Among the university's recent research successes are a range of projects that look at the possibilities of digital technologies in the creative and cultural environment. Their impact on communities world-wide is considerable, as these samples help to demonstrate.
22 Jan 2015
How do you both bring history to life and change the boundaries of our knowledge about it? The University of Brighton-led European Network of Excellence in Open Cultural Heritage (EPOCH) – has brought together over 600 technologists and heritage experts to create working methods and a common vocabulary and to set an agenda for future research. The network is also developing tools for recording and analysing cultural objects, and for strategic planning and socioeconomic impact evaluation within cultural organisations.
These tools were identified in the EU’s final review as making “ground-breaking progress in developing innovative methods and theory in the economics of cultural heritage”. EPOCH, which was coordinated by Professor David Arnold of the Cultural Informatics Research Group, has spawned a number of centres of expertise and played a key role in the establishment of Digital Intangible Heritage of Asia.
The network also gave rise to 3D-COFORM, a four-year University of Brighton-led project which began in 2008. Its aim was to make 3D documentation practical and sustainable for cultural heritage institutions, and enable mass 3D-acquisition by these organisations.
The multidisciplinary project, a collaboration between 19 partners, culminated in the Reshaping History exhibition held in Brighton in 2012. 3D-COFORM ran over 30 deployment experiments, combining tools to address curatorial challenges, test technologies and integration, raise awareness, and train a new generation of heritage professionals. The 2012 exhibition showed each stage of the integrated workflow in 3D exhibits demonstrating innovative technologies applied to iconic heritage content. For example, Michaelangelo’s David, where plans have developed to use 3D modelling to determine whether cracks in the statue are getting larger over time.
The 3D-capture and associated processing tools developed by the project enable researchers in the arts and humanities to study cultural artefacts in ways that have not been possible before, for instance, enabling broken artefacts to be reassembled and accessed online. The 3D technology has already exposed brush strokes on Rubens’ “The Young Anthony”, a painting of the young Van Dyck, that suggest it was, in fact, a self-portrait. The project has become a leader in digital cultural heritage, attracting interest from cultural bodies such as the Berlin State Museum, the Louvre and the Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels.
Professor David Arnold says: “Not only will 3D technological innovation transform working practices for cultural professionals, but the public are used to digital technology and this has raised their expectations. 3D brings history to life in a way that photos cannot and the internet opens up heritage material to a much wider community.”
Thanks to internet search engines, we are accustomed to instant, simple and useable data interrogation; our expectations are high yet the traditional world of film archiving is entrenched in an old-fashioned ‘filing cabinet’ approach to data management.
“Archive materials that do exist are usually only searchable by the descriptive data that a cataloguer has created,” said Dr Sarah Atkinson, from the university’s College of Arts and Humanities. “There can be lots of interesting and valuable data on locations, buildings, young actors and directors, all sorts of things that might not be added to an archive. For example, it would be really interesting for an architect to be able to search for ‘St Paul’s Cathedral’ and see all the instances when St Paul’s has featured on film with adjacent buildings that have since been demolished.”
Cultural historians, film studies academics and people from many other disciplines will benefit from being able to access all information about a film. Currently, what little data is available is in multiple locations and has no links. The vision for Brighton’s AHRC-funded DEEP FILM Access Project is to allow the viewer to pause a film and explore every aspect of how it was made, from the cast and crew, to the camera lens that was used for a specific shot, to the special effects added in post-production.
Project partners include the BBC, the BFI and Screen Archive South East and Dr Atkinson is working with director Sally Potter’s 2012 film Ginger & Rosa. The project addresses the complexity of different data types, from scripts and emails between directors and producers, to budget information, shooting schedules, even Polaroid photographs taken for continuity.
A key outcome of this project will be a data integration model, developed in collaboration with Dr Roger Evans, a computer scientist from the university’s School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics. This model will be created in conjunction with visual media experts, filmmakers and archive curation specialists, and will be supported by a new framework of standards for recording data during the production of films. The long-term aim is to create opportunities for filmmakers to consider the data assets alongside the visual assets.
Central to the research is the creation of a new language, one to describe the various aspects of data so that they can be organised and searched, and one that will apply equally well to TV. The BBC Archive Development team is currently working on an innovative approach to create a searchable database of subtitles which can link to archived TV schedules to identify specific footage. The learning from this will feed into the ongoing research underway through the DEEP FILM Access Project.
Digital audiences are continually evolving, finding new ways of engaging with content, and the film and TV industries are struggling to keep up with developments. “There’s a commercial imperative for the film industry to get on board,” said Dr Atkinson. “‘Making of’ content is massively popular, but the notion of physically purchasing a film on DVD or Blu-Ray is in decline with the rise of on-demand content. Studios need to monetise their ‘behind the scenes’ content and our approach, which aims to enable more interactive access, could be commercially very attractive.”
Photograph: Adventure Pictures
University of Brighton research on digital technologies and inclusion has had an impact on sustainable community development in the south-east and beyond and has helped promote peace following post-election violence in Kenya.
The University of Brighton puts community engagement at the very heart of its mission. This is apparent in its pioneering research on digital communities. Gillian Youngs, Professor of Digital Economy, said: “Brighton is one of the leading universities in innovative community engagement based on a distinctive cross-disciplinary ethos of working with communities.” The College of Arts and Humanities research on digital technologies in rural communities extends from Brighton to Kenya to help create democratic and inclusive spaces for people to interact.
