The Digital Collection of Cultural Heritage

Institutions as the Cultural Product

Vaska Sotirov-Đukić, Librarien

Public Library of Sarajevo

E-mail: dukic@bih.net.ba

The fifth SEEDI International Conference: Digitization of cultural and scientific heritage, May 19-20, 2010, Sarajevo, BiH

Introduction

• What can we - MLA (museums, libraries or archives) - do with our physical / digital collections?

• How we can attract visitors / tourists?• How we can present MLA not only to local

community and government but people from all world too?

• How we can optimally / quality do all this with small budget, staff and infrastructure?

European cultural heritage“Europe's cultural and scientific knowledge resources are a unique public asset forming the collective and evolving memory of our diverse societies…” Lund Principles

Digitisation of heritage resources crucial to: •provide improved access to cultural heritage•preserve Europe's collective cultural heritage•sustain cultural diversity in a global environment

•also key resource for education and for the tourism and media industries

Economic development

• MLA can help to develop a strong local economy by supporting local business and industry in a number of ways, including by attracting tourism and inward investment.

• Economic development relies on successful industry, business and commerce, and businesses require information and knowledge.

Culture/creative industry

• The creative and knowledge industries based on intelectual property

• Creates jobs (more than half of all employment in developed countries of EU)

• Promotes social inclusion, cultural diversity and human development

• Attracts other business to invest (infrastructure, transportation, inward investment)

• Neighbourhood regeneration and sustainability (local shops, artcrafts, motels, restaurants etc.)

Cultural tourism

• Visits by people from outside the ares attracted by interest in the historic, artistic, scientific, lifestyle or heritage attractions of the area

• Knowledge-based tourist/visitors find out much more about a place prior to visiting by the Internet

• Websites, digital collections, portals MLA - have a big input on the decision where they want to travel

MLA Cooperation

• MLA can promoting their region to the rest of the world with common strategy and plans:

• Historical/heritage programmes• Post-programme visits• Local entertainment• Leisure industries• Digital collections and websites of MLA have o

big input (virtual MLA, Internet, Web 2.0 ... etc.)

Sustainable Cultural Heritage Tourism

• Collaborate/partnershipspolitical and business leaders, operators of tourist sites, local artists and craftspeople, hotel/motel operators ...etc.

• Promotion/presentation heritagemake cultural heritage tourism program what is appropriate and sustainable for local area

• Preserve/protect cultural heritageprotect buildings, landscape or special places, preservation of old and rare traditions, rituals, language ... etc.

How make the cultural product

• Collaborate with the tourism industry

• Understanding and planing for the needs of visitors

• Visitors-orientied customer services(different needs of tourists from residents)

• Operating visitor-friendly retail established

• Attractions and cultivating hospitable front-line tourism employees

Share heritage – strategic planning

• Authentic and excellent story of local area and culture make this area unique and attractive for visitors

• Cross discipline developing plans(tourism, historic preservation, arts, enterprise, government, community planning)

• On average, visitors will remember:10% of what they HEAR30% of what they READ50% of what they SEE90% of what they DO

Strategic-marketing plan

• Title/name of the cultural itinerary attractive for tourists

• The List of Cultural and Tourist Itineraries - identification of attractive tourist sites

• Story / Description – creating positive image of country

• Target - what is the purpose of the cultural itinerary

• Program - tourists (foreign and domestic) should be approached as a cultural researcher

Strategic-marketing plan

• Duration - half-day, one day or several-day• Visits - institutions of heritage institutions, cultural

monuments, cultural events• Sightseeing - walking tour to local cemeteries,

monuments, buildings• Lunch - revive gastronomic's history with emphasis on

the culture of hospitality and rural tourism as well as lunch on the farm with a natural food with folklore and folk music of local villagers.

• Leisure - riding on horseback, in carriages, photographs, meeting with local people and their stories about the traditions and customs, etc.

Strategic-marketing plan

• Creative Workshops - participation in the construction or purchase of souvenirs, fun and educational tours which aim is that the visitor can be able to experience the local culture

• Living History - experience of places and people who live on it, the historical approach as a program with the active participation and involvement of tourists as maintenance tournaments with slow presentations to tourists to try out replicas of historical weapons, etc.

• Web - is the major feature of the cultural tourism which constitutes an essential elements of marketing strategy: multilingual content, digital collections, virtual tour through history, games, links to virtuel museums and archives, interactive map of monuments of culture, information about hotels, restaurants and travel agencies

The Strategic-marketing Plan Prototype

The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina The permanent exhibition

"Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Middle Ages"

Philosophy Faculty in Sarajevo - Postgraduate studies in Librarianship – Seminar

http://www.zemaljskimuzej.ba

"Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Middle Ages"

• Archaeological artifacts of mediaeval culture in Bosnia and Herzegovina dating from the 6th to the 15th century. The collection comprises about 11,500 items.

• The permanent exhibition is arranged in three halls: the period from the 6th to the mid 12th century, from the 12th to 15th century, and the third hall holds monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

• The National Museum has two open-air collections of stećak tombstones on display.

" To Follow Bosnian Kingdom's Trails: Tracing the Bosnian Cyrillic - Bosancica"

Story/Description

In the Middle Age, the territory of Bosnia and Hum began his first literacy. Bosancica or the Bosnian Cyrillic is an authentic and especially letter that is different from the Bulgarian and Serbian Cyrillic.

