Georgios Toubekis

A Hypermedia Afghan Sites and Monuments Database

Cultural heritage management is an excellent application domain for geographical hypermedia information systems. Many people with different tasks and levels of profession like fieldworkers, researchers, project and campaign officers, cultural bureaucrats etc. collaboratively producing and consuming different media like photographs, video, drawings, books, etc. must deal with exact geographic information about moveable or unmovable objects of interest. Implemented information systems must obey all standards in the different domains to overcome classical failures of isolated solutions which do not scale beyond the scope of a single project. We present a conceptual approach which integrates geographic information, multimedia information, cultural heritage information and collaborative aspects in a single information model. This conceptual approach was used to design and implement a web-based information system on top of a single commercial database covering all mentioned aspects. This information system was deployed for a project in the conservation of cultural heritage in Afghanistan to prove the validity of the concepts.

ACIS: intergenerational community learning supported by a hypermedia Afghan sites and monuments database

Intergenerational learning is based on processing experiences from one generation to another. However, this process is up to now mostly based on face to face communication neglecting the capabilities of computer supported learning communities. In this paper we describe ACIS (Afghan Community IS), a system that has been designed to support intergenerational learning communities by geographical hypermedia information systems in the area of cultural heritage. ACIS is designed to bring together generations of scientists in cultural heritage management which has been disrupted by the civil war and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. ACIS has been deployed for a project in the conservation of cultural heritage in Afghanistan to prove the validity of the concepts.

Well-Balanced Usability & Annotation Complexity in Interactive Video Semantization

In the recent years more and more people have begun to edit video files, as technologies are becoming more sophisticated and affordable. Web 2.0 has raised tagging functionality to a growing number of websites such as Flickr and YouTube. However, these services only provide basic video annotation support. In comparison to those well-known services there are many research efforts towards video semantization tools. These tools provide highly precise annotation functionality based on metadata standards such as MPEG-7, but tend to exhibit very complex user interfaces. In this paper we present the design, implementation and evaluation of SeViAnno, an MPEG-7 based interactive semantic video annotation Web platform with the main objective to find a well-balanced trade-off between a simple user interface and video semantization complexity.

From Story-Telling to Educational Gaming: The Bamiyan Valley Case

Preserving the knowledge of previous generations and passing it to new generations is challenging. This process is usually based on an educational system or in any other kind of face-to-face tradition. However, developing countries usually face a lack of well educated people so that this process is hindered. This is even more problematic for countries having recently struggled through times of war. Hence, we apply a community-centered approach to capturing expert knowledge in non-linear digital stories and repurposing it in the shape of educational games. In particular, we support the vocational training of local employees within a cultural heritage community that aims at preserving Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan.

A Microservice Approach for Near Real-Time Collaborative 3D Objects Annotation on the Web

Web-based collaborative learning environments enable groups of learners to negotiate meaning around shared digital artefacts, e.g. by annotating them collaboratively. This particularly applies for complex digital artefacts such as multimedia or 3D objects and is mostly achieved by using metadata description standards, understandable to both user and machines for queries, context detection and retrieving relevant details. However, current approaches lack the ability to rapidly prototype courses by using lightweight Web technologies on the server and the browser side. In this paper, we present a customizable and lightweight approach for designing and performing Web-based collaborative courses using 3D Objects in the medical domain. These artefacts and the annotations are shared using near real-time updates between learners and tutors. In principle, we solve the problem of different annotation standards that can be used in the same environment by providing an API for using simple contextualized annotations. The evaluations and collected user feedback show that our collaborative browser-based approach simplifies access to digital artefacts and enables more collaboration.