The university's work in this area has always placed user needs at the centre of the digital revolution. In the 1990s, research by Professor Karamjit Gill developed a model that brought together researchers, practitioners, entrepreneurs and social and cultural actors in ways that emphasised individual creativity and personal empowerment in the emerging networked society. This work has been built on by researchers such as Dr Peter Day and Professor Flis Henwood in ways that have explored different dimensions of the digital divide and led to research that looked at how breaking down that divide could reinvigorate civil society.
A pilot study for the Community Network Analysis & Information and Communication Technologies project found that digital technologies would reach a more inclusive group of people if they were shown to have an application to people’s everyday lives. At the same time, design researcher Nick Gant, developed a community planning and networking tool, Community21 (Digital Toolbox for Sustainable Communities), which brings together a range of digital interface, participation and content management methods to enable communities to utilise smart technologies in the co-design of their future.
The project has spurred greater involvement and inclusivity in community planning and design and has enabled local people to adopt roles as the lay ‘architects and planners’ of their own community futures and neighbourhoods under localism legislation. Uniquely, this has included the collaborative design of new, freely available technologies or ‘digi-tools’ developed for children and old people who have taken part in digital citizenship and envisioning workshops.
Research on digital communities has also had international applications. Dr Day worked with ITSkills4RuralKenya, a charity that focuses on removing barriers to digital literacy.
Through the provision of audiovisual filming technology, training and enhanced access to ICT in the community – over 200 centres in rural Kenya received 20,000 computers, potentially reaching two million people. Dr Day then extended the university’s research in Kenya as part of a peace and reconciliation process following inter-tribal tensions in the wake of the 2007 election.
The researchers worked with the Focus Youth Initiative and as a result young Kenyans from across ethnic groups created videos that reflected on post-election violence. The process helped to build a sense of political empowerment. Together with a number of groups and organisations from Kenyan civil society these researchers have formed a partnership network called CommunityMedia4Kenya. They are currently working on developing community information centres using networked Raspberry Pi technology and setting up a community radio initiative in the Rongo area of Migori County.
The Smart e-bikes project, led by Dr Frauke Behrendt, investigates how the public engages with electrically-assisted cycling, and considers how policy, training, design and product development might lead to a higher uptake of e-bikes in the UK, potentially reducing carbon emissions and improving health.
The e-bikes used in the study (also known as pedelecs) are electrically assisted bicycles that enable people to cycle for work or pleasure with optional motorised support. The rider still has to pedal but the rechargeable battery assistance can make it easier to cycle, especially against the wind or uphill.
Smart e-bikes have been loaned to 100 commuters and community groups for trial periods of six to eight weeks. The fleet of bikes have specially developed monitoring systems with sensor integration. Each e-bike looks and works similarly to an ordinary bicycle but includes the rechargeable electric motor.
The amount of assistance from the motor reduces with increasing speed and cuts out altogether once the bike reaches 15mph or if the rider stops pedalling.
E-bikes can encourage more people to cycle – or encourage people to cycle more. They are particularly useful for commuters who want to arrive unruffled, older age groups, people with physical limitations, tourists and ‘last mile’ delivery of goods. The Smart e-bikes project monitors data for the bike’s location and the rider’s activity, and feeds to an online interface for analysis. Riders can also view their own data and share it via social media. This data sharing turns singular e-bikes into a networked fleet.
The future vision is to make the greater Brighton and Hove city region the UK model for demonstrating the game-changing potential of electrically assisted bikes. While the social, economic and environmental benefits of e-cycling have already been demonstrated in several European countries, the UK still has to realise this potential. E-bikes, and especially ‘smart e-bikes’ could be a showcase for the local innovation at the intersection of the high-tech industry and sustainable technology. The aim is to work with local, regional and national institutions, government, and industry towards an evidence-based e-bike strategy that includes leisure cycling, commuter cycling, cycle tourism and ‘last mile’ delivery.
Several local companies have consulted the project researchers on their business and developing innovations, for example regarding the tracking of fleets and goods. One of them is ReCharge, with Founder Sam Keam stating: “The smart e-bikes project has supported us in developing our vision for more sustainable urban logistics…Brighton struggles with congestion, air pollution, lost business productivity and a reduced quality of life because there is too much traffic – a fair chunk of which is vans whizzing around delivering goods.”
Dr Behrendt has been consulted by Brighton & Hove City Council during the process of writing local travel strategies with major interest now growing in the potential of e-bikes. The research considers how the uptake of the system can be influenced and, with a view to the multiple public and private benefits including lowering carbon emissions and improving health and wellbeing, it looks at how training schemes can play a key role in facilitating the adoption of electric cycling.
A pilot e-cycling training module was developed in collaboration with Maria Robinson from M-Cycles (a local cycling business). Bikeability is ‘cycling proficiency’ for the 21st century, designed to give the next generation the skills and confidence to ride their bikes on today’s roads. The project will influence the national Bikeability curriculum, offering an emphasis on e-bike skills, especially aimed at adults. This, in turn, feeds the aim of several national institutions to encourage more people to take trips by bike more often and more safely.
Bob Harber, one of our Brighton-based e-cycle trainers stated: “It gives new horizons to people who might otherwise have been in a car. I love to observe the sudden realisation of possibility by those participating in the e-training.”
The project is positioned at the intersection of more traditional cycling research, mobile media studies and user-centred design. It has aimed to understand electric cycling as a unique mode of transport, with distinctive potential and challenges in the UK context.
Augmented with video cameras, mobile phones and other sensors to collect more qualitative and ethnographic data, this investigation into the full potential of smart e-bikes promises to have a positive effect on many issues in the contemporary city, from traffic to individual well-being.
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Articles adapted from the Making Research Matter publication from the University of Brighton. Read more about impactful research from the University of Brighton.
