESENTER: Stuart Jeffrey, Glasgow School of Art
WHEN: Tuesday 11 July 2023
TIME:  5:30 – 7:00pm
WHERE: GML Heritage and Australian Institute of Architects, 2A Mugga Way, Red Hill ACT
REGISTER (FREE): HERE
FLIER: ICOMOS TALK Stuart Jeffrey

This lecture explores the evolution of digital methods in heritage, including the digital heritage object (DHO), highlighting some of the fundamental issues this raises, including the unexpected transformation of DHOs from passive record to dynamic portal. The DHO, a transmediation of a physical site or heritage object into a digital form, has undergone a number of significant conceptual changes. Initially conceived of as a digital version of traditional analogue records, they may now assume a status distinct from, but parallel to, the physical original. In an echo of historic replicas, the DHO can become an artefact in its own right, while their production is arguably a significant chapter in the biography of the original. Recognising this can create new opportunities for engagement and empowerment through creative response, co-design and co-production as well as offering moments of intervention that can directly impact the forms of significance and authenticity associated with the site or object in question. I will explore these questions by drawing on recent case studies from heritage and art based research projects in the UK, Africa and the Pacific, including the One Ocean Hub project.

Stuart Jeffrey is Professor of Digital Heritage, School of Simulation and Visualisation, at The Glasgow School of Art, UK. Stuart has published extensively on diverse topics in archaeology and computer science, including notions of digital authenticity, creative response in heritage, medieval sculpted stones, archaeological informatics, visualisation techniques, digital preservation, natural language processing, and the use of social media in archaeology.