Intangible Cultural Heritage and New Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities for Cultural Preservation and Development

Abstract

Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) is a relatively recent term coined to represent living cultural expressions and practices, which are recognised by communities as distinct aspects of identity. The safeguarding of ICH has become a topic of international concern primarily through the work of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation). However, little research has been done on the role of new technologies in the preservation and transmission of intangible heritage. The chapter examines resources, projects and technologies providing access to ICH and identifies gaps and constraints. It draws on research conducted within the scope of the collaborative research project, i-Treasures. In so doing, it covers the state of the art in technologies that could be employed for access, capture and analysis of ICH in order to highlight how specific new technologies can contribute to the transmission and safeguarding of ICH.

Preservation of Cultural Heritage Embodied in Traditional Crafts in the Developing Countries. A Case Study of Pakistani Handicraft Industry

“…The nature of ICH is very hard to demonstrate in real life since it is untouchable. However, the study of Alivizatou et al [61] indicates that 3D visualization and interaction technology can be used in this regard. For instance, the motion capture technology can be applied for the detailed documentation of hand and finger movement during the production for example in pottery.…”

The Design of Visual Communication for Intangible Cultural Heritage in Product Form

“…The intangible cultural heritage covers a wide range of areas. The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the intangible cultural heritage recognizes that the intangible cultural heritage includes various practices, such as performances, manifestations, knowledge systems and skills and related tools, objects, crafts, cultural sites and so on [6].…”

A Comprehensive Study on Deep Learning-Based 3D Hand Pose Estimation Methods

“…It is an important research topic and even a fundamental one for the creation of immersive virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) systems, efficient gesture-based human-computer interaction (HCI) systems and 3D humanoid reconstruction systems [1][2][3][4]. Accurate hand pose estimation can enhance user experience in VR systems by enabling the performance of plausible and realistic virtual hand movements, as well as contribute towards a better understanding of human actions in smart HCI systems [5][6][7][8], thus enabling a more intelligent interaction between users and smart systems. Apart from the aforementioned applications, hand pose estimation is crucial in a number of other tasks, such as gesture recognition [9,10], action recognition [11,12], support systems for motor impairments patients [13], sign language recognition [14][15][16][17][18], and representation [19].…”