Preservation and management of the UNESCO world heritage site of Bamiyan: Laser scan documentation and virtual reconstruction of the destroyed Buddha figures and the archaeological remains

Since the destruction of the Giant Buddhas in Bamiyan in the year 2001 consolidation and emergency stabilization works under the auspices of UNESCO and ICOMOS have progressed. The more than 1000m spanning cliff wall was scanned with a terrestrial laser scan system and a 3D model of the cliff was derived from the measurements. After removing the large fragments from the niche of the Eastern 38m Buddha a detailed laser scan was conducted and a textured 3D model of the empty niche generated in order to study the damages of the back wall in detail. From historic images and contour line drawings a 3D surface model of the destroyed 38m Buddha figure was created and successfully integrated into the 3D textured model of the scanned niche. The result has been processed for presentation in an immersive 3D Cave Automated Virtual environment CAVE at the Virtual Reality Center at RWTH Aachen University. The complex real-time stereo projection is computed by a high-end computer cluster and adapts the projected image to the spectator eyes and movement by head tracking with infrared devices. The previous state can be compared to the actual condition and serves as a communication and planning tool among the different expert groups working on the site for discussion on ongoing stabilization and restoration measures and future consolidation works. It is now possible to generate conventional 2D documentation material (sections, plans) precisely from any part of the virtual model in order to plan and conduct further detailed damage assessments and analysis on site. The virtual model incorporates the results of scientific explorations and detailed damage assessments. It will serve as demonstration and experimentation model when exploring the possibilities of a future anastylosis of portions of the figure. The system was adapted to the needs of an exhibition on Gandhara Art in Germany in a special installation set-up reducing the amount of data to a minimum in order to achieve a real time rendering of the 3D model of the entire cliff and the reconstructed 38m Buddha figure with limited computer resources. The documentation work and the virtual reconstruction is embedded in the long term management plan for the entire World Heritage Site.

Virtual Campfire - Cross-Platform Services for Mobile Social Software

Advances in mobile communication technologies lead to a coalescence of location-based, multimedia services for user communities. However, easy development and maintenance of device-independent mobile services are still challenging. We have developed a service-oriented framework for mobile multimedia processing based on international standards like MPEG-7. Quality of mobile service experience is constantly monitored in framework. The scenario “Virtual Campfire” is used in the German excellence cluster UMIC (Ultra High-Speed Information and Communication) to demonstrate future mobile social software with real-time multimedia processing, semantic enrichment of multimedia materials by user communities and complex collaboration over the mobile we like storytelling on different mobile devices. Adaptive Web access, service calls and service monitoring are to be demonstrated as the prototype, which offers approaches to meeting the aforementioned challenges.

Standards for Geographic Hypermedia: MPEG, OGC and co.

Purposes of standardization in information system are interoperability, interpretability, exchangeability, and sustainability of information. Standards in geographic and hypermedia information systems are the results of complex and tedious negotiation processes on an international scale. This chapter gives an overview of the existing standards in the both fields and tries to bridge the gap between the fields. These standards include OGC OpenGIS specifications for geographic information, as well as Dublin Core, MPEG-7 and MPEG-21 for hypermedia. Meanwhile MIDAS, CIDOC and Object ID for cultural heritage will be discussed, because cultural heritage standards work with geographic hypermedia standards closely. By combining the key concepts of these technologies in an open and generic metadata framework, comprehensive geographic hypermedia systems can be deployed in various areas of applications such as cultural heritage management, e-tourism, e-government, and e-learning.

The Giant Buddha Figures in Afghanistan: Virtual Reality for a Physical Reconstruction?

More than ten years after the destruction of the giant Buddha figures in Bamiyan (Afghanistan) the emergency stabilization works for the preservation of the physical remains at the site have progressed. The condition of the heavily fractured Buddha niches has been documented using the latest high-resolution laser scanning technologies. Rock stabilization measures have been realized successfully and the destroyed figures have been reconstructed virtually using old photogrammetric documentation showing the Buddha figures before their destruction. High-level scientific methods in cultural heritage preservation focus on the documentation and analysis of the physical material itself while the immaterial aspects of the tangible heritage have to be addressed carefully also. The increased use of digital technologies has opened up new possibilities for visual exploration and the metric analysis of objects. Apart from the question of how far a virtual reconstruction of the destroyed structures can solve epistemological research interests it has to be carefully considered how the understandable desire of the local population for the emotional re-experience of their lost monuments is addressed. Questions are repeatedly raised as to whether or not the physical reconstruction of the figures should be pursued. While UNESCO does not consider a total reconstruction of the Buddha figures to be feasible at the moment, the discussion of how to preserve the physical remains of the destroyed figures in the long-term is far from concluded. The question of how far the reassembly of remaining fragments in their original position is adequate for the long-term preservation of the physical remains of the destroyed Buddha figures is still not answered satisfactorily.