Future-proofing the Past

Like many things in the modern world, digitalisation has transformed the way we interact with the past and opened opportunities for visualisation, curation and sharing. But how do we actually use these digital tools? How do we use them to engage the public? And how do we ensure our digital data is a fair representation of the past?

Henk Alkemade was originally trained as a physical geographer but went into a career in IT following his studies. In 2007, he joined the Dutch National Heritage Agency as an IT manager. This gave him this opportunity to become involved in Europeana projects such as CARARE and LoCloud, which helped reignite a passion in cultural heritage. Henke now works full time in Cultural Heritage, connecting this heritage with IT through his work as a senior specialist in historical landscapes.

Elin Tinuviel Torbergsen currently works for the Museum Nord as a curator for the West Lofoten Department. In addition to this, she is also working on her PhD in media and communication. In these roles, she is attempting to identify digital solutions connecting the archaeological objects on display in the museums with their original places of discovery, and their wider cultural landscapes. Part of this work includes creating digital AR simulations of the world in the past.

In this episode we dive into their respective projects, compare the different types of methods they use and discuss how digitalisation will continue to change heritage in the future.

If you’d like to hear more from our speakers after the episode, they will both be presenting their research at our Digitalisation in Open-Air Museums and Reconstructions conference at the Museum Batavialand in September, we’d love to see you there!

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