Bosancica was represented in religious manuscripts, charters and letters that were written for a diplomatic purpose.

Many monuments written in Bosnia, and other manuscripts, were destroyed during the tumultuous past, so that the Museum's permanent exhibition entitled " The Culture of the Written Word " contains, in addition to several original epigraphic monuments, mostly copies of charters, codes and individual pages of the manuscript.

TargetPopularization of the Bosancica as the indigenous heritage,

which is a unique and unrepeatable.

Program The program would include a tour of the exhibition with the expert guidance of curators who would be dress in a costum of the medieval „dijak“ (the scribe). He would show how the scribes of that age wrote on the parchment from calf or lamb skin with the ink according to the old recipes and with the pen of geese.

Visitors will be able to transcribe their names in the Bosnian Cyrillic, and with geese's pen inscribe themselves on small pieces of parchment messages which they can keep as souvenirs.

They can also create postcards on which would be the front part of the Charter of Kulin Ban (the oldest charters in the Bosnian Cyrillic) and on the other side would be space for the visitors where they can write and print their own name with old pen or messages transcribed in Cyrillic letters.

Duration The Half day tour

Creative Workshops

In the first place is to educate pupil in elementary and secondary schools, as well as foreign tourists who want more to learn about the originality of the written culture of medieval Bosnia.

Costumed curator told the youngest of the medieval stories and legends of Kulin Ban, and the other Bosnian kings, and then held a mini workshop where they practiced printing names or words in the Bosancica on tables with wooden or bone style, which is practiced in the Middle Ages in writing office.

For the elderly would be presented medieval writing office in government offices where the Bosnian feudal lords were made the charter and letters.

Web Digital collection

With regard to the medieval church manuscripts in Bosnia Cyrillic is only The Gospel of Čajniče who is in the National Museum, but on their website can collect digitized originals of other manuscripts. That is only way how all manuscripts can be collect in the virtual museum, gathered in one place.

E-cardsWeb site visitor could choose a picture of a manuscript illumination and automatically transliterate Cyrillic on your message and send e-mail as a postcard.

Game The Cyrillic alphabet can be learned through games and virtual

spelling book with pictures and sound. Text that is entered, it can be automatic transliterate and print or send e-mail.

" To Follow Bosnian Kingdom's Trails : Tracing

Marble letters "

PlaceThe National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina - a permanent exhibition of medieval tombstones „stećak“ in the open: one in the Botanical garden of the museum and the other, outside, in front of the main entrance

Tombstones „stećak“ and their cemeteries are one of the mysteries of Bosnian history. The most historians gived epigraps that characterized a small number of tombstones. Epigraphs telling about the different social class of all three religions that are buried beneath the tombstones. Tombstones contained the most of the literary elements of speaking, but as an expression of lapidary literacy and written language carving in stone is not seen as a literary work.The stone or the Judge's chair is essentially a symbol of the medieval Bosnian government. According to folk tradition, stone chair, served prominent feudal to sit on them when made public, and the trial of vassals. They are used to perform certain judicial functions, but also to have had some administrative functions.

Story/Description

Preview medieval life with characters costumed bogumils (Christians and „krstjanki“, grandfather and guests, the Bosnian

nobility and serfs) would be taking place during the summer days around the tombstones. They would spoke in the medieval folk

speech and would show some scenes from everyday life.

Living History

Medieval tournament in front of the Museum with costumed figures of knights who carry replica weapons from that era (copies from the

collection of weapons and armor of the Bosnian kings).

Medieval Knights – the Vlastela heavy cavalry The tournament would be held in the shooting competition in the bow and arrow

(this is one of the most common motifs on tombstones) and fencing competitions. Visitors should themselves be able to participate in the

competition.

Creative Workshops

Creative Workshop of carving tombstones would enable to revive the ancient tradition of craft stonemasons and that the visitors themselves, guided costumed sculptors, carve verses or their names or messages on stone tablets, and that they take home as a souvenir.

For students to be organized educational workshops carving, which would be virtually immediate use of existing iconography of tombstones (prepared templates for tracing) to make their own versions. Within these workshops can be organized competition and reward the best tomb.

Souvenirs or purchase replicas of existing tombstones in the museum.

Web

The Virtual Maps of tombstones in Bosnia and Herzegovinahttp://h.etf.unsa.ba/dig-katalog-stecaka/

The Virtual tour of Museum and tombstones http://projects.etf.unsa.ba/~vmuzej

Digital StorytellingPersonal stories visitors about theire experience and feelings about tomstones or workshops

E-cardsWeb site visitors could choose a picture of tombstones and text would be automatic transcribed in the Bosancica and it would appear as carved in the stone.

Game Medieval II: Total War

Conclusion

• Please, don’t say that we can’t do it because we haven’t financial assistance, infrastructure, trained staff .... becausethe new technology give us endless and free possibilities to be in contact with all world what only depends of our knowledge, will and believe in the better future.

• That is vision, mission and lead role of MLA

ARCHIVE

NO MATTER HOW SMALL IS OUR MUSEUM, LIBRARY OR ARCHIVE

TOGETHER WE ARE THE PART OF EUROPE CULTURALE HERITAGE

NO MATTER HOW SMALL IS OUR COUNTRY OR COMMUNITY,

TOGETHER WITH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

AND KNOWLEDGE WE CAN MAKE IT

THE BIGEST IN THE WORLD.