Computational Culture: Transforming Archives Practice and Education for a Post-Covid World

Abstract

This paper takes a landscape view of archives practice now operating in a sea of human digital behavior, interacting with computational systems embedded in real and virtual life, part of our complex global digital ecosystem driving cultural and social change. We envision a new computational archives framework, designed to be user-centric, in ways that integrate traditional archival practice into an overarching computational framework incorporating structured and unstructured data, computational tools, AI (artificial intelligence), ML (machine learning), robotics, and automation intended to aid in management and public engagement with physical, digitized, and born-digital documents. Set in a networked environment of increasing computing power, this “more than human” system derives from the latest computing advances from NLP (natural language processing) and image recognition to artificial neural networks. We envision an archives system that is at once complex and integrated into a new inclusive and diverse cultural fabric. This paper covers general issues that have been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, together with two institutional case studies.

Global Cultural Conflict and Digital Identity: Transforming Museums

“…Emerging in the last few years and accelerating during the two-and-a-half years of COVID-19 [33,34], where people were isolated at home and online alone, museum webpages with many collections and exhibitions have now been digitized and newly revealed to global audiences, offering fresh perspectives on art and museums. Looking ahead, as more artifacts can be viewed online in 3D and interactive modes, new questions arise as physical and virtual artifacts are juxtaposed in physical space and amplified in virtual space.…”

“…Afte Iranian Revolution in 1979, could women have predicted that their place in a new so claiming a more advanced culture would come at the price of women's rights and lo control over their bodies, being subject to the whims of men? On the other hand, gay were regularly executed, statistics showing that to be the fate of around 5000 men [4 With the push to digital and online, networks and platforms, especially du COVID-19 [33,34], the Internet became a window into seeing behind the scenes, places where only the insiders could go, owing to large museum digitization projects public can see never-before exhibited museum objects online and watch auctions live this has been happening on a global scale. Works of art that were not part of the discu are suddenly in full view-and more than that-with key advances in AI and techno such as natural language processing (NLP) and image recognition, with simple sear on Google, users could find buried treasure.…”

Analysing the importance of social media on European museums

“…UNESCO's report has identified over 800 initiatives worldwide in response to the pandemic, with a significant portion of these efforts focused on promoting virtual museums that build upon pre-existing investments [4]. Museums were compelled to digitally execute all their planned activities, encompassing exhibitions, conferences, and other engagements, in order to effectively engage with their existing audience while also expanding their reach to a broader demographic [4,8]. The temporary closure of museums during recent lockdowns has highlighted the significance of digital communication with the public.…”

An Overview of New Media Art Exhibitions in China (2017–2022)

“…Digital culture is increasingly important in all aspects of life (Bowen & Giannini 2021;Li & Bowen 2022), including in the world of the arts and museums (Giannini & Bowen 2019). The Covid-19 pandemic has certainly had its effect and accelerating some developments worldwide (Giannini & Bowen 2022a;2022b).…”